Social Media Online Crisis | Social Crisis Management Strategy

Social Media Fails

Top social media public relation fails of 2017 (and how you can do better in 2018)

Social media can be a company’s best friend, then suddenly turn into its worst nightmare, especially during a PR disaster. The following two corporations understand what I’m talking about as their major PR disasters were exacerbated by social media. That being said, the company’s lack of ability to deal with a social media crisis is more at fault than social media itself.

I’m sure you’ve heard these stories and these corporations very likely had a social media crisis management strategy in place. That being said, they still seemed to have dealt with their crises in a less than ideal way when they clumsily “made up” for their honest mistakes with below-par apologizes via social media.

What’s the issue then?

When brands don’t know how to properly communicate with their social media audience, an easily manageable incident can turn into a PR disaster. Not only can messages be misinterpreted, but the fast-paced nature of social media platforms such as Twitter also allows brands to send out messages quickly and without giving them much thought.

After describing each PR disaster, I will break down what each corporation can specifically improve the next time a big fail happens. I will then discuss how you can apply this to your own social media crisis management strategy and learn from their mistakes.

1.Pepsi

What Happened: Pepsi released a campaign starring Kendall Jenner that sparked the public’s attention when she handed a police officer a can of Pepsi to draw a bridge between the protesters and the police.

The public reacted by dubbing the campaign an example of “white, economic privilege” and called out Pepsi for trivializing serious social issues.

As a response, Pepsi removed the video and apologized with this message:

The apology sparked even more anger as the public felt that it didn’t reflect the seriousness of the issue, which was ironically the issue in the first place as Pepsi undermined the seriousness of demonstrations and social justice issues.

The Lesson: Although Pepsi promptly removed the video and made an apology, the message lacked sympathy and understanding. Specifically, because the campaign was built around “joining the conversation,” Pepsi should have thought less about how social justice issues could be made “trendy” (like using Kendall Jenner in the ad) and more about the issues themselves.

What You Can Do Better – Protect your Online Reputation

Prevention: Make it a a part of your social media strategy to run your campaigns through a few small test groups composed of your target audience or have an outside agency take a look your idea before publicly airing a campaign, Companies can create “echo chambers” that produce content that is out of touch with the real world.

Furthermore, before sending out an apology message, really understand what you’re apologizing for. This may seem obvious, but sometimes brands are quick to pull the trigger on their messages to settle the public down when in reality, the bigger issue that needs to be addressed requires time and thought.

Change Direction: In Pepsi’s case, an apology wasn’t enough for the public to feel like justice was served, and it would’ve been wise of them to put forth other campaigns or messages that truly showed their commitment to social justice.

But when an apology is not enough, what do you do? Let’s use the grocery store Loblaws as an example. The public was upset to find out that the company had been fixing bread prices across all Canadian stores for the past 14 years. As a response, CEO Galen G. Weston officially stated that “this conduct should never have happened.” However, a remorseful response wasn’t enough to the public, so the company decided to change direction and issue $25 rebate cards to everyone who submits their email to the company. This not only made the public happy but gave customers back their good faith and trust towards the company.

Your social media crisis management strategy should include more than one “plan of action,” and you should be prepared to change directions if the first plan fails to solve your issues.

2. United Airlines

Everyone has heard about the multiple disastrous PR hits United Airlines took last year. It was a major learning lesson for the company and the public regarding how you should (or, more accurately, should not) deal with PR disasters.

The first incident was when two teenage girls were denied permission to board a United Airlines flight because of their leggings, which were said to be inappropriate travel attire.

Shannon Watts, a passenger at the airport, brought the incident to the public’s attention via her Twitter account. Shannon and other Twitter commenters were calling the airline’s behavior sexist and intrusive.

Here is the conversation as it happened on March 26th, 2017.

United Airlines responded, not with an apology, but with a link to their policy rules stating that United Airlines has the “right to refuse transport for passengers who are barefoot or not properly clothed.” This specifically applies to passengers using “riders passes” (which the two girls were, in fact, using) given by United Airline employees to their friends and family.

This explanation wasn’t enough to satisfy the public, however, as the incident grew increasingly viral. Even celebrities Chrissy Teigen and William Shatner reached out to address the issue.

Issues of sexual abuse, body shaming, and sexist behavior have been a major occurrence online, and United Airways’ response was considered highly insensitive.

What was considered even more insensitive, however, was when video footage was released of airport police forcibly removing 69-year-old passenger David Dao from a flight that was said to be overbooked.

CEO Oscar Munoz responded by saying Dao was “disruptive and belligerent.” The incident left Dao in the hospital and fellow passengers in shock.

A few days later, however, Munoz publicly stated that “no one should ever be mistreated this way.” and that he promised to “fix what’s broken so this never happens again.”

Lesson Learned: It was too little, too late for Munoz as his “seemingly heartfelt apology” lost its value due to his previous statements. Furthermore, United Airlines failed to address the issue with the two teenage girls any further than shown above. United Airlines should have been more sensitive to the people experiencing the incident by crafting messages that were truly apologetic.

What You Can Do Better – Protect your online reputation

Prevention: Make it a part of your social media strategy to ensure that your messages are carefully crafted and approved by multiple people before being made public. We understand that responses need to be made quickly, but this is nonetheless a crucial part of diffusing a PR disaster. Ask yourself, “how could this message be interpreted as offensive?” and don’t treat your apology like a press release. The United Airways’ incidents involved real emotion and trauma for the people involved, and brands should subsequently treat it as such.

Get Ahead of the Situation: There was no way that United was getting out of an apology during these PR disasters. So, why did it take Munoz so long to make a statement? Well, the public was wondering the same thing, and the longer the hours went by without any response, the more customers lost their trust in the company. Make it a part of your social media crisis management strategy to get ahead of the situation by making moves as soon as you catch wind of a PR disaster. This first move can be anything from an outright apology to a refund, to simply acknowledging that the situation is happening. The rest of your social media crisis management strategy can be implemented after this initial message.

Conclusion

Mistakes happen, and we (and your customers) understand that. But how a brand deals with their mistakes is a real measure of their commitment to protecting their customers as well as their brand.

The Pepsi incident taught us that it is important to think thoroughly about the possible impact your message may have on the general public before pulling the trigger. Furthermore, we learned from United Airways that messages must be crafted with care translate as truly apologetic across social media.

Make it a part of your social media crisis management strategy to have a team dedicated to message creation.

Learn more about Social Media Crisis Management at Onlinemoderation.com