Reading about Toyota’s 30% sales jump just two months after a 24/7 onslaught of bad press got me thinking about whether too many overstate the impact of what are increasingly – and wrongly – referred to as online PR crises and disasters. If thousands of hours of offline and online negative coverage and conversation can’t derail Toyota, how can we realistically talk about a digital tumult bruising anything but a few corporate egos.
Nestle, United Airlines, Amazon, Motrin, Dominos, and Southwest Airlines — all brands that are used as crisis examples and warnings to not ignore the wrath of angry online crowds. But missing in all this is tangible proof that any of these perceived online missteps have REALLY hurt any of these brands.
So what that Dominos took 24 hours to respond to a gross-out employee video that made its way through millions of video players? So what that Motrin rolled out a commercial that insulted a small group of niche echo chamber bloggers? So what that Nestle laid a heavy hand on their Facebook page after Greenpeace launched a coordinated attack on their business and iconic logo? So what that United Airlines served up the same crappy customer service most of the traditional airlines have perfected over the last few years? So what that Kevin Smith chose to use his celebrity to attack Southwest Airlines for hurting his feelings? So what?
Last I checked, none of the businesses referenced above saw their revenues impacted negatively by any of the problems they encountered online. Not. A. One.
Concern? Certainly. Crisis? Hardly.
My point isn’t to downplay the importance of good customer service or the need to have a PR response plan in place for when unseen events unfold but rather to highlight the reality that much of what happens online stays online. Or at least stays within small-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things communities. In an age where most people have no idea who’s been performing on the number one Nielsen-rated TV show, do you really think anyone outside of the digitally-focused care what’s been happening with Nestle’s Facebook whac-a-mole?
What’s needed is to step back, take a deep breath, reassess the language and coverage associated with these incidents, and come back down to Earth.
Is it worthwhile and ethical to listen and talk with your customers online? Absolutely. Just as worthwhile as having well-trained and courteous public-facing employees, call centers, and customer service departments. This is book-one, page-one CRM stuff. Nothing groundbreaking when you really think about it.
But for anyone in the digital space to inflate these online run-ins and me-too-pile-ons as serious threats to any of these companies is to be disingenuous and self-serving. The reality is that even if Nestle, United Airlines, Amazon, Motrin, Dominos, and Southwest Airlines had followed the self-congratulatory advice of the online PR echo chamber, their bottom lines would probably be no better or worse. So much for the crisis…
What do you think?
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Deeply insightful. The power of the medium is not a flash in the pan or a storm in a bottle. Temporary peaks of activity, good or bad, are almost always of little long term consequence. The brands that win today have a long term focus on great product, and support that with a patient, long view social strategy that focuses on sustained customer and corporate benefit.
Always worth the read.
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