It’s all over Twitter but I picked this up via Dan York’s blog: a YouTube video by a band, Sons of Maxwell, singing the song “United Breaks Guitars” which in two days has just under 15,000 views, just over 4,000 ratings (with an average of 5 stars), over 1,000 comments and plenty, plenty, of bad press.
Seriously, wouldn’t it just have been easier (and cheaper) to pay for and replace the guitar? Hell, buy the whole band new guitars and maybe it might have been a positive music video?
Again let’s put that in perspective. 15,000 views at about 4 minutes each (the duration of the music video) = how much time spent on negative brand association? Buying up the equivalent amount of 30 second spots won’t save you. And nothing United Airlines does will prevent this video from being viewed again and again for many years to come either.
I bet many companies fear this happening to them.
Stop.
Mistakes are going to happen. It’s about solving them the first time and solving them right. Not about ignoring them and letting them blow up in your face.
This came up in a couple of conversations during Social Media Breakfast: Singapore 2. Who’s the hardest to persuade when trying to implement a social media initiative? I’m guessing there isn’t a singular person, but clumps of people:
1) The C Suite
I hear conflicting stories here. Some C Suite individuals are very keen to get into social media (whether they know what they’re doing is another matter). Others are firmly entrenched in the delusion that this is a fad and will go away, and that one-way messaging continues to work and that mass media is king.
2) The Marketing Department
This one I’m guessing. The social media budget has to come from somewhere, and the most likely avenue probably sounds like the in-house marketing/communications department. Money spent on social media = less money for them to by 30 second spots and billboard ads.
3) Customer Service
These are the low-laid, unmotivated staff that come into contact with customers every day. And these are the people who will be online joining the conversations. Speaking as someone whose job was to answer the phone and prepare medical records way back when, it’s really hard to persuade this class of people to care for the customer.
I’m sure I’m missing out some possibilities, so what do you think? Also, do you think the “culture” of embracing social media should come from the top (ie C Suite) down and enforced? Or bottom up? Is one way more effective? Or do different methods work for different companies?
