Over the past few weeks we have carried quite a few bits of social media and its impact on PR. Whether it is the internationally sensational Dominos YouTube videos, the Skoda PR issue or even Gul Panag tweeting about Jet airways. We had mentioned how important it is for brands to be on social media to manage such instances better.

Now we notice these very brand accepting responsibility and doing something about it. Though not quite a solution we would suggest, at least they have taken note of social media. Like the two reports in Afaqs which quotes Skoda and the action taken by Jet.

With regards to the tweets from Gul Panag – the actor recently complained about the food served on a Jet Airways flight and said how carrying tiffin would be a better idea. In its response, as Panag tweeted later, the company offered her upgrade vouchers. Also, the Skoda incident got their spokesperson to say this, “We understand the importance of social media and view it as a very important medium for gaining valuable feedback about our brand. We track a whole host of blogs, online news portals and other social media sites to see what is being said about us, so we can address customer queries and concerns effectively… We have a robust customer care service that replies to threads on forums and blogs where customers have a specific query. By doing that, we are showing the customer that we want to engage and appreciate their feedback.”

In my opinion it is still wrong, i.e.  the approach they have. We shouldn’t have got this news from a spokesperson or a news piece. The best crisis management online would have been if the customer themselves let the word out on a brands action. Understand this – canned PR responses, standard crisis jargon don’t help in social media, people detest it and with a community lending voice their sphere of influence goes beyond the web. You need to be in social media, send a response on social media, in a language that people understand and accept in social media.

The moves taken by Dominos are known to everyone now in their bid to avert the crisis spiraling further. Though it was too much work at hand, at least their approach was in line with what’s acceptable online.

The two reports also present a few other opinions on how the web is changing brands interactions by eminent voices, and would be a good read.

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