Social media has been an inevitable space that is available to be leveraged if your brand is daring; and is going to be there even if your brand is too worried about
hanging their dirty laundry out in the public.
In a world where it could take months or even years to build a brand reputation and get killed overnight, I’d like to discuss about how brands in Malaysia have been affected by social media. Let’s take a look at some examples which could be good PR/social media case studies for the local media scene.
KFC
A fast food company’s biggest nightmare turned real for KFC Malaysia with the hit of ‘KFC Kotor’ videos. Two videos emerged and being the curious Malaysians as we are, I’m sure you’d like to take a look at it: Aksi Terlampau Pekerja KFC and KFC Malaysia Staff with Stupid Behaviour both with about 300,000 views at the time I wrote this blog post. KFC’s Facebook page was swarmed with angry remarks during this period.
My point of view about this incident:
Incidents like this are bound to happen in any restaurant, it's how the issue gets managed. But with bigger F&B franchiases, they have to take extra measures to prevent this. However, we should appreciate the prompt initiative that was taken to do damage control (watch KFC’s response to the whole situation here) so atleast I find some users defending KFC, which is good.
What I do not agree is the fact that the KFC’s Facebook management team deleted some user’s comment, which made many of them retaliate and voice out their further dissatisfaction towards the brand. Big no, no!
This situation would need time before people 'heal' from what they watched on the video. Hearing about a news is okay, visually exposing users to what actually went on makes things worst. Perhaps KFC should expose how the staffs were punished, not good to know that they could be working in Domino's after this incident, isn't it? But I really think time will heal KFC's current predicament, do you? Read another take on this issue here at Penn Olson's Blog.
This leads me to the second social media case study, Energizer’s Night Run Fiasco. This was a good example set to all brands out there, response must be quick when there’s a rage against your brand.
What happened during Energizer’s Night Run event?
1. The event was poorly organized from start to end, with not one person being able to say a single positive remark about the event. A comprehensive blogs about the event 1.Tian Chad's Blog, 2. Khai Sim's Blog and 3.Joyce Shia's Blog.
2. People were throwing fits on the event page, requesting explanation about the event but the Facebook management team decided to delete the comments in hopes that it would keep the noise down.
3. Furious, dissatisfied runners took the horns by the bull and created “Boycott Energizer Night Race” summoning more negative reaction to the event.
4. During this whole period of two days, not a single "we'll get back to you, please bear with us" update was sent out which added flame to the whole situation. (Don't you hate it when it happens everytime you call a customer care line, when the person attending your call doesn't say you're on hold/pass the call?)
5. Though bit late, maybe they took the extra days to think of a good strategy to clear their mess. So Expose Media finally came out to the public and apologized, and Energizer did a good job by making an announcement to refund the payment for all the runners. They lived up to their word which helped them redeem themselves.
6. User's feedback have been good. They appreciate the fact that Energizer walked the talk, and in curiousity to know if they'd join next year's event, almost 60% of them said yes they will!
Here’s a podcast from BFM’s weekly roundup on advertising and marketing news, featuring Gabey Goh from Advertising & Marketing magazine. I highlighted some points discussed:
- Could this affect sales? No, because it was more about a negative brand association, not the product itself.
- Selection of event management team should be questioned as Expose Media have never organized one before, let alone one of the largest marathon event in Malaysia.
- Lesson learnt: respond quickly. We can’t wait for office hours to response anymore.
My Point of View
- Don’t do an event if you’re not prepared for it. Successful events don’t appear out of thin air, it is the result of a good strategy and management/execution team. Postpone if you have too, don’t make it a lousy event.
- Monitor social media & respond to people accordingly. People need to know that they aren’t just writing on a ‘wall’, they need to know that they are heard and something is being done to fix the problem.
- Take responsibility.
and please, remeber the GOLDEN RULE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: DO NOT DELETE USER'S COMMENT.
Read how Malaysian Internet users' rage turned some hacked to play around with government websites (with my very first infographic to explain how things happened!) here and the importance of responding in social media, good stuff written by Aaron Lee.
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