The last few weeks and months have seen quite a few social media crises. From Eurostar to more recently Vodafone and Toyota. As those involved in social media comms will know, once a crisis hits, its anyone's guess where it will end up.
With regards to the Toyota crisis, there has been an interesting exchange on Twitter between Michael Valvo, UK PR manager for Toyota and Danny Rogers, editor of PR Week UK about an article on how the Japanese carmaker has responded to events
For me, the most interesting part is Michael's response on priorities in getting facts and assurances to customers ahead of responding to a press request. While I complelely agree with this approach this time, it did get me thinking about how the conversations go within boardrooms when it comes to which channels take priority when the 'excrement' hits the fan especially with executives who still see social media as something for the kids.
Something like this perhaps?Operations: Boss, we've got a problem. We've screwed up a batch of widgets and will have to recall them.
Finance: Bugger. How much will it cost?
HR: Do we need to fire anyone for it?
Sales: Can we shift them anyway at a knock down price?
Customer service: How many complaints are we going to get?
PR: We'll need a statement for the press. Should we set up a twitter channel and Facebook page to keep anyone interested in the loop?
[PAUSE]
All (except PR): Ha ha ha!!!
[FYI: My colleagues, Morgan McLintic and Lucy Allen will be running a free webinar this Friday (February 12) on crisis management in a social media setting. Click here to register]
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