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Crisis Management : KitchenAid
Posted by
Odimax
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26 October 2012
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716 views
Two weeks ago an employee of US brand, KitchenAid, mistakenly tweeted an offensive comment from the company Twitter account (@kitchenaid) during the Presidential Debate.
Although the post was spotted and deleted quickly, what’s put online is generally online forever, and followers of the Presidential debate hashtags were quick to jump on the post.
What followed could have been a PR disaster as the story has been discussed at length across global social media channels since the incident occurred.
So how did KitchenAid save their skins, and what can other brands learn from the management of this crisis?
1. Quick Response. KitchenAid were quick to notice and acknowledge that the mistake had been made, deleting the offending post and explaining how the situation had arisen.
2. Named contact. Head of KitchenAid, Cynthia Soledad, was quick to name herself as the point of contact and brand representative.
3. Apologise. Now isn’t the time to make excuses. Brand representative, Cynthia, apologised, acknowledged and explained the situation, stated what had been done as a result of the employee’s indiscretion, and reinforced the message that the erroneous post was not a reflection of the brand’s opinions.
4. Be open. Tweets were sent directly and openly to active members of the social media news community. These tweets were retweeted and favourited by followers, and when comments were made which criticised the response, brand advocates were quick to defend KitchenAid’s behaviour in response to the tweet.
5. Move on. If you’ve handled a situation professionally from the outset, there’s a strong chance (as in the case of KitchenAid) that your brand advocates will jump to your defence. Having made any necessary apologies and explanations, it’s time to get back to relative normality and let the furore die down.
6. Convert the critics. As a result of the extensive news coverage, KitchenAid saw a huge increase in their number of followers as thousands of Twitter users were alerted to the story. In the last two weeks KitchenAid have run competitions, offered discounts, and encouraged followers to interact with them at events. They’ve also been visibly active in responding to any customer enquiries or complaints on the social site.
There’s a saying that ‘any publicity is good publicity’, and it seems that KitchenAid have successfully turned this situation to their advantage through quick response and active engagement with members of the online community.
Do you have plans in place to identify and manage a brand crisis?
Do you have a code of best practice for employees using social media?
Monitor sentiments surrounding your brand with Odimax and identify negative situations in their earliest stages to minimise crisis impact. Contact us now for a demo.
