- Crisis Management Wins and Sins
- Cruising Toward Social Media Success with a Customer Advocacy Program
- How LeBron James Twissed* His Fans... And How Businesses Can Do Better
- Be careful what you (don't) tweet
- Be there or be foursquare - localized marketing
- View Archive >
- About this blog
- Branding
- Corporate
- Crisis
- Healthcare
- Interactive
- Media
- PR
- Research
- Search Marketing
- Social Media
The Lead
|
« Can something be good publicity and bad public relations? | Main | Best Buy, Twelpforce, and Crowdsourcing a Brand » Sue First, Ask Questions Later: A Classic Lesson in Social Media and Public RelationsPosted by Jason Swartz on July 29, 2009 at July 29, 2009 9:44 AMYesterday afternoon, Matt Kucharski (a Senior VP here at Padilla) wrote a post on good publicity and bad public relations - asking whether or not you can have both. As his post was still hot from the presses of our content management system, an interesting example of this very topic began trending upward on Twitter. The topic of discussion was a company called Horizon Real Estate, based in Chicago, IL, who learned first-hand about the good and bad of publicity and public relations - from over 50,000 consumers. Here's what happened... Amanda Bonnen, a former tenant of a property owned by Horizon, tweeted this to her whopping network of 20 followers: 
Horizon, being the social media-savvy, public relations experts they are, filed a lawsuit against Bonnen for $50K, claiming libel. To defend themselves, a representative from the company made this statement, "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of company." As you can imagine, Tweeple were outraged. The number of negative comments about Horizon Real Estate on Twitter has skyrocketed, to the point where I'll be surprised if they stay in business. Maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but what would you do if thousands of people were publicly communicating about your company with phrases like these: "I would NEVER rent from Horizon now (and I live in the Chicago area). Not because of the whole moldy thing, but because of the suit!" There goes one potential customer. "I was looking at a Horizon Real Estate apartment w/ my fiancée. We decided not to get it. Now I find out they sue their tenants. #luckedout" Chances are these guys won't come back. "Dear Horizon Realty, I am not a tenant but please feel free to go *expletive* yourself at your earliest convenience." At least this guy asked nicely. Horizon did eventually issue an apology late yesterday, saying that their "tongue-in-cheek comments" were "taken out of context." That's kind of like when people say, "I'm sorry, BUT..." It's not really an apology. That aside, the company should have A) Thought for at least a few seconds before issuing a statement and B) Been more in tune with the social media landscape. As companies, marketers and brands, we're at a point where getting involved in social media is a no longer a "Q4 initiative." It's a, "Let's put a plan in place RIGHT NOW so we don't end up like Horizon Real Estate" initiative. But beyond crisis control, being tuned in to the social media landscape offers many other benefits, such as customer relationship building, finding new business opportunities, media relations and more. However, you'll never discover these benefits until you at least begin to monitor what's out there. And with so many tools allowing you to do this, you really can't afford not to. From there, your communications team should be thinking about how to leverage your findings to build an approachable brand with a great reputation, that prides itself on asking questions first and never suing the people who keep you in business.
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsPost a comment |
