Would you like to learn more about the power and speed of social media?
Unfortunately for Qantas, you can learn this right now, by checking out the Twitter hashtag: #QantasLuxury.
This morning Qantas tried to launch a Twitter competition asking their followers, ‘What is your dream luxury inflight experience?” and using the #QantasLuxury hashtag. But the timing of this campaign was all wrong: it comes as the brand is experiencing significant reputation management issues related to industrial action that caused the airline to temporarily shut down. This action left thousands of employees confused, thousands of passengers stranded and dissatisfied, and forced the government to become involved.
Today the hashtag that was meant for a competition to improve positive brand awareness was quickly hi-jacked by unhappy customers and stakeholders involved in the industrial action. The hi-jacked tweets include:
- “The best type of #qantasluxury would be getting your food in cattle class with an actual fork and knife and not in a cardboard box” by @franksting
- “I think #QantasLuxury is flying in a plane where every nut and bolt has been checked and double checked by someone in Australia who cares.” by @seamus
- “#QantasLuxury is being late. EVERY SINGLE TIME. (except when flights are cancelled altogether)” by @aegnor
What can you learn from this?
It’s essential for brands to think about what could go wrong in social media before they launch a profile or campaign. As part of this process, consider these questions as a starting point:
- What could the main issues be?
- Which stakeholders would be involved (internally and externally)?
- What would your brand’s key messages be?
- How should you respond?
- What platforms should you respond on? How will the issue influence other marketing activity, such as search?
- How could your brand use online influencers to speak on your behalf?
- How will you update employees?
- How will you manage and respond to the influx of attention (social media, PR, sales, customer service etc.)?
Originally published on switchedonmedia.com.au