Social media can benefit a company in numerous ways, but if not handled carefully it can harm a brand as well.
An employee of Chrysler was terminated this past year for using obscene language in one of his tweets that went out through the company’s twitter account on his phone instead of his personal account. The tweet was also bashing people from Detroit, where Chrysler headquarters is located. This tweet was giving a bad name to the company he works for and the city of Detroit. This was a careless mistake that could have been avoided with paying attention to small details.
Chrysler responded to this mishap by writing a post on their official blog website apologizing for the offensive language used. The post was only about 200 words and lacked any kind of depth on the issue.
Instead of just sending out this little blog post which I’m sure went out via Facebook and Twitter, either a high up executive or a spokesperson should have recorded a live apology. I feel that an apology coming from an actual person instead of just a computer screen will be more memorable. Even though this was just a small and minor incident it still deserved more attention from Chrysler. This video should have been placed on YouTube and shared via Facebook, Twitter, and the company’s website.
Along with a recorded apology Chrsler could have taken the Red Cross approach and turned the incident into a lighthearted matter.
Having a video apology would have made this situation a lot better…but they should not take advice from the Netflix apology…those guys were creepy.
Jenny Muscat - JRN 397a 