A reputation crisis is for a company like a fire; We can burn the whole house (brand), we can save the furniture (reputation) or we can even benefit from insurance (convert consumers into brand evangelizes). Getting one or another result depends on a single factor: the response time.
Social networks allow us to react in a record time to a crisis, since the response to our consumers is direct and immediate, as no other means of communication. Having relied on the enormous potential of Social Media, La Cocinera would have saved a lot of time and money in stifling the crisis in which it was involved. Let’s look at what happened.
February 25, 2013, we had breakfast with the news that traces of horse meat have been found in one of the precooked products of the brand The Cocinera. The crisis explodes, all the alarms go off and consumers begin to show their discomfort.
Do we call the fire department or let it burn?
Possibly this was the question asked by the brand managers … Was there an answer? Were the accusations denied? Did you bet on that “who’s silent gives?” …
You have to respond and … fast. 4 hours after the scandal The cook confirms the information through her Facebook page, the only communication channel available to the brand in social networks.
Look at the time of publication, at 3:03 p.m., the election is not a coincidence, it corresponds to the start time of the main television news items; Know that they must anticipate the reaction of their consumers when knowing the news.
They answered, and fast, but how? The brand simply copied the company’s “official statement” on its wall, a line of proforma excuses where they derived responsibility to their supplier. Judging from the negative comments on this, the answer does not satisfy consumers.
70% of the comments are negative, consumers who are shown defrauded by the brand, in addition 10% of these users criticize the company’s action to divert responsibility to its supplier. It seems that the fire is already affecting reputation.
Delete focus by focus
The first response has not managed to extinguish the fire since, a week later, the brand again uses social networks to defend against the accusations that are being poured into public opinion.
This second message is not far removed from the line of communication expressed in the previous communique; What if it changes is the management of the comments.
We went from 70% to 80% of negative comments in this publication, the situation is getting worse. What does La Cocinera do then? The brand goes one step further in its strategy of transparency. The company now responds directly to users who have expressed a negative comment; Hence the brand’s interventions are increased from 1% to 20%. We are dealing with the use of social networks as a real direct customer service.
Do you get the expected result? Only one of the negatives of the brand relapsed into its accusations, the other negative comments cease after the explanations; Have managed to turn off the most important lights.
In a week using this channel effectively The cook manages to reduce the degree of criticism towards the brand but is the fire completely off?
Let the firemen come, but to the television
April 9, 2013, 43 days after the controversy comes the response to the crisis television campaign. An announcement that gives voice to the employees who, through their experience, defend the practices of the company. Workers convey a clear message: “If we are a big family, how can we not give the best to your family?”
References to numerous analyzes, strict quality controls and meat, meat; That is to say, to the crisis provoked by the traces of equine meat, are evident; But they are just that, references, since the spot does not mention directly the crisis that has motivated this campaign.
The ad follows the strategy of transparency that we saw applied to Facebook but with a clear difference, in the spot are people, not words, that try to restore the reputation to the brand. Consumers are identified with company employees which gives credibility to the message; They are like them, people, who can not lie but the marks if they can do it.
Let us now verify, through the response of the consumer, if this campaign has managed to quell the crisis. Of the seven comments alluding to the Consumer Charter, which is part of the campaign, only one refers to the case of horse meat, the rest are comments from consumers who have become brand evangelizes. What happened then? That the advertisement has managed to find the source of the fire, the distrust of the brand, and directly attack it but, yes, wasting valuable time along the way.
The extinguisher of social media
From all this analysis we draw a conclusion: the brand would have saved 43 days and a television campaign if it had used social networks effectively; That is to say, if at 4 hours of crisis the crisis would have responded to its consumers with a message of true transparency and closeness, as they have done through their spot.
The case of The Cocinera shows us the enormous potential of social networks. They are not just a loudspeaker of our messages but a meeting point between the brand and consumers, a new social space that, used effectively, can suffocate a crisis in a matter of hours, since in reaction time there is no means Quickly surpass social networks. Do you agree with me?