Chrysler misses chances to turn social media disaster into a #motorcity opportunity
Interestingly little snafu over at US automotive firm Chrysler after a disgruntled former agency staffer working on the company’s Twitter account issued an errant tweet.
Chrysler quickly disowned the tweet in a blog post, but widespread retweeting indicated what might have been if the car firm had seized the opportunity and turned a social media bump on the road into an opportunity.
What happened to Chrysler has echoes of what happened recently to the American Red Cross. In that instance a personal tweet went out on the main account. The US charity quickly owned up and then smartly rode the good will and publicity that came with its admission.
The Red Cross offered a neat little example of how you can prosper using social media if you think on your feet and judge the best way forward. Carpe diem.
Here’s how it went for Chrysler. This tweet went out on its official Twitter feed:
“I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive.”
Bit Eminem (following his Chrysler Super Bowl ad – Imported From Detroit) there for you. The tweet was removed and Chrysler issued an apology on its blog:
Chrysler Group Response to #MotorCity Tweet
by Blog Editor, 09 March 2011 15:01
This morning an inappropriate comment was issued from the Chrysler brand Twitter handle, @ChryslerAutos, via our social media agency of record, New Media Strategies (NMS). After further investigation, it was discovered that the statement was issued by an NMS employee, who has since been terminated.
Chrysler Group and its brands do not tolerate inappropriate language or behavior, and apologize to anyone who may have been offended by this communication.
Furthermore, the Company has set in place appropriate steps to ensure that this does not happen again.
But as surely everyone knows you can delete a tweet, but you can’t delete its existence. The tweet might be gone, but there is now a permanent record in the form of a widely shared screen grab. The tweet more importantly gave rise to the #motorcity hashtag, which led to hundreds of retweets and sharing.
You can get a taste below of the wealth of tweets that the #motorcity tweeter sparked:
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Chrysler Twitter Account Fires F-Bomb Tweet On Accident? – huffingtonpost.comTwitter – 9 Mar 2011 20:22:00
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The opportunity was there waiting to be exploited as John Frenaye (@eyeonannapolis) quickly pointed out in the comments below the Chrysler blog post.
He succinctly hit the nail square on the head in suggesting (pun ahead) the road forward.
EyeOnAnnapolis Mar 9, 2011, 4:04 PM ^Disagree. Chryslers first reaction was the acct had been compromised. (Oh it couldn’t have been us). Well it was you. But I think it was handled wrong. Reprimand the guy/girl for sure, but firing is a bit extreme. Look to the American Red Cross on how to handle this. You missed the opportunity to turn it into good. “Wow, sorry about that errant tweet—we’re getting to the bottom of it.” “Hey, but are we really that bad of drivers here? Submit your story here {link} and you might win a {insert prize here}” Involve your followers. Yes apologize, but this reaction was so predictably corporate!
This kind of social media crises management isn’t going to work every time clearly. Sometimes it just won’t come back your way, but if there is good will and a rising social media wave that isn’t trying to take you down then brands like Chrysler need to seize the opportunity just like @redcross did.
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“The statement was issued by an NMS employee, who has since been terminated.” – I hope it was just his *job contract* that was terminated, or are Chrysler management taking their staff discipline to Schwarzenegger levels?
Turning rogue staff tweets into positive (or at least not completely negative) stories is a skill we’re all going to have to learn
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