4 Cases of (good) crisis management in social media communication April 21, 2013
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2025 6:41 am
Taking the initiative , showing that you're listening , apologizing if necessary, acting responsibly, and , above all, being transparent : these are some of the key elements of corporate communications management, especially on social media. Here are four examples from the last year:
1. Orange Spain and the alleged selection process.
It all began when, on May 21, 2012, the blog "El siglo de las luces country email list (reloaded)" published the post: "Orange charges for participating in a job selection process ," which echoed an advertisement published on Infojobs by the human resources consultancy RH Focus. The news soon made the front page of Meneame, generated more than 350 tweets on Twitter, spread to Forocoches and Facebook, and was replicated in many other online media, reaching a potential audience of 450,000 people. One detail: the news was false , and the author of the post never attempted to verify its veracity by contacting the telecommunications company, according to David MartÃnez , external communications manager for Orange Spain. It took the company just 24 hours to issue a denial: the chosen medium was Orange Spain's Twitter profile , in addition to intervening in the comment thread on the blog that originated the news and demanding that RH Focus publish an explanation on its website.
2. Kitchen Aid and Obama's grandmother.
October 3, 2012, presidential debate on NBC. Out of the blue, the corporate Twitter account of the kitchen appliance company Kitchen Aid, with 24,000 followers, tweeted : "Obama's grandmother didn't even know she was going to get sick. She died three days before he became president."
An incomprehensible disrespectful message? In reality, the Kitchen Aid employee managing the profile made a mistake when updating accounts , and instead of issuing the tweet from their personal profile, they did so from the corporate one. The company immediately deleted the message and "rectified" the situation: via Twitter, Kitchen Aid representative Cynthia Soledad apologized to President Obama, contacted Mashable to clarify what had happened, and took responsibility on behalf of the team, using the debate's hashtags and expressly mentioning @BarackObama. The Twitter community responded by praising the well-managed communication.
3. The day Maker's Mark listened and corrected himself.
In February of this year, the spirits company Maker's Mark decided to reduce the alcohol content of its bourbon from 45% to 42% due to supply issues . To communicate this, it sent an email to its main customers. Protests on Twitter and Facebook were swift: up to 6,000 tweets a day were recorded. For nine days, the company defended its decision on its corporate website. Until finally, it caved. Via Twitter, it accepted: "You have spoken. We have listened." The phrase became so popular that #youspokewelistened became a hashtag.
1. Orange Spain and the alleged selection process.
It all began when, on May 21, 2012, the blog "El siglo de las luces country email list (reloaded)" published the post: "Orange charges for participating in a job selection process ," which echoed an advertisement published on Infojobs by the human resources consultancy RH Focus. The news soon made the front page of Meneame, generated more than 350 tweets on Twitter, spread to Forocoches and Facebook, and was replicated in many other online media, reaching a potential audience of 450,000 people. One detail: the news was false , and the author of the post never attempted to verify its veracity by contacting the telecommunications company, according to David MartÃnez , external communications manager for Orange Spain. It took the company just 24 hours to issue a denial: the chosen medium was Orange Spain's Twitter profile , in addition to intervening in the comment thread on the blog that originated the news and demanding that RH Focus publish an explanation on its website.
2. Kitchen Aid and Obama's grandmother.
October 3, 2012, presidential debate on NBC. Out of the blue, the corporate Twitter account of the kitchen appliance company Kitchen Aid, with 24,000 followers, tweeted : "Obama's grandmother didn't even know she was going to get sick. She died three days before he became president."
An incomprehensible disrespectful message? In reality, the Kitchen Aid employee managing the profile made a mistake when updating accounts , and instead of issuing the tweet from their personal profile, they did so from the corporate one. The company immediately deleted the message and "rectified" the situation: via Twitter, Kitchen Aid representative Cynthia Soledad apologized to President Obama, contacted Mashable to clarify what had happened, and took responsibility on behalf of the team, using the debate's hashtags and expressly mentioning @BarackObama. The Twitter community responded by praising the well-managed communication.
3. The day Maker's Mark listened and corrected himself.
In February of this year, the spirits company Maker's Mark decided to reduce the alcohol content of its bourbon from 45% to 42% due to supply issues . To communicate this, it sent an email to its main customers. Protests on Twitter and Facebook were swift: up to 6,000 tweets a day were recorded. For nine days, the company defended its decision on its corporate website. Until finally, it caved. Via Twitter, it accepted: "You have spoken. We have listened." The phrase became so popular that #youspokewelistened became a hashtag.