Leveraging social media against corporate brands for personal gain serves only to damage an entire mode of communication.
Social media provides an inexpensive and powerful platform for regular people to make their voices heard to a massive audience. Unfortunately, people don’t always use that power in reasonable and positive ways.
When a business faces an attack on its brand through social media, what is the appropriate response?
For instance, what about party-goers who have a few drinks, get out of hand, and are expelled from a club? When iphones come out and the club brand is ravaged online by angry tweets and videos about poor service, how is the club supposed to respond? Is the club supposed to publicly admit wrongdoing when none was committed and set a precedent for others to complain so they can get free stuff? It’s a slippery slope for both a brand and the consumers that enjoy it.
Consider: A video in which country singer Dave Carroll mourns the damage of his Taylor guitar (supposedly) during a flight on United Airlines:
On his website, Dave Carroll moans the saga of his flight with United Airlines and the discovery of his damaged guitar. After getting the runaround from low-level company representatives about a damage claim, he concludes:
I realized then that as a songwriter and traveling musician I wasn’t without options. In my final reply to Ms. Irlweg [The United Airlines representative] I told her that I would be writing three songs about United Airlines and my experience in the whole matter. I would then make videos for these songs and offer them for free download online, inviting viewers to vote on their favourite United song. My goal: to get one million hits in one year.
It’s an interesting marketing plan for a small time musician in need of some publicity. He finished his diatribe with,
I should thank United. They’ve given me a creative outlet that has brought people together from around the world. We had a pile of laughs making the recording and the video while the images are spinning on how to make “United: Song 2” even better than the first. So, thanks United! If my guitar had to be smashed due to extreme negligence I’m glad it was you that did it. Now sit back and enjoy the show.
And so he launched his “show” with website updates and a youtube video that continues to gain leverage through social media.
One of the drawbacks of social media is that most users have short attention spans and little use for fact-checking. I did a bit of my own fact-checking about Dave Carroll and his #unitedbreaksguitars experience: It turns out that United explicitly states on its website that it is “not liable for damage to fragile items” and includes the type of cases approved for transport of musical instruments.
Dave states that he witnessed ground crew throwing his band’s instruments and yet he “neglected” to check his ostensibly-beloved Taylor guitar upon arrival. He says, “The guitar case looked ok and we were tired.”
Now, take the perspective of the United Airlines representative dealing with this situation: A guy complains to you that his expensive guitar was damaged but that he didn’t notice it until a day after his flight. What is your first thought?
If your silly claim/fraud detector went off, good. It should. There are many ways a guitar could be broken in 24hrs and it would be ridiculous for an airline to welcome a suspicious liability.
Dave admits to filing a claim after leaving the airport. I’m familiar enough with shipping claims to know that once you leave the location of a business you’re filing against without confirming damages, your chances of successfully settling a claim dramatically dwindle.
But all was not lost for Dave Carroll and the Sons of Maxwell. They had social media, some production talent, and a desire to embarrass a company into bending its rules just to shut them up.
United Airlines responded via Twitter to the barrage of tweets directed at them concerning the video:
Is this a step forward for social media? I don’t think so. Dave Carroll and his Sons of Maxwell get some cheap publicity but at what cost to the rest of us?
We encourage companies to engage their customers through social media but little is said about how to deal with rogue campaigns bent on embarrassing a brand into cooperation.
It’s tempting to jump on the “UnitedBreaksGuitars” bandwagon and gleefully watch as social media is used to force a company into action. ( This in spite of legitimate reasons for inaction.) It’s tempting to say “the customer is always right” and ignore the need for policies meant to protect companies from fraudulent claims. It’s tempting to get caught up in the seductive power of social media and forget that some people are interested only in promoting themselves.
Did United Airlines break Dave Carroll’s guitar? Perhaps. But the only person he should be singing to right now is himself for not checking his guitar for damages when knew the rigors of its journey.
If social media is going to be a sustainable conversation between consumers and brands, it’s important that we show respect to the brands that bravely step into this space. We need to be responsible participants in social media and use the powerful tool we’ve been given for good causes and not for senseless complaints.
Social media need not be about consumers whining to get free stuff. It must not be.
How do you think United Airlines and other companies faced with a similar situation should respond?
