COMMENTS
I think the most important lesson is to apologize immediately. Potential customers have more respect for a brand when they own up to their mistakes.
A classic example of what NOT to do! Any publicity is good publicity right? So did the mystery tweeter unknowingly do good for the brand?
Still, I am a great supporter of the number 1 mantra in media especially social media - Don't Publicly Berate Customers... EVER
First off, I promise that I'm an Emma with no connection whatsoever to Emma's Pizza. (No connections to Emmas Watson, Thompson, or Baby Spice, either.) That said, I thought this was a great little character study in the flailing downfall of a small business trying to use social media to promote itself. Sometimes it seems that the fiery personality of a social poster can interfere with what the tools are supposed to accomplish, and the results can be disastrous.
I think this debacle showcases an interesting dichotomy between the social and marketing aspects of new media. While the initial onset of social tools like Facebook and Twitter was to promote community and conversation, these things have since morphed into substantial components of new advertising and promotional forms, meaning that the preliminary purpose has radically evolved into something new entirely. As with any rapidly changing medium, I think it's always important to exercise caution if you're not 100% sure of the correct procedural route, and this is something that Emma's Pizza failed to do.
With almost all employees "public-facing" today in the social media world, companies have to make sure that employees up and down the ladder stay on-message and on-brand (without sounding like a robot). Davia Temin has written "10 Don'ts for Corporate Social Media," addressing these and other issues companies must take into account in their social media efforts: http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviatemin/2011/08/15/dont-forget-to-leverage-your-community-10-out-of-the-10-donts-of-corporate-social-media/2/.
That this article proves that it is not just something that stays local for people who knew about this in tweeter but that a mistake can cause you lasting PR problems. The twitter feed will be soon forgotten and blow over as you have reported here in 17 days the net gets a new memory. However, this blog will last forever and people that will curate this blog will have it forever too. So it will not just be those that saw it and reacted that you might lose it will be all those that do a search for you find how nasty you were way after everyone else forgot about. The twitter problem is bad but not s bad as cleaning your reputation for years after when people find blogs like these!
The apology is TO the crew, not FOR the crew.
I think their apology should have used proper grammar and punctuation :)
If you read what they write, not only on twitter, but in response to comments on yelp and other areas as well, it is shocking that they are in business. Food may be good, but the attitude and arrogance of this owner is ridiculous. I'm shocked anyone would spend money there. Watch out HubSpot, you're likely on their hitlist next!
Agree with your solutions and recommendations with one exception in item #4.
Strongly advise against compounding the company's culture errors by summarily firing the tweeter.
Better that the owner practice good management by informing the employee in clear terms what the impact has been on the business, then setting (in writing) and communicating new limits that will prevent this for ever happening again.
The owner would communicate what is expected of the employee and, most importantly, ask for the employee's commitment to fulfill it. And, in the same conversation, makes it clear that this is what is requested and expected.
This way, there will be no opportunity for resentment or defensive self-justification or gossip. This gives the employee an opportunity to step into a new level of maturity and responsibility, and prevents misreading what is at stake: the future of the business, and everyone's livelihood.
When the owner takes these steps, it will communicate leadership, vision and clarity to the other employees as well, and set a standard that will truly set the business on a much more successful path.
Thank you for considering these ideas.
Unless I'm mistaken, he wasn't apologizing on behalf of his crew - or someone on his staff. He freely admitted that it was him that tweeted inappropriately -- so while I liked your post, you lost credibility with me for getting that part completely and totally wrong. If I'm wrong, I apologize -- but even in his apology he took full responsibility for the tweets.
Bottom line, as someone else pointed out the damage is in people like you, me, or others in the social space continuing to use this as a textbook example of what NOT to do.
Shelly Kramer
@shellykramer
5th social media lesson: Echo Chamber is not your win https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/emmaspizza
I think one of the things this situation points out is that there is no "safe zone" to vent as a business owner of any size. I will say that Emma's has awesome food and great service, so I will more than happily excuse a twitter mistake.
Thank you so much for this article! When I saw that the @emmaspizza Twitter account referred to a customer as a "dumbass", I was horrified. I'm the person you linked to as criticizing them. I just thought it was rude and very unprofessional. That restaurant happens to be one of my favorites, I think their pizza is amazing and never had any issues with their service. But to berate a customer is not cool. It makes them look bad not the customer!
I think it's important to keep a professional image when you are promoting a business online. I know people want to vent their frustrations but a company Twitter account is not the place to do it.
wow that had to have been some what embarassing. You are absolutley right when it comes to running a business on or off line keep it professional. You can loose so much more in the long run
O wow... I had such an experience with a taxi company in Utrecht (The Nederlands). I wrote a blog about his usage of twitter with some very valuable advices. He responded on twitter with (translated) "Drop dead and choke in your own diarrhoea". I posted that tweet, my network generated more than 450.000 impressions (tweetreach), blocked him and account is now suspended. Story including tweets are published <a href="http://www.socialbites.nl/2011/08/12/digitale-here:
Oops, something went wrong. Link must be http://www.socialbites.nl/2011/08/12/digitale-twitter-diarree/
I feel that often times small business try to use social media themselves. They are often not in a position or don't want to pay a social media consultant because they figure they can "do it" themselves. This is a prime example how a social media consultant could have trained them to use it to get sales and not upset customers.
I work with restaurant and i can tell you that i am not surprised at all! Restaurants owners are social media illiterate, they can manage to bake a good pizza but when it comes to online presence they should rely on Internet consultants!
there also didn't seem to be any apology to that particular customer, or offer of free pizzas, or similar!
It does amaze me when I see stories like this. I hope it teaches other people how to use their social presence effectively as things can escalate quickly if an error is made.
From a marketing perspective, it's obviously a bad use of social media, or any medium, to do or say anything that would give customers a negative impression of your business.
But at the same time, I have the sense it would be an over-reaction to leverage this egregious mistake to place SM efforts entirely in the hands of those who will make sure that everything that goes out is polished and perfected - and completely disingenuous.
It's not that I'm suggesting any employee should have carte blanche to use the company's megaphone .... merely that there is a position to be taken between the extremes of being completely restricted and completely unrestricted, and an over-reaction to prevent future mistakes can be just as damaging to a firm's reputation as a misstep such as this.
As a social media consutant for small businesses this case is not only a great lesson for small businesses, but brings up an issue that we struggle with everyday. In order for a social media account to be authentic, it has to come from the business. How does a small business owner find time to tweet, update facebook, and also run their business?
Most will find an employee who is already personally using social media and have them do it. There is a big difference between a personal account and a business account. So the fifth lesson in this case is that is ok to have someone else in the company handle your social media, but the owner needs to be monitoring it all the time.
It should not have taken 2 days for the owner to see the tweets and then appologize, he should have seen it with in 24 hours. There is amazing software and free notification that can keep you updated on what is going on with your social media accounts. Remember it is ok to have someone else handle your account, but a business owner still needs to be involved because at the end of the day, it is their name on the business!
Why are we a) still covering these incidents like they're news and b) acting as if these "mistakes" are a bad thing?
We preach all the time about authenticity, which means to get the good, we need to see the bad, too.
This reminds me of the time when a sales rep I worked with accidentally sent a customer an email saying "You can't fix stupid".
In both these cases I think a pause + proofread could have saved the disastrous consequences.
That being said, both these stories do make me chuckle inside :)
When mixing business and social media, it’s important to have a solid recipe for success. In regards to smaller businesses that are ready to test social media, begin with employing a proper strategy. This will help separate emotion from business, which can help avoid mistakes such as these. A social media strategy can outline ways to address customer service issues and by thinking ahead, it will also provide additional marketing opportunities. For example, if the customer thought the substitution was free, clarify that these are not free, but draw attention to a special catered to the customer’s inquiry- “10% off meatball substitution”, which could be offered a week later.
hey guys, i was the "dumbass" lady. here is my yelp review that explains what actually happened:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/emmas-pizza-cambridge#hrid:kZEDZbRQ9Ys12k1dA19E9A
seriously though, regardless of the owner, you should definitely eat there. pretty much everything they make is delicious.
@Tyler Hurst. Good point.
I think Emma's sort of tweet can work for some companies. Esp. if the customer was really being rude - the slavish catering to a customer it to me a turn off. I'd rather see a place with character, be it rude or not.
I like the attitude. And I think it stands out from all the sort of white-bread "on point" marketing wisdom.
Anyway, companies like Emma's are local and if the local community abides the behavior, then I don't see a problem.