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Why should companies be on social media : Part 2 : United Airlines Guitar Scandal

zapylacz — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:35:55 +0000

In an attempt to explain why companies need Social Media Branding we started a series last week. The series will comprise of cases where Social Media has affected companies/brands/individuals in a good or bad manner. Last time we posted the case of the United Airlines Stock Crash case, incidentally this time also we post a story which is concerned with United Airlines.
The Case : A Canadian guy travels on a United Airlines flight, but on reaching his destination he sees that his guitar had been damaged by the airline personnel. He pursued the airlines for an year for the damages but when he saw there was no response from them, he put up a video on Youtube which said “United Breaks Guitars”. Being a musician himself he composed a nice song and it became an instant hit. See video :

Effect : When the video views reached 50,000, United Airlines contacted the person and paid him damages and tried to hush up the case. But it had been quite late by then, the net’s a Virus. The video had spread virally to all corners of the world already.

Result : Although United Airlines cleaned up the mistake but now the incident has become one of the most talked about incidents in the Social Media Industry. With the story on CNN and the video reaching a massive 4,000,000+ views the Airline has taken a bashing already. What worsens up the matter is that even if google for United Airlines, you get a first page result of the youtube video “United Breaks Guitars”.

Point to Learn : If you are a service oriented company, you ought to listen to your customers. Had this incident happened a decade ago, it would have never come into limelight as not everyone approaches the media. But in this present scenario, when nobody is out of media, everybody has the power to spread the word and it can really bring more damages as this new form of media has empowered the customers and the best thing is that this is un-censored.
Don’t underestimate the new age customer and the new media – Social Media.

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Why should companies be on Social Media : Statistical Answers

zapylacz — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:57:35 +0000

We have been asked a lot over the reality of social media, is it a fad, is it for real, is it here to stay, does Indian market really needs it ? There have points like : Okay, it’s working for others so what ! What if I don’t benefit from it ? Is it worth the money I pay you ?

And the most common one SHOW ME SOME STATS. While we have made a road map to answer the rest and have already started answering them in a series of posts, the STATS answer is Right Here Right Now.

I guess you cannot question us again on the stats. The only thing that might be concerning you is that India does not have substantial internet reach as compared to the developed nations. My answer to that is : Okay, it does not have the same reach PRESENTLY but does not mean that it will NEVER reach there. It’s just a matter of time when we are there, and with our population way over the other developed nations, we have a much bigger market to target. The only question to ask yourself is whether you want be there before your target or wait till your competitor reaches your target audience. The question “Whether or not I should be there” is gone now, it’s only a question of WHEN ?

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Why should companies be on social media : Part 1 : United Airlines Stock Crash

zapylacz — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:12:44 +0000

Companies/people in the United States might have understood but Indian firms are still playing the waiting game. All of a sudden with major magazines like BusinessToday and Dare having their cover stories on the importance of social media, there is so much social media hype that companies have totally misunderstood what’s the real sense of social media.
For the same reason we have started a series of articles that will make all you business owners to think that probably you should be using it before it gets too late.
The first case is a United Airlines stock crash case. Although the story goes back to last year i.e. September ‘08 but stills it clearly delivers the message.

The Case : A chicago tribune story prompted the United Airlines Stock to crash by 99.2% in barely 2 hours time before the trading had to be suspended on the stock.
The Reason for crash : A Chicago tribune report says that United has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Hence stock prices plummeted.
The Reality : United filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2002. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2006. But someone read the article and not finding the date, thought the report to be latest. Luck was on the other side as both the rising oil prices and recession prompted the people to believe the report to be true. The story was available on chicago tribune website and spread virally like wildfire which resulted in the airlines’ stock prices crash.
It was only after the airlines spokesperson confirmed the report was false that the trading resumed and stock prices rose back to normal. Later on United asked Chicago times to remove the archived story to avoid a repeat.
That’s the power of internet ! I guess it cannot be denied that THIS or something SIMILAR can happen to any of the companies. As it is said “Bad news travels fast“.
Point to Learn : You need to keep an eye all the time to see what’s happening and who’s playing with your brand value in order to protect it.

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