Domino's Crisis 101

In response to the short blog post Crisis 101: Now Measured in Minutes on http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/, I found that quick responses from companies are crucial in the time of crisis. Because Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, Twitter, and Youtube can rapidly spread a message, companies now have a 24-hour window to perform damage control for their brand.

The blog mentions two companies: Amazon and Domino’s who had a bad publicity crisis and did not react in timely fashion. One of my friends actually told me about the Domino’s video this past Friday and showed me a clip of it. I had not heard or seen it before and was automatically intrigued by this social media nightmare and was wondering why I did not get wind of it sooner. I figured that perhaps I should start watching the news or check my online news more often.

I found another article http://adage.com/article?article_id=136086 that detailed the Domino’s incident a bit more. This past Monday April 13th, a disgusting Domino’s Youtube video was posted showing two employees sticking cheese up their nose, farting on some meat, and other unseemly things to a sandwich before supposedly delivering to an unwary customer. Domino’s found out about it but delayed reacting to it right away, in fear that it would make the offensive video seem worse. Finally on Wednesday, Domino’s posted a Youtube response thanking the community for alerting them of what was going on and helping them find the employees who had posted the video. The video also told its viewers that the store had been sanitized and that Domino’s would review their hiring process a bit better. Domino’s opened a Twitter account to combat customer questions about the incident. The original video was pulled off Youtube, but it had already received almost a million views. Critics state that Domino’s should have reacted sooner on Tuesday instead of waiting for Wednesday to put out a response. They should have at least let out a Tweet or message showing the public that they were aware of the situation and were handling it appropriately. According to the blog, users might have different opinions or comments on the company if they got some response from the company at least. However, the critics were proud that Domino’s later spoke to their demographics on Youtube, Twitter, Myspace, and more notably Facebook to alleviate the crisis.

I believe that this mishap will actually build customer loyalty especially as many people see how well Domino’s handled the situation in the days afterwards. Although the response could have been faster, I think users will be impressed at the social media presence that Domino’s has, especially to communicate to their customers as well as keep track of what people are saying about their brand. In the next few weeks, I hope that Domino’s really takes advantage of this publicity and build up their social media tools to boost up their sales and build a stronger customer experience. I think people will be checking Domino’s Facebook page to see what the company or other users have to say. Domino’s needs to capture these users now and make an interesting website so that users will want to check the site again.

All in all, I believe that Domino’s handled the situation fairly well despite the time lag. The comments on the blog seem to agree with the author that a quick response should be part of Crisis 101 training. I think in the future, incidences such as these will happen more often and will be handled similarly but more timely, especially as companies learn from Domino’s, Amazon, Motrin and all the other companies who have suffered from the backlash of social media. It is a fair learning lesson for all of us, particularly marketing folks who need to be aware of what people are saying or watching about their brand in real-time, and also how to use social media tools to market their companies in terms of building stronger community and communication with their customers.

Gaining Insights and Building Customer Experience through Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube

Some questions beforehand:
I included 3 main technologies to focus on, but the bulk of my research so far is on Facebook. Is it okay if the paper is not evenly split? Also if I have enough information on Facebook and Twitter for the paper, may I cut out the Youtube portion?

Also, some of what I will be covering may be future services that could be offered in the future. Is it okay to draw out a vision for what might be the future of customer insights in the social media arena?

Paper Outline

I. Introduction
A. Creating a more interactive user experience with the product or service to build loyalty
B. Gaining customer insights through Web 2.0 tools and better segmenting your target market accordingly
C. Web 2.0 Technologies used:
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Youtube

II. Facebook
A. Building the user experience with different Facebook tools for the customer to interact with the brand and product; let them share what they think about the product with others and meet other fans like themselves
1. Facebook applications, fan profile pages, videos and photo sharing, gifts, etc
a) Coke – second largest fan page; Sharing videos and photos of their Coke products
b) Dr. House – fifth largest fan page with almost 3 million fans; Not doing enough marketing with this page if it indeed the show; Suggestions for what they could be doing
c) Skittles – Mix the Rainbow music game – engages user
d) San Antonio Spurs - Facebook application with 15,000 active users; invite friends that you have who live in San Antonio – using demographics; ask for email to send updates, news, etc; User interaction with discussion board, photos, fan waves, fan rankings, predict team wins, etc
B. Gain customer insights about who they are, what kind of friends do they have and what do their friends do or like, what products do they endorse, etc
1. Traditional Facebook fan profile pages, groups, etc
a) Research for demographics, online behavior, network of friends, events, groups, etc
b) What do users have in common? Where are they different? How can you use any of this knowledge for marketing purposes?
2. Facebook Connect future opportunities – third party websites use Facebook API in order to access the user’s social network for their own website to show the user what their friends are doing
a) With an online retail shop that implements Facebook Connect, a Facebook Connect user could view what their other friend who has turned on FB Connect as well has been purchasing and reviewing.
b) With an online music shop, you could see what your friends are listening to and how often they listen to particular songs. The music industry could better market to users by knowing what friendship circle and profiles match with what music.

III. Twitter
A. User Experience
1. Customer Service interaction – ask simple questions and get a quick response
a) Whole Foods
b) Southwest Airlines
2. User Feedback – What do the users think about the product or service?
a) Jimmy Eat World – the band
B. Gain Customer Insights
1. Search.Twitter.com – what is being said about their company or product in real time
a) Obama’s Election Campaign and Inauguration
2. What are the most viral links that are being put up? Which ones are the most popular? Is this data readily available now or going to be in the future?
3. Learn something about your followers; not an extended profile right now, but may be in the future. Is there any valuable information in the common followers?

IV. Youtube
A. User Experience
1. Enable viewer comments, ratings, favorites, and replies to create a dialogue between video and the viewer
a) Obama’s weekly reports – no comments enabled. What is a better way for users to provide feedback to his thoughts? Wiki? Blog? Discussion boards?
2. Have users make their own videos as a marketing campaign with various incentives to the best video
a) One Million Uses for Post-It Notes
b) Oreo Moments
c) Kraft Cooking Challenge
3. Have users post their videos showing their customer experience
a) Southwest Airlines rap – over 1 million views
B. Gaining Customer Insights
1. What are videos that are catching the user’s attention? What feedback are you getting from company videos?