- Facebook - 500 Million
- Facebook Mobile - 200 Million
- Twitter - 175 Million
- YouTube - 100 Million views per day / 700 Billion playbacks annually
Followers keep growing at an exponential rate and its becoming easier for consumers to voice their opinions and concerns. Unfortunately, for many business, most of those posts or videos consist of consumers venting on their dissatisfaction. One iconic example is the story of Dave Carroll, a musician, and United Airlines. It all started prior to departure when a woman siting behind Carroll said out loud "My god they're throwing guitars out there". Carroll and his friend Mike, a bass player, noticed United baggage handlers throwing Mike's bass without regard. Carroll quickly noticed his $3,500 Taylor has been thrown right before. When Carroll got his Taylor back the neck was broken (SHOCKING!). He notified United Airlines, nobody took responsibility for his guitar and he was passed from employee to employee. After nine months of communication a United Airline employee emailed Carroll a letter stating that the airline would not be taking responsibility for the guitar and would no longer communicate about the matter. Well, Carroll was not a happy customer and decided to take matters in his own hands. Carroll went ahead and make three songs about United Airlines and his baggage experience. He then made videos of these songs on YouTube and his own website www.davecarrollmusic.com, inviting viewers to vote on their ultimate favorite song. His goal was to reach one million hits in just one year, sounds ambitious right? To United Airlines' surprise Carroll's first video had over 10 million views! here is my favorite video (video # 2):
Within four days of Carroll's first video going online United Airlines took a hit of 10% equaling an approximate of $180 million or 51,000 replacement guitars. Soon after his videos went viral United Airlines tried to mend things over and donated $3,000 to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Unfortunately it was a little too late since Carroll had been featured on the today show, CNN and even Jimmy Kimmel.
Clearly social media is a great mean for customers to voice their opinions, but is up to companies to make this a positive experience. Companies must take advantage of the multi-million followers available to them. It is pivotal to always make the customer feel appreciated for their opinion. Companies should encourage customers to participate in positive word of mouth in their social media channels and immediately act when negative comments surface.
Sources:
- http://www.youtube.com/user/sonsofmaxwell
- http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/music
- http://www.business2community.com
- Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy. Delbert Hawkins, David Mothersbaugh, Roger Best
Daniela, that was a humorous blog but very informative on the effect of one customer’s negative experience. If United Airline could have seen the coming of a $180 million budget replacement in guitars; they could of took Dave’s situation and turn it positive to better the companies social impact. This multimillion dollar company would have sent Dave a Guitar, a full band, and maybe a concert promoting its support in the musical industry. However, huge firms like United Airlines need to understand the impact social media has on its companies imagine. Social media/ E-marketing can become positive or have a negative impact like Dave’s Guitar.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post and watching that video, great job!
ReplyDeleteIt is really important for companies to handle conflict with customers in an ethical way, i recall when united airlines faced their decrease in sales after handling someones guitar without care, resulting in making a video badmouthing united airlines and going viral, which i am guessing is your video but part one and the one you posted. If united airlines would have handled this situation in an ethical way they would of made a positive advertisement towards the company.
This was a cool read I liked it a lot. I think it is awesome that you highlighted the importance of people getting the opportunity to voice themselves and share experiences in order for companies to improve the overall experience they are trying to create for the consumer. This allows progression in the the ethical battle companies face regarding their behavior and also in the ways they can improve the buying process.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how the internet has been so beneficial to companies but can also be so harmful since it can essentially be a megaphone for upset customers. Sites like Yelp make it very easy for people to voice their frustrations with businesses and, as you have shown, companies need to monitor their reputation online and make amends if necessary. These days, even huge companies are quick to respond to angry customers on Twitter and Facebook to make sure they please the customer and have a good public image in full view of the internet. If United had responded faster publicly to Dave Carroll they probably could have saved themselves embarrassment and probably at least a portion of the $180 million dollars they lost due to bad publicity.
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