Prompt: Think about a crisis that occurred with a specific organization in the past couple of years. In your response paper, provide a brief (half page) summary of the crisis and organization. Then, using concepts from class, analyze the organization’s response to the crisis through social media. How did they use social media to address the crisis? Lastly, in your response, share whether or not you think the organization succeeded in addressing the crisis. Be critical and detailed in your response.
I am a pet owner and animal lover extraordinaire, and I also work at two companies that sell pet foods/toys/treats, etc. I am extremely nit-picky about what exactly my animals are eating; thus, ...view middle of the document...
A refusal to stock anymore of the recalled products from such a widely recognized pet store corporation must be detrimental to a brand.
The social media tactics of Natura products went in an interesting direction during their crisis. The brands I am focusing on do not have a large following on Twitter (about 500 followers each), but Innova and EVO’s “Likes” on Facebook combined equal approximately 70,000, a decent populace. Nevertheless, the brands utilized both social media accounts during their crisis – perhaps a different demographic of customers chooses to keep up with the brand via Twitter solely, or vice versa. On both Facebook and Twitter, the brands officially announced recalls on April 19th and June 18th. These announcements may have come as a haphazard surprise to a lot of consumers, but Natura made sure to soften the blow by posting a lot of “get to know our brand” posts and videos right around the same time as the products were “voluntarily recalled.” Coincidence? I think not. I believe that Natura had previous knowledge of what was to come, and wanted to give their consumers “personal” brand insights in order to prime the pump psychologically for the very significant crisis that happened soon after. If I am correct, I think that this is a good tactic – shady, but effective. During a small part of January, the end of May, and beginning to mid-June (right before the June 18th recall), videos of how their dog foods are made and manufactured began to seep out a bit precipitously, in addition to their run of the mill posts about how nutritious their foods are and how dogs who consume Innova and EVO are the picture of health. Of course! Consumers would love to see exactly where their dog food comes from and how it is made, step-by-step. When they discover that there has been a Salmonella contamination, consumers could deal with the news (which Natura called “sad” and “disappointing,” and deeply apologized for) with the rationale that Natura gave them. If consumers have seen how pristine the production of a product is, particularly a...
