In week 3 blog post, I wrote about the advantages of utilising social technologies for a company, with Air New Zealand and Malaysia Airlines as the examples. In this blog entry, I will focus on how social technologies could jeopardise a life of company if inappropriately used.
Qantas is a world-wide known Australia’s largest domestic and international airline. Qantas has been operated since 1920 and employing for more than 33,000 people both in Australia and overseas. Similar with other major companies, Qantas has also incorporated social technology to better communicate and build relationship with their customers, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and RSS Feeds.
In November 2011, Qantas had an online competition on Twitter by asking the followers to tweet their luxury experience with a pair of first class pyjamas as the prize. This Twitter competition was run a week after Qantas grounded its fleet as a result of massive Transport Workers Union strikes, leaving thousand of passengers stranded at the airports.
(Image courtesy of tnooz.com)
Unsurprisingly, instead of receiving favourable tweets of Qantas service, sarcastic comments about the labour relations battles with the unions and fleet grounding have filled the #QantasLuxury within minutes. Qantas had managed this issue quite well by taking down this competition and hiring four social media managers.
(Image courtesy of Author)
This Twitter hashtag disaster has become a critical lesson for Qantas to construct their Social Media Policy (SMP) in association with applicable legal risks. Additionally, Qantas has to form an excellent internal communication team with expertise in managing social media as well as crisis communication. This unsuccessful campaign has addressed one of legal risk matrix discussed by Dundas Lawyers which is a risk of reputation. From this social media backlash, the strong reputation as number one carrier in Australia’s airline industry could be threatened. In order to avoid the same mistake, Qantas has to create a clear and strict guidelines for its employee to manage social media account.
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