{"id":4499,"date":"2010-03-18T07:37:24","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T12:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/37d57f8fa2.nxcli.io\/blog\/?p=4499"},"modified":"2010-03-11T09:53:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T14:53:01","slug":"social-media-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/web-marketing\/social-media\/social-media-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How Social Media Can Threaten Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the tweet heard around the nation. Movie Director, Kevin Smith, tweeted that he had been booted off an Southwest Airlines flight. He was mad because flight personnel said he was too fat to fly.<\/p>\n

He tweeted during the ordeal and posted pictures of himself. It happened faster than any news crew could have reacted without being on the flight poised for the story. Twitter is a PR liablity to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

Was Smith really too fat to fly? Allegedly, Smith’s girth expanded into the seat next to him, which of course was not convenient for the other passenger. Southwest officials said as a safety measure, \"social<\/a>Smith needed to purchase another seat to handle his alleged extra poundage which was not available.<\/p>\n

So airline personnel asked him to deplane in order to accommodate him on a flight where he could have more space. No harm no foul – right? Well, not with the all-in-one marketing proliferator\/slash business nemesis known as Twitter on standby 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n

When someone is asked to get off a plane because they are deemed too fat, embarrassment sets in and rage follows. Now you are in Twitter bashing territory.<\/p>\n

The availability of social media makes it incredibly easy for customers or clients to create a perfect storm of bad pr. It is very important to do all you can to prevent customers from being so enraged with your business practices that they take their grievances to the web and possibly ruin your reputation or make your life a living hell.<\/p>\n

So what’s the lesson here?<\/p>\n

Best Business Mastery Tip:<\/strong> Make sure you establish a policy for sensitive issues and ask your customers to read it and sign it. Train your employees to know it from beginning to end and enforce it all times. Print copies of it to hand to your customers on the spot when an action is questioned.<\/p>\n

Policies are not going to prevent anger, but they will certainly demonstrate to your customers that they are not being singled out. With a signed policy in hand it will be harder for your customers to tweet in anger when they fail to abide by it.<\/p>\n

– Shakira<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
About Shakira Brown<\/a><\/strong>
\nRelated Resources<\/strong><\/a>
\nMore Posts by Shakira Brown<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

To discover the easy and inexpensive ways anyone can attract more clients and maximize their profits<\/span>, sign up for your <\/strong>FREE <\/a><\/strong>Profit Now <\/a><\/strong>Report<\/a>. <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"Reblog<\/a>