GenXmanager: Leadership for the Generation X Manager

This week, Michael Setzer and Kristy Hammonds, two employees of Dominos Pizza, thought it would be funny to record themselves tampering with food in a most disgusting manner. Instead of keeping the video to themselves they decided to put it on YouTube. This act caused a major public relations headache for Dominos Pizza.

In another example, someone figured out a simple way to pick a Kryptonite bike lock with a hollowed out Bic pen. Soon after the defect was discovered, videos on YouTube appeared showing step-by-step instructions. Of course those who had a Kryptonite lock had to try this nifty trick and of course, film it and put it on YouTube. 

Prior to the internet and specifically before the advent of social media, marketing and public relations professionals could control the message. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and a whole host of other social media have put control in the hands of the masses. In the past, a disgruntled customer would tell a few friends of poor service or low product quality. Now, “The power has shifted, [so] that big companies now have to be worried about one individual with a microphone.” [Source: Boston.com]

I direct an MBA program and am not a public relations expert but my advice would be not to fight it (because you’ll lose), but embrace the new media and be a part of the conversation. In response to the food tampering, Domino’s CEO, Patrick Doyle, recorded a YouTube video. Here it is:

Using YouTube was a great idea but Dominos Pizza could do more. Much more. First, social media and Web 2.0 are about honesty, transparency, and authenticity. Reading so obviously from cue cards was not the way to go. An authentic look into the camera, having an honest conversation with those watching the video would have felt more genuine. Kelly Decker, guest blogger at Blog Decker, points this out and asks us to compare the Domino’s response to this response from JetBlue:

In addition, Dominoes should try something fun. Give employees video cameras and have them film themselves doing honorable things for customers.

Perhaps Dominos is doing this, but search Twitter to see what conversations are going on about the food incident and the brand in general. Comcast and GoDaddy are two companies who monitor Twitter for both customer complaints and kudos. They proactively respond. I recently posted a Tweet stating that I was thinking about becoming a Comcast customer and ‘ComcastConnie’ got back to me in less than five minutes…and this was at 9pm on a Friday night!

Not all, but many of your customers are on various social media sites. If you aren’t using social media, now’s the time. Your customers are talking about you, your company, your products, your services. Decide today to be a part of that conversation and not absent from it.