For the last two weeks, I’ve been watching with great interest a situation taking place on Kraft Foods’ Facebook page.
It seems that, in the end of May, a Florida mom found a gross blob in a package of Capri Sun juice. According to reports, that mom reached out to Kraft Foods – the maker of Capri Sun – to seek answers about the glob (which has since been proven to be mold). Not getting the response she desired after about 10 days, she posted an account of her story to Kraft’s Facebook page. And, a full-blown social media and PR crisis has since ensued.
In the olden days – about five years ago – consumers who were disgruntled with a product would find that their only recourse would be to call or email a company directly. I once fell victim to a moldy box of Lunchables. I called Kraft and told them how upset I was, they sent me a bunch of coupons, and life went on for both of us.
But, as we’ve seen all too many times with the advent of social media, these cases can turn into complete crises in just a short time.
In Kraft’s case, much of the subsequent outrage seems to be coming from what many have deemed a slow response. According to one blogger, there was a seven-hour lag between when this incident hit Kraft’s page, and Kraft’s response. And, in case you aren’t aware, seven hours is a super long time in social media land.
In those seven hours, Kraft’s page was overrun with a maelstrom of negative comments, conspiracy theories (with people suggesting that the blob was an ear, a piece of chicken skin or an eyeball, among other things) and full-on fights between commenters. Some have even criticized Kraft’s response, calling it dispassionate – though, seven hours later, there’s probably not much Kraft could have said to make everything hunky-dory again.
One of the first things we always tell clients when dealing with concerns voiced via social media is to be responsive. Similar to how you would respond to a media query in traditional PR, it’s important to quickly address issues on the web, even if only to let you your consumers know that you are taking the issue seriously and looking into resolving it.
Think about it this way: If a reporter called you alleging that one of your company’s products was defective and had hurt someone, would you wait seven hours to call that reporter back? Probably not.
To Kraft’s credit, the company has since implemented several tactics to help manage this snafu. It launched a special tab on its Facebook page, providing answers to many of the questions about this incident and the safety of Capri Sun (also included: the answer to “Why have you been so slow to respond”). It also added a prominent call-out on its Facebook wall to direct fans to that tab.
Additionally, the day following the initial brouhaha, Vinay Sharma, director of Capri Sun Beverages, weighed in on the matter via a personal Facebook message that garnered 355 likes and 271 comments.
While much of the firestorm seems to have subsided, this latest incident with Kraft serves as an excellent reminder to businesses not to underestimate the power of angry people on Facebook. While you can’t necessarily control who is going to have a bad experience with your product and how they choose to react, you do have control over how – and when – you respond.
