The Importance of Reputation on Social Media

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With the viral world of technology at our fingertips, organizations need to have a crisis communication plan since the social media world is uncontrollable.

 Back in 2009, a video was posted on Youtube of two Domino’s Pizza employees vandalizing the food they were preparing. From this video, Domino’s suffered reputational damage as after two days the video hit about 750,000 views. Not only did the video receive many views, but every social media platform was buzzing about the news. Organizations need to be aware of this possibility, as they cannot control social media. In situations such as these, a crisis communication plan is necessary to respond with.

In the case of the Domino’s scandal, Patrick Doyle, President of Domino’s Pizza, posted a video of his own apologizing for the employees actions. According to an article from AdAge, “it was a viewer, not the marketer, who identified the offenders first.” This is an example of why an organization needs to use a social media tool to analyze all of its presence across the various platforms. After the scandal, Domino’s commercials started to include Patrick Doyle to gain their publics trust back.

Recently, Pizza Hut suffered the same viral scandal. A Pizza Hut general manager was caught on film urinating in the same sink that the utensils were washed in. Taco Bell and Wendy’s also had their own scandal go viral. In situations like these, organizations need to have public relations or communication professionals to salve the brands image to the public. Besides having a crisis communications plan, an organization needs to monitor its social media presence.

Pizza Hut and other companies can learn from Domino’s scandal and their effort to maintain their reputation. According to an article in Continuity in Business, there are a few things business planners can learn from Domino’s: reputation matters, social media lets one say anything anytime, have a social media policy and promote it, consider claiming the authoritative channel, consider using social media channels to create a positive dialogue with your staff, customers, suppliers, friends and acquaintances before anything negative happens, decide if and how you would monitor what’s being said about you on the Internet, and know when its time to field the big boss.

Lauren Rule
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