Analyzing the Brownback PR blunder

Have you ever complained about a company via social media? Maybe your Starbucks barista messed up your drink…again. Or maybe your cell phone keeps missing calls…yes, of course you pulled the battery. Now imagine that the company called your company and complained about your negative tweet. How would you react?

If you said you’d be pissed, outraged or would get right back on Twitter to rant about the company’s tattling, you wouldn’t be alone. Need proof? Do a Twitter or Google search on Sam Brownback Twitter controversy. Or just follow the Governor and student Emma Sullivan on Twitter.

The story

It’s a simple story, really. Last week, Emma was in Topeka as part of the Kansas Youth in Government Conference. During the event, she tweeted the following:

Someone in Brownback’s office saw the tweet and contacted Emma’s school. The principal ordered her to write apology letters to Brownback, teachers and others. The media and public heard about the story. People began backing Emma on Twitter. Emma decided not to apologize. Brownback did apologize. Sort of.

The PR lessons

Brownback’s initial reaction to Emma’s tweet isn’t that surprising. In fact, it probably was a staffer who reacted so negatively, not Brownback. But there are a few significant blunders to discuss here because one of your clients could be in a similar situation tomorrow or a week from now. These types of social media issues management situations aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. We’ve got to know how to help our clients deal with them.

1. Reacting without thinking about the customer’s POV. If you’re looking for how most companies get in these messes, look no further. Too often companies — or government staffers — don’t consider how they would respond if they were the customer in the situation. And that’s a shame here, because it would be really easy to see where the outrage would come from. It’s summed up pretty well in comments like the one below.

2. Not responding where the issue originated. Brownback apologized a week later. Good for him. But have you looked at the apology? It was rigid, to say the least. Looked like someone wrote it for him, prepped him on it and he signed off.  More of a press release than an actual apology. It was posted via Twitter as an automated update, not an actual tweet to Emma. And in this social media world we live in, that stiff of a response doesn’t completely cut it.

3. Lack of creativity. My colleague Lauren Fernandez asked an important question today. What if Brownback’s office had invited Emma to come work a day in their office after seeing her tweet? What if they’d set up a sitdown between Emma and Brownback? Heck, what if they had just tweeted back at Emma and asked her what she didn’t like about the governor? Or even tweeted at Emma and said: “He doesn’t really blow that bad. We all like working with him.” Something fun like that. When someone goes negative on a person or brand via social media, the best thing to do is show you’re listening without attacking. It’s a lot harder to attack someone you know is hearing that attack.

4. No counsel. As consultants, we get paid to provide our clients advice and stop issues like this one before they start. Why didn’t someone explain to Brownback’s team how contacting the school would backfire? Or if they did, why didn’t Brownback’s staffer listen? Either way, there was blatant lack of counsel here.

The moral

Don’t make PR decisions without considering the customer’s point of view. And if you advise your client to apologize, make sure they actually apologize. Be creative about it. But most importantly, don’t just be a doer. Don’t be afraid to speak up and provide your client counsel in the first place.

As brand perception consultants, that’s our job.

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