How to destroy your reputation in a single email

Building a brand reputation is a long process. It takes ages to create it and it needs of much careful and patient manners to keep working on improving it. Brand reputation is a must for companies and Social Media plays a key role in building reputation.  

On the one hand, Social Media is great to complement the offline branding strategies of every kind of company, not only because Social Media increases brand awareness, but also because of the positive synergies with social networking and the greater interactivity with users (clients and potential customers). 

On the other hand, a company's mistake can be easily spread online. If PR's reaction takes too long, consequences can be terrible. So, a single tinny mistake, followed by the wrong PR response, may become viral: as contagious as a flu. Then, there we have: an online public lynching against the brand. 

Innwise: A model not to follow

https://twitter.com/abadgz

Alejandro, a Spanish young joobseeker had an interview in Innwise, a marketing consulting company. Hours later, he received the following email, obviously by mistake: The liked ones (...) I'd may be harder to get the candidate from Toledo for 400€ [monthly] than the "pipiolo" (little boy) for free. I'd hire Alejandro for 3 months, trying free or up to 200€ in part time and 400€ to César". As you can imagine, Alejandro was very upset with the email, not only because they used the word "pipiolo", synonim of "little bird" to refer one of the candidates, but, more important: it reveals how some companies in Spain agree with the extended practice of youth exploitation with the excuse of the weak economic situation. A manager from Innwise contacted the candidates to apologise, some workers of Innwise tried to minimise the mistake saying it was out of context and the company apologised on Twitter, too. It was too late: #becariopipiolin had became trending topic. And so, the damage to Innwise reputation had gone viral. Besides Twitter and Facebook, #becariopipiolin has been main topic in Hufftington Post and it has been the most read post in Menéame.

Tweets about "#becariopipiolin"

What to do in this situation?

Well, first of all, a company should not allow this kind of policies and pay more attention to private communications in such topics, where information is meant to be confidential. But after there has been an incident like this, a trust and quick apology is vital. 

The apollogy note should contain: 

- The vision of the company about what actually happened. 

- The name of the person on charge: the company needs a face to prove the apology is not fake. Hidding is not going to help at all. 

- Any way to contact the company: it is always best to face problems than avoiding them. It is going to be a hard day, but an effective response will reduce the damage for the brand reputation. 

- A trust apology (not only "empty" words). 

The PR team should contact the whole staff to let them know what is happening, instead of allowing/promoting their staff trying to minimise the damage. It makes things worse, as users become angrier while interacting with them. It is the company (and its PR department) the one that has to sort it out the issue. 

What would you have done in their situation? 

What is the most effective Social Media network in Spain?

When doing business abroad, it is vital to have into account the similarities and differences in the choosing of Social Media networks. British people have a different behaviour than Spanish one. As I am Spanish, I have decided my first post will talk about which Social Media platform should be used to succeed in Spain. 

Source: mkhmarketing

Did you know Spain is the 5th country of the world in the use of Social Media? 

Apparently, Spanish enjoy building online relationships as much as they like establishing offline ones. So, if a British company wants to internasionalisate and decides to go to Spain, one of the first steps should be designing a Social Media plan. Another important detail should not be forgotten: Social Media pages should be translated into Spanish if Social Media strategy is focus in customers. 

Another interesting point is that the 60% of Spanish believe what their friends recommends online and only a 18% do not believe social recommendations, these figures meaning a high confidence of the Word-of-Mouth between Spaniards. 

So what Social Media shall be used in Spain?

It depends. It basically depends on the target, although there is a Social Media platform common for all ages in Spain: Facebook. According to Socialdente, 16 millions of Spaniards have a Facebook account. Facebook should definitely be imprescindible. Not convinced yet?. What if I tell you Facebook is the second most visited page in Spain? 

Source: Mashable

On the other hand, Twitter has become very popular, achieving 4,5 millions of accounts in 2012, which makes Spain the 3rd in the rank of World Twitter penetration (Source: Mashable), after Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. In my opinion, though, Twitter's penetration is quite important in the urban and most populated areas of the country, while other Social Media networks may be more influential in rural areas of Spain. Its users are, generally, young people and professional adults. Besides, the also high penetration of smarthpones in this country has definitely beneficed Twitter. 

What is Tuenti?

Source: Tuenti

If your target is very young, Tuenti should be your first choice, as it is very important in Spain. Maybe its popularity is the reason why Telefonica has recently acquired the 100% of the company, or maybe it is the fact that Tuenti is growing notably in the Americas market. Besides, Tuenti achieved 12 millions of users in 2011, 90% of whom are from 14 to 35 years old. 

What should I use to B2B communication?

Definitely LinkedIn. The 4th most important Social Media network in Spain is LinkedIn, having 2 million of users in Spain. Recruiting through LinkedIn is not very common between Spaniards, but it is often used as a professional agenda of contacts. Personally, I strongly believe LinkedIn has a huge potential in Spain. Time will tell.