Hark! the herald holidays ring and ’tis a time which brings to mind, for those PR bloggers not solely focused on the bright-and-shiny new toys of social media, thoughts of good cheer and social responsibility.
Throughout the year, I think, way too much digital ink in the PR and marketing social media sphere focuses on the reputation management value of social media tools. As in, “How can Twitter, Facebook, Jaiku, MySpace and etc be leveraged to manage a company’s reputation or positioning or brand?” As in, “How to handle customer service nightmares and crisis communication with an effective corporate blog.”
All well and good, but far less digital PR ink seems to stream about the effective use of Web 2.0 in pro-actively promoting corporate responsibility; or, introducing into the conversation some Web 2.0 accountability checks-and-balances that might actually benefit some to large organizations with hierarchical, corporate structures that by their very nature discourage transparency; as in, helping to protect the “brand” a priori by keeping rogue elements or bad practices within the organization from tarnishing it and leading to … the need for Web 2.0 crisis communication strategies.
What got me thinking along these lines is Stuart Bruce’s post, Stick it to the Argos flying scabs, summing up UK retailer Argos’ decision to fly in scabs to bust the work stoppage by unionized workers in its stores across the water in Ireland. Argos employs some 1200 people in Ireland and 35% of the retail staff are members of the Mandate union. Apparently, the Argos retail workers in Ireland earn less than the EU’s low pay threshold.
But, it’s not my intention here to take sides on the merits of the strikers or the interests the company may have. For purposes of this blog, from a PR perspective I have to ask myself:
∙ WHO are the boneheads advising Argos on public relations?
∙ Are they such IDIOTS, that they didn’t know that in the era of Live Web their reputation could be absolutely hammered with an ill-conceived stunt like this? With all the Ebenezer Scrooge meanness attached to such a move as year-end holidays approach, to boot!?!
∙ Is there nothing they could have done through pro-active ENGAGEMENT to build a Web 2.0 conversation with the union and the shopping public around the issues? Something that might have helped the company learn a thing or two about its image and practices?
It may well be too late for that now, since the company now must resort to defending its actions and managing a PR crisis, one that on this side of the Atlantic, at least, would likely grow rapidly in this era of Live Web. How the blogosphere in the UK and Ireland will react is beyond my predictive powers, but already there’s a Facebook group, Support the Argos Strikers, and blog posts about the strike are beginning to appear … this one among them. How the company deals with the viral Web 2.0 fallout, if at all, will be interesting to note.
Here in the U.S., the social media debacles of retailer Wal-Mart and unethical practices of its PR agency, Edelman are well-known. Jeremiah Owyang posted last week on Wal-Mart’s new blog initiative, hoping it may prove to be as transparent an exercise as their previous efforts were, shall we say, lacking in that department.
As with the Facebook group that’s taking on Argos, Wal-Mart has those in the social media realm who would keep it accountable, not least of which is the Wal-Mart Watch Blog. As Jeremiah counsels at the end of his post, Wal-Mart would do well with its new blog initiative to “engage this group.” The critics and the fans are all part of the community, after all, like it or not. As Dell has appeared to have learned, pro-actively engaging them in conversation can not only help a company manage its reputation, it can also teach an organization a thing or two about the value of corporate responsibility and accountability.
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