Nikon PR Mistake Becomes Viral

 

Photo from FriedToast

Social media has created a new fear for corporate employees: don't screw up or everyone in the world will know about it! Over the weekend, Nikon tried and failed (with the world watching) to create positive PR at the BlogHer conference in Chicago. The ugly details can be read on Katie Allison Granju's blog, momapundit.com.

Remember years ago when you could make a mistake and your boss yelled at you and maybe wrote you up a warning that went into your file? Good times.

Nowadays, thanks to social media, every step you take, every move you make, can come back to haunt you. The idea that employees represent their company has never had such strong meaning as it does today. Whether or not your job is PR, every employee is expected to be the goodwill ambassador of their company when interacting with the public. And, when that interaction goes wrong, it becomes instant news that travels across the Internet via Twitter, blogs and other online communication.

Consumers are becoming more powerful because they now have the ability to instantly interact with companies and let them know when they are unhappy with the company's decisions. This Nikon PR wildfire should stand as a warning to other companies that it is no longer business as usual when it comes to building goodwill with consumers (or the media).

Companies need to look at social media as just not an opportunity to promote its brand, but as a new frontier filled with landmines. They need to step carefully, or things will blow up.

Comments

[social bookmarking]

keep coming with this amazing stuff

[nike shoes]

The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road; long before I dance under those lights. Do you agree?