Unfortunately for some, that means their errors can quickly become full-blown PR crises.
Here’s what PR pros can take away from a politician and YouTube personality who recently learned this lesson:
Cruz ‘likes’ a pornographic video on Twitter
Sen. Ted Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, made headlines Wednesday when Twitter users discovered that his account had “liked” a tweet containing a pornographic video.
The tweet remained on Cruz’s account for nearly an hour. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Cruz’s communication director, Catherine Frazier, tweeted that it had been removed and reported to Twitter:
The offensive tweet posted on @tedcruz account earlier has been removed by staff and reported to Twitter
— Catherine Frazier (@catblackfrazier) September 12, 2017
The bit about "and reported to Twitter" would seem to indicate that Cruz and Co are preparing an "I was hacked" defense popularized by the disgraced Anthony Weiner. Though it sounds terribly unlikely that a malicious hacker would take over Cruz's account just to like a single porn video. The other option is to blame a lackey with access to the account. Who's taking odds on which way this will go?
Cruz later blamed the situation on a “staffing issue”:
Q: It wasn’t you?
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 12, 2017
CRUZ: "It was a staffing issue, and it was inadvertent, it was a mistake, it was not a deliberate action."
TV host Jimmy Kimmel roasted Cruz on his show:
The jokes continued on Twitter and in headlines, including Andy Borowitz’s satirical piece in The New Yorker, “Porn industry irrevocably damaged by association with Ted Cruz.”
PR lesson: Social media isn’t a game.
Don’t hand over your social media accounts to a PR intern or someone fresh out of school just because they’re young and seem better connected with social media users. Handling online accounts for organizations, celebrities and public figures is hard work, and one wrong click can quickly undo your branding efforts and get you the kind of engagement you don’t want.
Though even PR and marketing veterans make mistakes (as anyone who has handled multiple social media accounts can attest), you should entrust your social media efforts to those that have an eye for detail and a knowledge of the online news cycle.
Bonus PR lesson: When opportunity knocks, answer the door.
Another lesson PR pros can take from this situation is to jump on marketing and PR opportunities while they’re hot. Cruz and his staff might have egg on their faces, but Pornhub is capitalizing on the spotlight.
Corey Price, VP of Pornhub (the parent network of Reality Kings), said in a statement provided to Motherboard that in light of the now-viral like, they're making the video publically available instead of keeping it behind a premium paywall: "Now our fans can check out the same video a Presidential nominee, and current Senator, watched in its entirety. Rest assured, there will be no staffing issues on our end and/or inadvertent button pushing."
The video is "the fastest porn video to reach one million views," Price said. "That number will only climb as the day unravels." The title is now, " TED CRUZ DID NOTHING WRONG! - CORY CHASE LIKED BY TED CRUZ."
PewDiePie apologizes for using racial slur
Felix Kjellberg, known to his more than 57 million subscribers as “PewDiePie,” is the most popular YouTube personality in the world. Though he often posts videos laced with profanity and controversial content, people lashed out at the vlogger after he used the N-word during a game he livestreamed.
The criticism intensified after Sean Vanaman, co-founder of video game company Campo Santo, posted a series of tweets slamming Kjellberg and his behavior, along with announcing that the company was filing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown request for any of its games that the vlogger has streamed:
We're filing a DMCA takedown of PewDiePie's Firewatch content and any future Campo Santo games.
— Sean Vanaman (@vanaman) September 10, 2017
On Wednesday, Kjellberg apologized in a YouTube video. At the time of publication, the video has racked up more than 5.47 million views:
“Being in the position I am, I should know better,” Kjellberg said in his video. “I know I can’t keep messing up like this.”
Though his apology was an honest admittance of his misstep along with a promise to do better, not everyone applauded the move.
Kjellberg’s statement has received a mixed reception from commentators. While it is a more conciliatory apology than that issued by the star following the Wall Street Journal’s investigation – where he railed against “out-of-context” reports into his use of antisemitic imagery as punchlines to jokes – it repeats the defence that Kjellberg used racist language only “in the heat of the moment”.
Motherboard’s Emanuel Maiberg wrote:
Kjellberg seems sincere, but it's a frustrating response. I've played video games my entire life and I've definitely done and seen people do dumb things "in the heat of the moment." I once saw a friend beat another friend with an Nintendo 64 controller because he kept using the same cheap move with Pikachu in Super Smash Bros! But I've never seen a friend hurl a racist slur at another player just because they were angry.
I have, of course, heard every possible racist slur from anonymous players while playing online. Hearing people yell the n-word over voice chat is easily one of the worst things about video games and internet culture in general, and this is the type of behavior Kjellberg participated in and promoted to his 57 million subscribers on YouTube, many of which discover new video games thanks to his videos and emulate his behavior in online games and on their own YouTube channels.
PR lesson: Include action in your mea culpa.
What could Kjellberg have done differently to get critics on his side? Though he fessed up to making a “stupid” mistake and said he “really wants to improve [himself],” he didn’t offer his viewers a plan to change his behavior.
A plan of action (and restitution, if necessary) are especially important when your crisis stems from a repeated offense. You must show your audience that your apology is more than empty words. Without committing to certain actions, your fans and critics have no way to help you change course and hold you accountable. In order to foster greater trust after a PR misstep, include action.
(Image via)from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2jpf3Gj
No comments:
Post a Comment