How to lose your hard earned brand - in two easy clicks

There was a really interesting story last week regarding the threat of social media to a businesses brand .

Especially if your customer service isn't delivering at the levels you have promised.

As an Entrepreneur you work very hard to win those initial customers, keeping them whilst protecting your reputation is one of the most critical areas you should focus on.

Even more so with the ascent of Twitter, Facebook and Linked In where information about you and your company is traded in the most public way possible.

This is a perfect example of what can go wrong.

On March 13, a Virgin America flight from Los Angeles to New York was diverted from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Stewart airport in Newburgh, N.Y., due to severe weather, and the passengers and crew waited in the plane on the tarmac for over four hours. The crew was anxious, babies were crying, mothers were anxious, and the passengers were unruly — to the point that one woman was taken off the plane by police. The entire ordeal was documented by David Martin, the CEO of Kontain.com, on his company's iPhone social-media application.

Martin was called by someone in Virgin America's marketing department, who offered him a $100 voucher for his troubles. He said the passengers deserved more. He subsequently received a call from Virgin America CEO C. David Cush. During that conversation, according to Martin, he negotiated a full refund and a $100-per-person voucher for all passengers.

So what is the key lesson to learn?

You may own your brand but your customer controls it.

Comments

[GB]

But the customer controls it. Well said.

[AU]

Fascinating. The little guy can wield that power for himself and others over a company, but America can't figure out health care or capitalism. If there were a "Post a comment" section for governments the world might be a very different place.