Issues management changing forever

The  power of social media has been on display again with the Dominos pizza video saga.

Media has been buzzing about a YouTube video that appeared to show two pizza store workers doing distasteful things with food, which was then placed in items offered for sale.  Whether the video was a fake or not, the Dominos brand looked set to take a massive hiding as the company, at first, seemed slow to react. 

Then the gravity of the situation hit home and the firm used the very same social media to defuse it all via blogs.

The lesson: traditional issues management tactics like issuing a media statement; rolling out the CEO on TV to reassure the public etc are hopelessly outdated and can never  head off a controversy that is moving viral-like through social media at breakneck speed.

As one blogger put it: “30 years to develop a brand …… and 30 minutes to destroy it”

Social media is not a gimmick or fad that will go away if you wait long enough. Either install it as a central plank of your communications — or flounder in the wake.

Ian