How Not to do PR on Twitter
Yesterday, a VP of a major PR/Marketing agency (Ketchum) posted a pretty harsh statement on Twitter regarding the city he was visiting - the city where he was visiting a *major* client (FedEx) to give a presentation the next day. Long story short, someone from that client followed him on Twitter and saw his remark. They sent an excellently written email to the VP, as well as the full chain of command both at Ketchum and at FedEx. (Read the whole account from Peter Shankman)
Here's what I don't understand. This is a pretty big deal, being turned even bigger really quick because of social media. Why is it that the VP of one of the top PR/Marketing firms hasn't addressed this head-on yet? His profile lists a personal website which front and center has a video...from back in November. Why not get in front of a $99 webcam and record a sincere apology, clean up the mess and show how to really deal with PR in this day and age?
Had that been the case, the whole thing would have been put to rest and while millions would still read about it, they would see from a major PR player how to handle this kind of misstep in a real, authentic way. Instead, it's quickly becoming viral making them look worse by the minute in a real, corporate, stereotypical, non-relevant PR agency way.
