Sons of Social Media
A couple weeks ago (while I was on vacation) a story started to spread through the web and then into traditional media channels about the Halifax, Nova Scotia based singing duo Sons of Maxwell and their singer Dave Carroll’s encounter with United Airlines. If you have not heard his story, it is worth reading here.
Essentially the summary is that Carroll’s guitar was damaged while in the baggage transfer of a flight the band was on to a concert booking. After many frustrating attempts to have a claim resolved with United, the airline declined any further responsibility. Carroll decided to write a song and create a video about the ordeal and post it on YouTube. He even told United that he would write three songs about the incident and they were oblivious to the threat.
The result…social media is enabling the spread of this tale of woe and United Airlines is reaping a ton of negative publicity. On the flip-side, the band is getting an untold wealth of media coverage the likes of which they could never have expected. The video as of this writing has now surpassed 4.2 million viewings and Song #2 is scheduled to be released soon.
Here’s what we need to learn form this:
- Customer service is important and consumers deserve to be treated with respect.
- Social Media gives customers a louder more far reaching voice today than ever before in history.
- As a company, if you deal fairly and equitably with your customers you will fore go the cost of negative publicity – be wise!
Had you seen this video or heard this story at some point in the past 3 weeks? What do you think about the reaction of both sides?
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