And with that, we started to see the morning of March 6th that
people are going into restaurants and the employees were saying they didn't actually
have Cool Ranch Doritos Locos tacos, that it wasn't starting until the next day.
And we are able to see that conversation surface very early on, and
get a communication out to our field,
literally get a phone tree going to the field to let them know that
today was the day it was available for our community on March 6th.
And we saw immediately the sentiment start to improve.
As we got to more people,
started to make sure everybody knew this was happening early,
that the fans started to turn around their sentiment and say yes, I'm able to get it.
But then we also responded to all the people who couldn't get it early, and
let them know that it wasn't right, that we didn't deliver on our promise.
We went to great lengths to deliver on it.
For some people we actually sent Taco Bell in a limo to their house to make sure that
they got the Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos as promised and started to get
positive stories out there in addition to the people who were already upset.
But then we were able to get it to them.
So I think that was a good example of just being able to listen and respond quickly.
>> One of the advantages of social listening could potentially also be
a disadvantage when you start to hear some drumbeat that looks like
it's gonna be a crisis, when really it's not so much a crisis, but a speed bump.
>> Sure. >> Any advice to those in crisis
management who are constantly listening to avoid the potential trouble
of addressing something that actually is not a crisis,
but something more along the way of conversation.
>> Well that actually happens quite a bit.
So you want to make sure that you don't get a false start and
treat everything like a huge crisis.
I think a big part of it is watching the trends, so we have history now,
where we can say is this something that's likely to become a crisis or not?
But also just take a deep breath and don't rush into things, like have a plan
of attack, ready to go, but don't feel the need to get it out right away,
just have to watch the conversation, and see how it goes, and
have all the right people in the room so that you can act when ready.
But, you don't always have to act immediately.
>> Authentic is a very big, theme that you keep raising, so
do you view negative commentary, negative sentiment as all negative or
are there some advantages in positives associated with hearing from your
communities about things that might not be positive sentiment.
>> Well I think if they were always positive then maybe we wouldn't
be breaking through.
We want to get a reaction from people, sometimes it's positive,
sometimes it's negative and you have to be able to accept the good and the bad.
You wanna learn from the bad to continue to get the brand in an amazing place.
But we always say haters gonna hate.
You don't need to respond to everything.
There are the people who are going to just be negative and that's okay.
They have their opinion.
I think what we've tried to do is build a deep enough relationship with the people
who love the brand, so that they're championing us and
they actually have our backs when those negative conversations come up.
A lot of times before we ever jump in to something that may be negative,
they're the ones who are responding on our behalf and putting people in their places.
[LAUGH] >> And that's great.
So social media is also new for crisis management counsel.
Crisis managers historically have been those that have been trained
to really deal with third party media as a way of making
sure that the messaging that they wanna get out is handled in the right way.
So any inputs or advice or experiences you can share about how you also
brought a crisis management team who may not have had the experience of
dealing with real time social listening, and have them address that as
a way to integrate into their approaches using third party media.
>> Well Rob Page, who leads our crisis communications, is trained in that way,
and so he deeply understands crisis communications.
And then we will partner with him to think about how that
translates to the social space.
So he's really driving the strategy and the recommendations.
And again, it's all about getting the right people in the room to say okay,
that makes perfect sense, now how do we communicate it in a way,
on our social channels, where it will resonate with that audience and
where the content will be endemic to that particular platform.
So it's a key piece,
is bringing in all the right people to have that holistic conversation.
And making sure you know who's on point for what, cuz at the end of the day I'm
not making the call when it comes to how we're going to respond, right?
That's really what Rob's responsibility is, and so
we've had as much as there is a deep collaboration and integration.
You have to be really clear on rules and responsibilities at the same time.
>> So in addition to social listening,
are there circumstances in which social media has been the primary
media to actually address crisis, as opposed to going to third party media?
>> Oh, all the time.
I think you have to do both,
because they're going to be the stories that are happening in the press,
but there are also those stories that are very much happening in social.
And most of the media is using social as their outlet.
So they're taking their story and sharing it on Twitter, and
tapping into their social community there as well to help things spread.
And so you absolutely need to be playing across both fields.
>> Are there any insights you have into which particular social media
happens to be the most important perhaps, particularly for
those in the crisis management field?
>> Well, I think Twitter is definitely the place where things are shared.
Facebook's usually with your personal community, and
so you're talking to your set of friends, Snapchats,
more of a one on one communication, or a personal relationship with your community.
Instagram is a place to share those beautiful moments of
life that are happening.
And it's kind of the best collection of your best self,
your artistic self in the space.
And so, Twitter certainly the place where the media is living.
And they're tapping into conversations that are happening with anyone, and so
I always think about Twitter as a key place you wanna be first.
>> That's great.
And finally, any advice for those who have been in crisis
management roles that have not gotten nearly as familiar with the kind of
social media monitoring and listening that you now have available to them.
>> The big advice is just be ready to respond, because things will happen and
they will move fast, and so really look at your crisis communications plan.
Make sure that you have the list of all the people who are on point,
that they know their role,
that you're ready to bring the right people together if something does happen,
and that you have the right tools in place to be able to listen.
And see if it's something you do need to respond to that
could be a potential threat or if it's something you want to sit back on for
awhile to let your community jump in on your behalf.
But 100%, you need to have that crisis communications plan
that has legs in social.
And that really is designed social first in terms of how you're going to respond.
>> Great, thank you.
>> Thank you.
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