Crisis communication questions:
- Do you think Chip Wilson has made the situation better or worse by attempting to apologize on Facebook for comments he made on television?
- Do you think the situation is getting better or worse on the Facebook brand page as the company’s public relations and social media teams try to engage in a conversation with those who post comments?
- Here is something to consider: Each time the public relations and social media team replies to a comment on the Facebook post, it moves the discussion higher in the news feed of the page followers, increasing the odds that someone new will jump into the conversation.
This raises more questions:
- Was it a big mistake to take this discussion to Facebook?
- Could this apology have found a better home in the company’s employee newsroom?
- Was the apology itself poorly worded, leading to additional negative comments?
- Was the apology made only to employees and not to customers?
- If the apology was to employees only, should it not have been posted where only employees would see it?
- Could all of this crisis on the back end been eliminated by doing things differently on the front end?
Jessyca Lewis 