Steve Woodruff started an interesting discussion at his place about the latest PR quagmire that Delta Airlines finds itself in. Apparently, some soldiers brought 4 bags onto their flights home, and were charged for those 4th bags, as per Delta’s policy. The soldiers were assuming that they would not have to pay for the 4th checked bag, and were upset, and made a video about it (that has since been removed).
Delta, to its credit, was quick to address the situation on its blog, and has now changed its policy to allow for a 4th free checked bag for soldiers flying in economy. But given what a hot-button issue this is, you can see in the comments that hundreds of people are outraged and angered over this issue.
And honestly, I feel sorry for Delta, especially the people on Delta’s blogging and social media team. They handled this issue about as well as they could, but they are still getting absolutely raked over the coals in the comments to their post.
But as I read through that post and scanned the wall of angry comments, I was looking for the one thing that I never saw: Comments from Delta’s brand advocates. There are a few comments from people that are sympathetic to Delta’s position, but they are quickly targeted by multiple commenters siding with the soldiers.
And to be fair to Delta, they can’t stay and respond to the individual commenters. That would literally take them all day, and would likely generate even more angry comments. Because this is an issue where most people, rightly or wrongly, are going to assume that Delta is in the wrong. And if any Delta representative tries to explain their side of the situation, more angry comments will be the result.
Which is why Delta should have its advocates speaking on its behalf. But Delta can’t rely on its advocates, because it hasnt invested time in connecting with and empowering them.
For example, let’s say Zappos caught itself in a PR nightmare similar to the one Delta is in now. If angry customers started attacking Zappos, how soon would it be before Zappos’ fans would come to the brand’s defense? Pretty darn soon, and my guess is the number of negative comments against Zappos would decrease as a result. In the Delta example, in the absence of Delta’s advocates, the volume of negative comments seems to be increasing.
So my advice to Delta, who I am sure is scratching their heads wondering what they could have done differently, is to start today connecting with your brand advocates. Find your most passionate customers, and embrace them. Then the next time you have a PR fight like this one on your hands, you won’t be going it alone.
PS: And Delta if you or any other company is wondering how in the hell you embrace and empower your advocates, here’s your roadmap.
Good points on brand advocacy.
This has been a tough one for me to watch unfold because I AM a Delta brand advocate. Any attempts I made to defend Delta online in comments or tweets were either ignored or attacked. This is one of those “third rail” issues — if you say anything that may be seen as anti-military (even if it isn’t actually anti-military), you’re siding with the terrorists.
I found it especially frustrating because Delta did nothing wrong. They applied the rules that the US military had negotiated with Delta. The soldiers were going to get reimbursed for the expenses in line with government policy. The baggage rules are in line with United and AA. But no one wanted to listen to facts, they just wanted to beat up on Delta.
The most interesting and most telling part of this is seeing how Stars & Stripes covered the story. The comments there, coming largely from fellow soldiers who are familiar with the travel policies, very rarely target Delta as a culprit and are typically more critical of the soldiers in question.
This is one case where I truly wished I could do more to defend the airline, but knew I would just get shouted down. Very frustrating. I’d love your take on how advocates can be mobilized for such a touchy issue — I can’t think of many other times when defending a brand resulted in such angry responses.
For the record, I am not an employee of Delta, nor have I ever been, nor is anyone in my family.
@TomBLogue Tom those are interesting thoughts and I can sympathize with your situation as being an advocate of Delta
First, I don’t think Delta’s advocates such as yourself should be asking how they can mobilize, that’s a question Delta should already be working directly with you to answer. They should already be creating the tools and structure to have advocates such as yourself connect with one another.
Past that, advocates such as yourself can create their own tools such as a blog of Facebook page to bring advocates together. In fact this has happened in the past, brand advocates would create a ‘fan site’ where they connected then eventually the brand would take over the site, or the advocates would offer the site to the brand. I believe Coca-Cola did this a few years ago.
As for how to express yourself in defending Delta, I would just stick to the facts and understand that this is an emotionally-charged issue and to not take the responses you get personally. Remember that as an advocate of Delta, you are in a way speaking on Delta’s behalf, so the tone and approach you use will reflect on the brand.
Have you thought about creating a blog or Facebook group or something else to organize Delta’s brand advocates?
Mack – I’ve been thinking about your post this afternoon, since reading it on my way out the door for lunch, and I’m not sure comparing Delta to Zappos is entirely fair in this instance.
The reality is that brand advocates can only do so much. What I mean is that the perception of the brand is formed in consumers heads long before this incident. The reaction to this specific incident was set in stone over the past decade as consumers dealt with flight delays, acquisitions, price raising, charging for bags and other ongoing miniature crises that feed the overall perception of the industry in general and of Delta in particular. Right?
Zappos, on the other hand, did a fantastic job prior to the acquisition to create nearly unheard of good will among its customer base – Zappos customers weren’t customers, they were zealots (and many still are). That feeling predates a crisis of this nature in the same way bad news or good news contributes to the overall willingess of a jury poll to convict or acquit based on the coverage up until the trial – hence the drive to create (in a perfect world) an untainted jury pool.
But as consuimers (and travelers) we’re all “tainted” by our perception of certain brands. I’ve never actually bought anything from Zappos, but because of all the incredible press I have a fully formed opinion of what doing business with them would be like for me. Conversely, despite not flying Continental Airlines in the past 5+ years, I have a pre-formed impressino of what I would expect if I were forced to do so again (I suspect you can guess that opinion by my uise of the word forced in that previous sentence).
I think we’re substantially in agreement that the die was cast on this event long ago. I just don’t think it comparing Delta to Zappos is creating a level playing field for a fertile discussion to take place.
@MackCollier All good points. I don’t see Delta doing anything truly engaging with social media. Yes, they have a presence, and yes, they provide some good tools on Facebook. But it doesn’t seem like a real community. Also, you’d expect something a bit more impressive on LinkedIn given how many of their advocates are probably business travelers like me. But Delta’s LinkedIn group is pretty mediocre even by LinkedIn group standards.
You make an important point about how advocates reflect on a brand. All the more reason for Delta (and others) to provide better information and help guide advocates in their actions.
Have I thought about a Delta blog? I’ve mentioned them a few times in my own blog (shameless plug: thecommonuncommonly.com), and will surely mention them more in the future. I’m optimistic enough to think my readership, and my ability to advocate for Delta and other good brands, will grow (I’ve just been doing this since April).
Appreciate you taking the time to respond to my original comment.
@TomBLogue
@Sean McGinnis Sean I was comparing them in the sense that both have evangelists, but Zappos has done a better job of connecting with its online evangelists than Delta has. If Delta was as proactive about connecting with its evangelists as some other brands are, I think their evangelists would be more organized and willing to jump to their defense. There are hundreds if not thousands of Delta brand advocates like Tom that would love to connect with the brand, but they can’t because Delta isn’t making the effort to connect with them. I think that’s a mistake on Delta’s part.