Question

Please answer the following question in two or three paragraphs (200+ words). The case study that relates to the question is listed below. This is for a public relations class. Thank you!

1.) What were some of the dangers of GM being so transparent in the social media with the news that it was filing chapter 11? What were the advantages of that transparency?

Case Study – General Motors Goes Social with a Financial Crisis:

General Motors used social media to help handle its bankruptcy financial crisis in May 2009. Despite hesitation from the legal and financial consultants advising GM, Christopher Berger convinced the CEO to use Twitter and Facebook to let shareholders know of the chapter 11 filing. Berger, director of global social media at GM, said that getting CEO Fritz Henderson on board with the idea was crucial. GM following a 20/80 policy on its social media posts – 20 percent was GM material posted to Facebook or Twitter or other places and 80 percent was responding to questions. “Even if they were venting and saying, ‘We hate you,’ we tried to respond,” Berger said. “During a crisis, you want to use social media as a tool to respond and make sure that consumers realized you are listening and you care.”

GM employed such social media tactics as posting blogs and live webcasts, playing a video interview on Facebook with Fritz Henderson, and putting the CEO on Twitter for an open conversation. “You cannot overcommunication during a crisis,” Berger said. “Go on every platform, every possible place somebody might be listening to you. The audience expects you to be there.”

During the first week of the crisis, GM engaged in direct conversations via Twitter, Facebook, and through various blogs with about 800 individual people. Berger noted that those 800 conversations were translated into communication with thousands more because followers to those sites would see the conversations. “Again, it’s not ‘Here’s GM’s message; here’s what they want us to know.’ It is real people interacting,” Berger added. “That was a particular benefit for us.”

In one particular effective strategy, GM even sought to engage its critics. GM invited a popular blogger and frequent GM critic, David Meerman Scott, to headquarters and gave him access to the CEO and anyone else he wanted to talk to. Within a week of the visit, Scott had posted four blogs about GM to his blog, Web Ink Now. Scott’s post were still critical of GM’s advertising strategy (something he had been critical of the motor company for previously), but were positive about the corporation overall. “You don’t engage everybody,” Berger noted, adding that critics not interested in a genuine conversation are not worth the time. “If somebody is giving good thought to their criticism, then you want to engage that person.”

To have an effective and credible social media presence during a crisis, it is important to establish a social media strategy before the crisis hits, Berger maintains. “There is no over. This is not a campaign. It is a commitment. This is a long-term way of doing business.”

Answer 1

General motors were planning for a Chapter 11 filing and filing meant company was in a pretty bad shape financially. The filing would cause a lot of pain and loss for the shareholders. By being open and responsive on all social media forums GM left themselves vulnerable to a huge negative public outcry. This could have led to massive negative publicity and damages to their chances of recovering from the financial mess they were in.

The company’s goodwill, trust and respect were at stake. People could have taken GM’s social media strategy negatively, any response by CEO or staff not liked by publc could have been shared by thousands of people over social media forums. The negative sentiments would continue about the company. Even after recovering from the financial mess, company could have been seen in bad light if the campaign had failed.

The advantages of being transparent were the following:

• GM was able to break the news first to shareholders and directly connect with them. It was much more personal than a news flash breaking this news to public. They were able to show their commitment to recover to shareholders directly
• GM was able to show that they cared. They responded to even the hate messages and let their CEO take questions directly. Using the social media forums, they were able to emphasize with shareholders
• By engaging with critics which were open to see both sides of a coin, they were able to get positive mentions about the company overall even from staunch critics