We saw the mess when Dominos waited 36 hours to respond to their crises. We’re in the midst of an United Airlines crisis. There are countless case studies showing the damage that can be done to a brand that doesn’t respond.

Face it – we’re online. We live in a digital society that feeds on the ability to fulfill their desires instantly. The speed at which information travels is increasingly getting quicker – which can be great for a brand to connect. However, this also poses an even bigger threat to companies that don’t continually monitor their image.

On the personal side, we need to start holding ourselves accountable. Made a mistake? It’s ok, own up and admit your mistake. We all make mistakes, but you’ll make it twice as bad by trying to avoid your client. There’s nothing worse than calling someone, getting voicemail and not receiving a call back. Again, take initiative and if someone reaches out to you, do the professional thing and return a call.

Social media is here – so why not take advantage of it? While we can debate who’s best suited to manage the social media account, one thing that’s not debatable is the value it brings to customer service. If there’s one thing that social media allows, it’s the ability to reach out to your community.

So we know about the harm not monitoring your brand can do. We know what happens when you don’t provide exemplary service; but what about when a brand gets it right? I bring to you Mayo Clinic. Not only is Mayo a world-class health institution – they’re also a prime example of a brand monitoring and taking advantage of social media.

Mayo could have ignored this opportunity – after all, it wasn’t a life-changing cure or a medical advancement. Instead, they saw an opportunity to help build a community and spread a good message. It wasn’t about advancing their brand, but in the end, that’s the result they achieved. It’s about relationships.

3 ways social media helps:

• Instant feedback from customers. Know if they have a problem and when.
• Ability to instantly address. No more making customers wait 10 minutes on hold. Prevent crisis before it occurs
• Puts human touch to problem. Shows customers that they matter.

We all have bad days – I get that. But the next time your phone is ringing off the hook and you know the reason – pick it up. The next time a customer tries to reach out to your company, forget about the $$ involved and do what’s right. Otherwise, you’ll end up like United.

Your thoughts?

What have we learned in the PR world recently?
- We’ve seen Dominos’ image tarnish in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
* Respectfully, here is their response.
- The KFC mess via Oprah.
- And my personal favorite, KFC attempts to prank El Pollo Loco. Ouch, KFC has had a rough 2009 thus far!

With all these, we learned that word spreads fast. Especially when it’s negative. But let’s focus in on the recent PR stunt that the Golden State Warriors’ PR head pulled.

Raymond Ridder, a 10+ year PR veteran, decides that public opinion about his employer (GS Warriors) isn’t very positive. Forget the fact that they only won 29 games this year, but that’s another issue for another time. So, what should a PR pro do? Let’s go to the source of this negative opinion and try to “spin” the community’s thoughts. That’s ethical, right? After all, it’s up to the brand (again, the Warriors) to shape public opinion. It’s the job of the PR department to shape how our community (in this case NBA fans) is talking about us. We determine the message, we determine the response. That’s how PR works, isn’t it?

I understand that PR has changed over the years. Heck, it’s changed drastically since I graduated five years ago. But I’m pretty sure this was Rule #1 in that ‘Ethics 101′ course I took. You know that class you dreaded because it talked about all those boring case studies. *Professor Menke, I really don’t think the ethics course you taught was boring. I actually enjoyed it.

What this guy did (I won’t refer to him as a PR pro anymore) is basically take all the work us honest and ethical PR folks are doing to clear our industry, threw it to the ground and spit on it. It’s people like this Ridder character, and his actions, that cause our industry to be referred to as “flacks”. Mr. Ridder, if you prefer to be called a “flack,” by all means, we can arrange for that.

You’ve heard of Intel, right? Pretty big company. Let’s take a look at their social media guidelines. Skip over the first section, although it is important, and go to ‘Rules of Engagement.”

#1 – be transparent. You failed there.
#2 – be judicious. He said he did it on his own, so maybe it didn’t violate company policy.
#3 – write what you know. Ummm…I’d say you failed here too.
#4 – perception is reality. Ah, here we go. I like this rule. Well, you had no chance at following this basic guideline, err rule.

I think you get where I am going here. How can a so-called leader of an organization blatantly try to mislead and lie to its community and expect any sort of trust and support from said community? Posting anonymously and trying to “guide the conversation in the ‘right’ direction” is basically like telling your audience that you think they’re stupid. That’s what it comes down to.

If the PR industry has any chance of finally getting rid of the “flack” label that is associated with it, actions like this MUST stop. It’s scary how often basic ethics are often overlooked in an effort to advance an organization’s message. PR folks, you need to realize that the public will eventually call your bluff. Quit trying to be sneaky. Your audience will call you out. What Mr. Ridder should have done is engage his community, acknowledge the concerns and find methods to cure those concerns. Instead, the Golden State Warriors have a bigger issue than their losing record to solve.