Qantas’ Twitter disaster – the lessons for small business

Qantas has been through a hellish few months, and it’s just gotten worse. Yesterday, after announcing a competition where customers could win some a first class gift pack including Qantas pyjamas, the company was inundated with tweets about the recent strikes and stories of how passengers were delayed for hours and had flights cancelled.

Qantas asked passengers to use the hashtag “QantasLuxury” to enter the competition, but many users decided to use that hashtag for their own purposes, complaining of how they missed catching up with friends, and even missing funerals, due to the recent stoppages.

The incident is just another lesson in how social media can quickly turn on a company, and highlights how small businesses need to be aware of when and how to respond to such incidents.

Here are a few lessons from the latest Qantas public relations disaster:

Respond individually

Qantas usually does a good job of responding to individual tweets, whether good or bad. But in this instance, it appears most of the users who provided sarcastic entries using the QantasLuxury tag weren’t given a response.

This isn’t necessarily a failing as much as a lost opportunity. If Qantas went out of its way to put more resources on its feed for a few hours to respond to as many individual tweets as it could, some of the damage may have been mitigated. Instead, the controversy has spread.

Twitter is a conversation, and for the most part Qantas does very well at responding to individuals. But businesses need to respond in all situations, not just when the tide is going their way.

Be sensitive to timing

It’s fair to say the Qantas’ brand has been tarnished pretty badly. You only need to look at some of its latest efforts, like providing passengers affected by delays with free tickets, to see that.

During a period of intense customer scrutiny, it’s probably not the best strategy to drum up support by asking passengers what would be their “dream in flight experience” when the experience of flying with Qantas is still associated with delays and cancellations.

Think about what you tweet. If your customers are particularly sensitive about a topic, then don’t exploit that and just pretend that everything is okay. Acknowledge what’s going on, and if need be, lay low on the controversial tweets used to drum up support.

Always respond, no matter the situation

Qantas has had a tough few months, and the latest controversy put it in a frustrating spot. Faced with antagonistic tweets, it faced problems either way – respond and be ridiculed, or ignore harsh tweets altogether and be accused of being aloof.

After announcing the competition yesterday and being hounded with complaints, Qantas tweeted the following – “Some very creative tweeps out there. Keep the entries coming”, along with the hashtag “QantasWeHearYou”.

Whether or not this was the best reply is up for debate, but it confirms at least one message for small businesses – you need to reply no matter what happens on social media.

Once you retreat back into silence, you’re seen as distant and uncaring. Instead, consider your response – even if it’s likely to be ignored – and then try and minimise the damage.

Responding badly is a death trap, but failing to respond at all is even worse. Make sure your followers know their complaints are being heard.

Note: This article originally referred to Qantas as offering a free trip. The correct prize was a first class gift pack, and the article has been changed to reflect this.