MNG81001-Management Communication | Concept of Analysis
The Qantas social media disaster
Companies around the globe are embracing and adopting social media for many different reasons, including: customer service, marketing, internal communications, public relations, and corporate social responsibility. It is now a reality that social media is changing the way stakeholders and companies communicate daily, providing opportunities for collaboration, participation, interactivity, and engagement.
Your task is to analyse a business case study that chronicles one of the worst years for Qantas. In 2011 Qantas faced a communication strategy that spiraled out of control. According to Australia’s public relations watchdog, PRdisasters.com, Qantas not only finished 2011 with the biggest PR disaster but three of its slip-ups made the top 10 list for 2011. The top 10 list of PR disasters in Australia for 2011 can be obtained at the following website: https://prdisasters.com/2012/01/09/australias-2011-pr-disasters-awards-announced/.
This case places you directly into the role of Olivia Wirth, executive of Government and Corporate affairs at Qantas Airlines, who must devise a plan of action to respond to the company’s failed and publicly scrutinised social media contest through Twitter.
You need to apply analytical, decision-making, creativity and communication skills to create an effective strategy for Qantas management to implement. You also need to take into consideration the series of events that have compounded over the past years to negatively affect the public’s perception of Qantas. In response to the company’s failed Twitter contest and mounting public animosity, what course of action should Olivia Wirth recommend to Qantas management?
Please follow these guidelines to complete the assessment:
1.Carefully read the Ivey Business School case: 'Qantas Airlines: Twitter Nosedive'. Note: you will need to go onto the Ivey Business School website https://www.iveycases.com/ and purchase a copy of this case (approximately A$5.00).
2. Read the case several times and answer the following questions in your analysis/ recommendation(s):
a. What future actions can Qantas take to build a positive public perception of the brand? Be prepared to provide justification for your recommended actions.
b. Identify three important factors for an organisation to consider when using social media, such as Twitter, for contest or other public relations initiatives. Use 3-5 secondary sources to support your analysis.
c. Using the Communication Plan Template in the case (see Exhibit TN-1), devise a course of action for Olivia Wirth to recommend to Qantas management.
Some important guidelines to consider when developing a recommended course of action:
• The different stages of the communication plan template must fit together, if they do not, adjustments must be made.
• The communication plan should be realistic and feasible.
• The various problems that Qantas has experienced publically over the past year must be taken into account.
2.Please be aware that the writing quality and appropriate referencing will be marked as well as the content.
Answer:
To: The Qantas Management
From: Executive of government and corporate affairs at Qantas airlines
Date: November 25, 2011
Message:
We will be conducting a meeting in order to discuss the effective strategies which could be implemented in order to deal with the social media hassle faced by Qantas recently.
Background
Qantas had been dwindling upon the operational aspects owing to a number of recent failures. Some of which could be highlighted over here such as – aircraft engine troubles, leakage of controversial photographs, contact negotiations gone wrong with some of its unions and thousands of customers being stranded after many grounded flights. In order to deal with the dwindling customer base Qantas airlines had recently launched a contest to garner sufficient customer attention. Qantas had launched a survey with the help of a social media server that is twitter. Through the contest, the customers were given the chance of winning one of 50 pairs of Qantas first class pyjamas and luxury amenity kit. As we all know, the access to the contest was provided through a hashtag #qantasluxury (qantas.com 2018). However, the contest had negative implications for the Qantas airlines as the link was hijacked by the customers, which was mostly used by them to provide negative comments regarding the brand and its services. The wave of negative comments had done much worse to the brand than good. Additionally, ineffective communication approaches had been employed by the company which further agitated a particular class of customers. Hence, inappropriate management communication approaches had been employed on the part of the company where entries were made like- “ Wow! Some very creative tweets out there. Keep the entries coming”. The public discontent was also expressed through viral YouTube parody. Therefore, being the executive of government and corporate affairs at Qantas Airlines I had to take things in my stride. In this official letter, I will try to highlight the numerous actions which could be undertaken in order to build a positive public perception about Qantas. One of the most important aspects which need to be highlighted by me over here is the correct and appropriate use of social media. The social media has a strong and wide outreach in influencing the perceptions of the target customer segment (Luo and Zhong 2015). Therefore, any negative review on social media can affect the target customer segment in a wrong way.Future actions to build positive public perceptions of Qantas
A positive public perception of a brand can be built using a number of steps such as – showcasing the brand values, building a loyal trust in the customers towards the brand, engaging more actively with the target customer segment, strong and consistent messaging, which also helps in developing a positive brand perception. As mentioned by Jin et al. (2014), the social media could be optimized in order to develop positive perception of a brand in front of the target customer base. In this respect, the brand values refer to the special features present within the product set of a company, which provides it with a competitive advantage over others. As mentioned by Theaker (2017), the value of a brand is directly proportional to it customer loyalty rate. The higher the customer loyalty rate, the higher is the brand value associated with the product. The customer loyalty is again based upon serving the customers on time with quality based services (Ngai et al. 2015).
The aim of the Qantas airlines is building a strong customer trust. For building a strong customer trust effective message based interaction needs to be implemented. There have been incidents where the customers waiting to board the Qantas flights have been waiting for hours; to receive the news that the flights have been cancelled (qantas.com 2018). In case we follow a practise where the customers will be informed through messaging services directly regarding any flight cancellations; it can help us to save the time of the customers. Additionally, fast and timely services such as arrangement of alternate travel options in case the passengers misses the flight can help in resolving the issues faced by the target customer segment. We will also need to ensure that the customers are provided with quality based services when travelling through the Qantas flights. In this case, special emphasis needs to be provided upon the food as well as comfortable travel options.
Important factors for Qantas to consider when using social media
The Qantas airlines need to consider a number of factors while using social media. As mentioned by Pearson (2017), using close ended questionnaires can be a positive way out. The close ended questionnaire ensures that the customers are not able to expand upon individual market survey questions placed. Additionally, the yes and no answered by the target market customers can be utilised in the designing of stoichiometrically significant results. Additionally, as an organization we will have to interact in a friendly and communicative manner with the target market audience (Wheelen et al. 2017). This will help in building an effective and trustworthy bond with the customers. The communication approach should be centred on solving the issues of the target customer profile than instigating them further through sharp replies (Montalvo 2016)
Future actions to build positive public perceptions of Qantas
A positive public perception of a brand can be built using a number of steps such as – showcasing the brand values, building a loyal trust in the customers towards the brand, engaging more actively with the target customer segment, strong and consistent messaging, which also helps in developing a positive brand perception. As mentioned by Jin et al. (2014), the social media could be optimized in order to develop positive perception of a brand in front of the target customer base. In this respect, the brand values refer to the special features present within the product set of a company, which provides it with a competitive advantage over others. As mentioned by Theaker (2017), the value of a brand is directly proportional to it customer loyalty rate. The higher the customer loyalty rate, the higher is the brand value associated with the product. The customer loyalty is again based upon serving the customers on time with quality based services (Ngai et al. 2015).
The aim of the Qantas airlines is building a strong customer trust. For building a strong customer trust effective message based interaction needs to be implemented. There have been incidents where the customers waiting to board the Qantas flights have been waiting for hours; to receive the news that the flights have been cancelled (qantas.com 2018). In case we follow a practise where the customers will be informed through messaging services directly regarding any flight cancellations; it can help us to save the time of the customers. Additionally, fast and timely services such as arrangement of alternate travel options in case the passengers misses the flight can help in resolving the issues faced by the target customer segment. We will also need to ensure that the customers are provided with quality based services when travelling through the Qantas flights. In this case, special emphasis needs to be provided upon the food as well as comfortable travel options
Course of action suggested to Qantas management
A course of action could be suggested over here which will be followed up by the Qantas management in order to prevent the chance of future hassles. Some of these are following an instant messaging service with the customers, where the customers will be informed regrading any small change within the course of action of the airlines (Munar et al. 2014). We can also provide the customers additional discounts on the air tickets along with providing them with value added services such as large comprehensive meals, goodie bags for the children etc.
In order to communicate effectively with the customers an effective communication template could be designed for the customers which has been further represented though a timeline.
References
Jin, Y., Liu, B.F. and Austin, L.L. 2014, ‘Examining the role of social media in effective crisis management: The effects of crisis origin, information form, and source on publics’ crisis responses’, Communication research, vol. 41, no. 1, pp.74-94.
Luo, Q. and Zhong, D. 2015, ‘Using social network analysis to explain communication characteristics of travel-related electronic word-of-mouth on social networking sites’, Tourism Management, vol. 46, pp.274-282.
Montalvo, R.E. 2016, ‘Social media management’, International Journal of Management & Information Systems (Online),vol, 20, no. 2, p.45.
Munar, A.M. and Jacobsen, J.K.S. 2014,‘Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media’, Tourism management, vol. 43, pp.46-54.
Ngai, E.W., Tao, S.S. and Moon, K.K. 2015, ‘Social media research: Theories, constructs, and conceptual frameworks’, International Journal of Information Management, vol. 35, no. 1, pp.33-44.
Pearson, R. 2017, ‘Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the idea of dialogue’, In Public relations theory , Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 111-131.
qantas.com 2018, qantas.com , Available at : https://www.qantas.com/au/en.html [accessed on 7 May 2018]
Theaker, A. 2017, ‘What is public relations?’, In The Public Relations Strategic Toolkit , Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 17-27.
Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E. 2017, Strategic management and business policy, London:pearson, pp.56-85
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