Social media can be a risky business.
On the one hand, it’s an easy way to engage and converse with your fans—giving the most dedicated among them the ability to instantly share your messages with their own friends and/or followers. Posts can also go “viral” when they resonate, potentially resulting in loads of brand new supporters.
But social media is completely unfiltered and accessible by anyone with an email address, which means that if you post something unpopular, you open yourself up to negative feedback that you can’t hide, tailor or control.
Lululemon, Canadian athletic apparel retailer, recently learned a valuable lesson about the risks of miscalculated social media posts.
It all started when Beyonce, Grammy award-winning pop sensation, released a teaser video promoting her own line of athletic apparel (called Ivy Park). In responding to a tweet asking whether Ivy Park was “supposed to be like” Lululemon, the company responded as follows:
“They do say imitation is the best form of flattery. Maybe Beyonce is so Crazy In Love with our brand, she made her own.”
…If you know anything about Beyonce’s dedicated fan-base, you already know that was a mistake.
Fans (or perhaps, ex-fans) of Lululemon and Beyonce took to Twitter to call the brand out on what they perceived to be an unnecessary jab at the pop singer. Lululemon spent the next day bombarded with demands for apologies, jabs of their own towards the brand and worse.
Sometimes, a single tweet can be cause for damage control—as was the case here.
But Lululemon responded how a professional company should, offering business owners a fascinating look into how a popular brand handles a social media crisis.
Their responses were polite, apologetic and sincere. They took the original tweet down and made sure to reply to every comment, negative or otherwise, made towards them during the crisis.
Here are some of the comments they posted in response to various protesters:
“We’re huge fans of hers and never meant any harm.”“We hear you, thanks for calling us out.”“We heard where everyone was coming from and took it down.”
What’s important to note about the responses is that they acknowledge the following key things: That the company messed up, that the fans were heard and that they’re thankful for the feedback (even if it’s negative).
Ultimately, it’s just a tweet. There’s no reason to believe that Lululemon will collapse or suffer too much for such a minor comment, especially in an environment where new posts and tweets steal attention on a regular basis.
But had they not handled the situation so eloquently, it could’ve cost them much more.
What do you think of Lululemon’s social media prowess? Innocent mistake, or major meltdown?
Image via: Ivy Park
