In the reading of Real Time Marketing & PR the book's author, David Meerman Scott, expressed the importance of real time PR and responding in real time. I kind of had a feel for real time PR from the last book we read in class, Share This!, which told us that modern day PR is the same, just faster so organizations no longer have hours or days on end to respond to customers. Customers want their responses as soon as possible, so PR now uses social media as a tool to respond to customers and get feedback. Based off of the "Do's and Dont's" list, also from Share This, a real important do is to correct any mistakes in a swift and open fashion. And that is one thing this book focused on as well.
In the reading, Scott wrote about the incident that happened with United Airlines. Songwriter, Dave Carroll, was on an United Airlines flight when he noticed the baggage handlers carelessly throw his guitar case which resulted in his Taylor guitar breaking. Nearly a year went by and after all of the hassle and back and forth nonsense, Carroll still received no proper compensation for his damages. Due to the airlines blatant unconcerned interest in the matter, Carroll went on to make three songs on the issue, including the song that went viral "United Breaks Guitars". After becoming an Internet sensation, Taylor Guitars, and Calton Cases owners hopped on his bandwagon to work with him, United Airlines finally met with Carroll ten weeks after the success of "United Breaks Guitars".
That demonstrates how to not respond with your customers. The damage control for this issue had to be more than hell for their public relations department but, it all could've been avoided with responding to their issues from customers in real time. Weather it's over the phone, through email, or social media, United Airlines could've resolved the situation quickly and painlessly.
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