Consider the recent KFC promotion, the "Oprah Winfrey Show Kentucky Grilled Chicken 2-piece Meal Coupon." KFC became a top trending topic for days. KFC was already active on Twitter with its @kfc_colonel account and got right into the fray. The tweets evolved from enthusiastic, to addressing specific negative customer feedback, to directing folks to a full-blown apology from the company president when KFC couldn't deliver on the offer.
Here are some highlights of the Twitter stream and how KFC managed it via its Twitter channel.
As KFC climbed the list of Twitter's trending topics, the company continued to tweet and interact with other users, as evidenced by the following tweets from @kfc_colonel directed at other users.
- "The Colonel thinks it's a great day to be an @Oprah fan."
- "@LtSanders KGC has received very positive reviews. Sorry you didn't enjoy it, but thanks for letting us know. I'll pass the feedback along."
- "@BCWray Give the Colonel's Customer Service team a call. They'll want to hear about your experience and they can help. 1-800-CALL-KFC. Thx."
Then things started to really turn. KFC couldn't meet demand and started to give out rainchecks, much to the chagrin of those on Twitter. Here's a sampling of tweets from the aftermath:
- rdf_pr: "RT @evamadera: I didn't get a chance because my KFC didn't honor the coupons yesterday. [Didn't honor your coupon???] #GIveawayFAIL"
- MsKae: "Does KFC hate moms? El Pollo Loco will take your KFC coupon on Mother's Day! http://bit.ly/16DkpB"
- saizmeup: "KFC will burn!!"
- Dame_Rebecca: "KFC is having to give out rainchecks now? Seriously? LOL http://tinyurl.com/d8sf2t"
- scottbridwell: "So people are really upset over the #KFC coupon thing...really, it's free food people...get a life."
Soon after, the "Colonel" was apologizing, directing people to an appearance by KFC's president on Oprah to apologize and a YouTube video from the president, and even directly messaging customers. KFC responded in a timely, effective manner and did so directly, honestly, and with authenticity. It is quite certain that whoever was responsible for the company's Twitter presence was not left alone on the front lines, as he had official responses to direct people to in order to help mitigate a difficult scenario. Perhaps he shouldn't have promised to direct message everyone though?
Sales, promotions, wrong information, and even the KFC campaign are all possible scenarios you can plan for. But what about scenarios that you can't predict, or even think of? What do you tweet then?
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