#AskJPM – One question that JP Morgan would not want to answer anytime in the future!
November 19th, 2013 • COMM464, EMarketing
Engaging with the public, a seemingly noble objective is apparently not for everybody and definitely not for JP Morgan. Last Wednesday, the US Bank attempted to host its first public free-wheeling Q&A session on Twitter where in the questions would be answered by Jimmy Lee, a veteran dealmaker. However, soon after the announcement, the bank was bombarded with thousands of negative public reaction, close to 25000 negative tweets, who vented using the hashtag #AskJPM. Related hashtags were #toobigtojail and #banksters. A sample is below:
This highlights the risks executives face when engaging with the public. Carried away by the shiny object syndrome, executives may be persuaded to use any relatively inexpensive means such as Twitter in an attempt to increase their brand value. However, keeping in mind the FIT that a social media channel has with the brand is essential. An article debates that when a much loved tangible food brand like McDonalds can face twitter backlash during such situations, people are much less likely to have fond associations with a services firm. In this case, a more covert means of communication like say, the public asking questions by email or posting questions through an application or by DM on Twitter and then the bank selectively choosing the questions to answer would have been more useful.
Learning from past mistakes is good but what makes a company great is learning from other’s mistakes. British Gas unfortunately chose to have a similar Q&A session on the same day as announcing a 9% price increase and the result? A hilarious but sad outcome of events:
This teaches us that while social media has many advantages and is a relatively inexpensive way to communicate with the public, it can have many pitfalls especially when the company is not in control of the channel. This also teaches us that while we may love to pay for and orchestrate positive brand messages and evangelists, social media ensures that evangelism is something that is necessarily earned, not paid for or orchestrated.