The need to integrate customer service, marketing and PR is one I've talked about several times before. It's an important theme because whilst from the corporate perspective these are often viewed as different skills, run by different teams (quite likely in different offices) and using different suppliers, from the point of view of the public they all merge in to one. When Googling for product information people will see news stories, when looking for customer service information people will come across marketing presences on social media and so on.
Eurostar's disaster with broken down trains and stranded passengers demonstrates this all too clearly. Where do people turn in search of information at times like this? They look online and on social networks. And what did they find? Marketing messages going out via Twitter and email, but not information about who is stranded where and what's happening.
The lack of such information is poor, but when added to finding cheery, positive marketing information instead - that's just rubbing salt in to the wound.
UPDATE: There is of course a basic issue about the level of communications, whether integrated or not. Digital Stuffing has a good post on this angle.
UPDATE 2: Rob Fenwick also has a good post on the wider communications issues faced by Eurostar.
[...] Mark Pack has said in another post, it also shows the problems when customer services, standard PR and social media don’t join [...]
[...] going to go away any time soon. Already there are some great posts from Dirk, Rachel and Mark on the subject. As Dirk says, expect this to be coming to a social media case study near you [...]
Wise words
There's nowhere more important to harmonise a corporate voice than in a crisis comms plan...And by not using all the social media tools available to them from very early on in this crisis I think they've had one arm tied behind their back.
Shame. I like Eurostar. They've been tremendously unlucky with the weather and the effects it's had on their trains. But their crisis comms has been not what I'd expect.
[...] Stuffing and at Rob Fenwick’s blog, with thanks to Mack Pack for pointing me there with his good summarising post. My aim is to discuss the flawed view of the majority that is held towards Social [...]
[...] Service, Marketing and PR should have been be married into one voice Marck Pack claims and rightfully so. Note I chose the same photo by accident before I red his [...]