A Response and Recommendations to the 2011 Qantas Social Media Disaster

This article discusses the 2011 Qantas social media disaster and provides recommendations for creating a positive brand perception. It also outlines three important factors to consider when using social media. The author suggests that Qantas should take full responsibility for the disaster, offer a public apology, and seek the services of an experienced PR company. The article also provides a communication plan template for Olivia Wirth, the executive of Government and Corporate Affairs at Qantas.

Student’s Last Name 1
Management Communication
By (Name)
Course
Professor
University
Date

Student’s Last Name 2
To: Qantas Management
From: Olivia Wirth
Subject: A Response and Recommendations to the 2011 Social Media Disaster.
On the 23rd day of November 2011, Qantas’ efforts to offer promotions via the social
media turned disastrous as users hijacked the tag used for the promotion to hurl insults to the
airline (Stieglitz, Bruns, and Krüger, 2015 p.920). Quoting the Qantas’ official Twitter account,
followers were asked this question; “What is your dream luxury inflight experience? (Be
creative!) Answer must include #QantasLuxury." It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that this
disaster came a few weeks after the airline was forced to offer apologies for conducting a Twitter
competition which required sports fans to go blackface so as to win free tickets (Yin, Lampert,
Cameron, Robinson, and Power, 2012 p.54).
Actions to create a positive brand perception
It is worth admitting that Qantas failed miserably in addressing the situation; the
company somehow overlooked the prevailing disaster. One of the strategies that the company
should have taken is to examine the comments made by the followers, take full responsibility of
the mistake, and finally let the people know that the problem is being addressed (Xie and Peng,
2009 p.60). For instance, the company should have offered free or discounted flights to the
passengers who fell victim of the fleet grounding. It is essential for companies to study what
social media users think about the organization and apply various management strategies in case
mishaps are detected. Multiple studies have been conducted to give companies like Qantas

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solutions to disasters. The studies have also outlined the various activities that companies should
take so as to rebuild a tarnished image.
Moving into the future, Olivia Wirth (the executive of Government and Corporate Affairs
at Qantas), should consider taking full responsibility for the Twitter disaster and also offer a
public apology on the same matter. Besides, this Qantas should take advantage of every
opportunity to rebuild its ruined image. For instance, each year sees more and more students in
need of scholarships, others in need of sports sponsorship, others in need of donations such as
books, and so forth. Qantas should, therefore, consider capitalizing on such worthwhile
opportunities to make the people forget about the disaster (Karl, 2013 p.75). In addition, the
company needs to seek the services of an experienced PR company that can monitor the
activities on the social media platform and hastily turn things around if such an incident reoccurs
in future
Three important factor to consider when using social media
Notably, social media offers organizations a chance to create a rapport, converse with the
audience, and accomplish roles effectively (Koufaris and Hampton-Sosa, 2014 p.755). Many
companies, including Qantas Airline, have acknowledged that social media has great potential as
evidenced by the significant number of campaigns initiated year after year. In the midst of all
these bounties, however, there is tragedy lurking if organizations do not take caution when using
social media. As a consequence, I have identified three essential factors that Qantas needs to
consider during the usage of social media.

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First, Qantas needs to know that timing is of a great essence (Covey, 2016 p.26). As seen
from the 2011 social media disaster, timing has a great impact on social media campaigns;
initiating a campaign in the midst of a prevailing organizational crisis will do nothing but fan the
fire. At the time when the airline conducted the 2011 competition which gave followers a chance
to win luxury amenity kits along with a pair of first-class pyjamas, the relations at the airline
were poor and there were multiple industrial relations disputes with the company’s employees.
The result of the promotion was a series of sarcastic and negative comments on Twitter using the
campaign’s hashtag. In brief, timing is a key factor to consider when conducting social media
campaigns.
Second, the message should be sacrosanct. The message is a very crucial element of the
social media campaign. In other words, the message should be devoid of offensive, outrageous,
or discriminatory remarks (Shockley-Zalabak, Morreale, and Hackman, 2010 p 63). The
GoDaddy incident is one excellent instance of messaging gone wrong. The company found itself
subject to severe social media criticism after the CEO was recorded shooting an elephant.
GoDaddy’s competitors sensed an opportunity in the midst of the disaster and devised strategies
to poach customers. Indeed, such as case and many more should serve as a lesson to Qantas.
Third, the company should consider installing responsible social media managers.
Notably, all that is needed to crumble an excellently administered social media campaign is an
irresponsible social media manager. Qantas should get the best people for the task as there is
little or no room for mistakes when social media is concerned (De Fu, Tse, Mathivanan, and
Chaidaroon, 2014 p.130). In a scenario where mistakes happen, things may turn sour as was seen
in Chrysler’s Twitter “bomb.” As a consequence of the obscene tweet, Chrysler Group was

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forced to end its link with the social media agency and the employee behind the tweet was also
sent packing. To avoid similar incidents, Qantas should conduct a rigorous assessment of social
media managers before recruiting them.
The course of Action for Olivia Wirth (using the Communication Plan Template)
Considering that Qantas’ image, as well as future sales, are at stake, Olivia Wirth should
create an action plan with immediate effect. In this regard, Qantas should publicly offer an
apology to the customers who were affected by the industrial relations disputes and also to the
general public.
1. Timing • What date should be used?
November 24th, 2011 is the perfect date so that the situation can be dealt with as soon as
possible.
2. Audience •Who should receive it?
The Chief Executive Officer should receive it.
3. Sender Who will send it?
Olivia Wirth (the executive of Government and Corporate Affairs at Qantas)
4. Key Message • What are the main points and themes?
From now henceforth, the airline will be keen on the sentiments of both its workers and
customers. Any future concern/comment/ feedback will be taken into full consideration and a

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response will be given without delay. In addition to this, Qantas will have to redesign its
operational strategy so as to offer its customers nothing but the best.
5. Desired Outcome • What behaviors are desired?
The desired outcome is to see the image of the airline come back to normal or even move
to higher heights.
6. Medium • What communication channels will be used?
A live conference and mass emails.
7. Frequency • What should we leave behind?
Qantas needs to note that the past experiences/ mistakes should act as a lesson/starting
point for the future endeavors. The Twitter incident should be left behind so that the airline can
concentrate on building a better future.
8. Materials • How often should we send messages?
Messages should be sent often; if possible, on a daily basis.

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Bibliography
Covey, S.M., 2016. The speed of trust: The one thing that changes everything. Simon and
Schuster.
De Fu, S.C., Tse, P.P., Mathivanan, G. and Chaidaroon, S.S., 2014. Caught in The Air:
Suspension of Tiger Airways Domestic Flights in Australia & Implications for Stakeholder
Management. NIDA Case Research Journal, 6(2), pp.129-140.
Karl Grebe, S., 2013. Things can get worse: How mismanagement of a crisis response strategy
can cause a secondary or double crisis: the example of the AWB corporate scandal. Corporate
Communications: An International Journal, 18(1), pp.70-86.
Koufaris, M. and Hampton-Sosa, W., 2014. The development of initial trust in an online
company by new customers. Information & management, 41(3), pp.377-397.
Shockley-Zalabak, P.S., Morreale, S. and Hackman, M., 2010. Building the high-trust
organization: Strategies for supporting five key dimensions of trust (Vol. 7). John Wiley & Sons.
Stieglitz, S., Bruns, A. and Krüger, N., 2015. Enterprise-related crisis communication on
Twitter. Proceedings der 12. Internationalen Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2015), pp.917-
932.
Xie, Y. and Peng, S., 2009. How to repair customer trust after negative publicity: The roles of
competence, integrity, benevolence, and forgiveness. Psychology & Marketing, 26(7), pp.572-
589.

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Yin, J., Lampert, A., Cameron, M., Robinson, B. and Power, R., 2012. Using social media to
enhance emergency situation awareness. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 27(6), pp.52-59.