Analyzing Social Media Communication Risks at Myer: A Case Study

This case study analyzes the social media communication strategies employed by Myer, a large Australian department store group. It identifies key risks associated with social media use, including reputation damage, improper employee conduct, defamation, and data breaches. The study provides recommendations for a comprehensive social media policy to mitigate these risks, focusing on copyright protection, employee conduct monitoring, data security, and handling negative feedback. The analysis emphasizes the importance of proactive measures to safeguard Myer's brand image and customer trust in the digital landscape. Desklib offers this document and other solved assignments for students.

Running head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Social Media in Organization
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the company............................................................................................................3
Social media in organization...........................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference.......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Social media has great influence over how information is exchanged and obtained. It is
still regarded and conceived as fear in some organizations and poses a potential danger within
the purview of the organizational communication. The new developments in the media
technology have influenced both the behaviour of the media users and the traditional media
users. While, it is important to note that the new developments in the media did not replace the
traditional media, but it has enhanced the whole process. Just like the traditional media
technologies had their disadvantages, the newer media technologies also have their drawbacks
(Badea, 2014). This study is based on the social media issues in an organization like Myer and
the strategies to solve such issues.
Background of the company
Myer was founded by Sydney Myer after he came to Melbourne from Russia. Myer today
is the largest departmental store group in Australia and has been an icon for the fashion and style
for over 100 years. The company generates sold around 3.1 billion dollars in the financial year
2013 and the Myer has around 67 stores that are located all over Australia. The stores are also
supported by the mobile platforms, digital and the online platforms for the purpose of online
shopping. The combination of the offline stores and the online shopping websites has resulted
into an omnichannel experience for the wide range of the customers and also the attract the new
customers that would love to shop form Myer (Myer, 2018a).
The company focuses on inspiring the 1200 suppliers, 54,000 shareholders, 12,500 team
members globally along with the many communities that are willing to connect and engage with
the strong brand of Myer. The company also has a brand image of engaging the local community

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and also has a long history of philanthropy. The merchandise of Myer includes a whole range of
11 core products like the general merchandise, handbags and accessories, handbags, footwear,
toys, electrical goods, homewears, cosmetics and fragrances, beauty products, intimate apparel,
childrenswear, miss shop, menswear, womens wear (Myer, 2018b).
Social media in organization
With the advent of the social media and the associated technologies, a large number of
the organizations have started using the social media for the purpose of increasing its advantage
over the others. The linking is done in order to in order to connect with the customers and also
attract the future customers. Organizations now use the Twitter, Instagram, Facebook to actively
and efficiently promote their products so that the product reaches to the wider range of the
customers. The possibilities of the usage of social media for business promotion are endless and
it has resulted in the growth of the business of several organizations. Myer is one of the largest
departmental store groups in Australia and has been effectively using the LinkedIn, Instagram,
Facebook and Twitter. It is, however, important to note that the usage of the social media has
inherent legal risks which can affect Myer adversely.
The participation of Myers in the social media has led to certain risks externally and internally
from the employees and contractors. The various risks that are associated with the usage of the
social media are as follows:
 Defamation
 Copyright and privacy infringement
 Information leaked by the contractors and the employees
 Inappropriate usage of the social media by the employees.

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With respect to Myer, the major issues that have arisen are the improper usage of the
social media, defamation, loss of confidential information and disclosure, reputation risks.
Reputation risk- This is one of the most common issues in all the major organizations
and it includes the Myer. Myer has a social media presence and this has resulted in detailing their
feedback on to social media. This means that when a customer is not satisfied with the customer
support or has an unpleasant experience in the one of the departmental store of Myer. Such
negative feedbacks on the social media can be detrimental for Myer, considering the ease with
which information is shared over the internet. Thus it is necessary that the employees of Myer
must reply to such comments fast without making any delay. Myer exclusively focuses on the
customer service and the on all the fronts which include the online shopping site and the offline
departmental stores. Thus, the negative feedback on the social media can adversely impact and
damage the brand value of Myer. The figure 1 below shows some of the comments that reflect
the negative feedback.
Figure 1: Negative feedback on Myer Facebook page [source: Facebook.com, 2018]
Improper usage of social media by the employees- the social presence of the Myers has
allowed the employees to post improper materials over the social media during the business

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hours. The employees on the Facebook page can post comments which can derogatory for the
customers that Myers is serving. Before the comments are checked by the official social media
team, the post would have already been shared among the huge number of followers of the
Myers. Reports from Fairwork Australia reveal a case where an employee was dismissed because
he posted some abusive comments on Facebook and Fairwork conducted a research and found
that the this violated the company handbook and thus the employee was charged with serious
misconduct (Fairworkcentre., 2018).
Defamation- Myer belongs from a very competitive industry and it is a common
phenomenon for the employees to move to the social media and make false promises, claims and
false statements on grounds of the existing competitors, customers and company. An article was
published in a financial review that highlighted the comments of the Bernie Brookes, CEO of
Mayer. His comments made a social media stink and this resulted in a defamation remark with
respect to the funding of the national disability scheme. Brooks in his statement stated that the
Medicare levy is proper and best for the customers of the Mayer and is also not good for the
discretionary income world. After this statement was made the consumers vented their anger on
the social media in Twitter and Facebook and expressed their disapproval regarding the matter
(Financial Review, 2018).
Such matters are derogatory for the company and this instance is something that companies like
Mayer cannot afford to escalate from the perspective of the public relations. Mayer should also
try to win back the hearts of the consumers due to the cutthroat online competition.
Disclosure and loss of the confidential information- a program initiated by Myer called
MyerOne rewards program and in this program, the gifts and the offers add up so that it can be
used in the in-store. These cards include the customer’s personal information and if this data

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somehow gets leaked on the social media, it might lead to the loss of the confidential information
of the thousands of the customers. This program turns the shopping experience into collection
reward points. For every 1 dollar spent, the customer receives 2 shopping credits (MYER one,
2018).
Scams on the social media platform- Companies must pay attention to what their
consumers are saying about the various scams related to the scammers that are targeting and
chasing the credit card information. It is thus important for the organizations like Myer to focus
more on the scams that occur randomly on the fake social media pages by effectively following
the social media comments regarding the credit card scams. It has been found that a Facebook
page was created on the 25th birthday of Mayer. A fake Facebook offered prize packs to the
customers. This was done by the spammers by sending multiple emails to the consumers
pretending to be the retailer Myer and the emails promised to provide the sample packages. The
customers are promised that they will be provided with the sample packages but only if the
consumers provided the credit card information (SmartCompan, 2018).
Social media policy- I order to mitigate the potential risks, the social media policy is
required for the active protection of the Myer Brand and the employees of the same. Some of the
suggestions are that will be included in the policy are as follows:
 Copyright- copyrighting the design of the online shopping website can effectively
stop the scammers from making fake websites and thus complete prevention of
the scamming of the website and the consumers. There are different
 Checking the employee social conduct during and after hours- checking the online
activity of the employees and completely banning the usage of the social media
platforms during the office hours can effectively reduce the impact of the same on

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the organization. The computer that is used to during the work hours must have
the social platforms blocked.
 Incorporate the rights of the employees so that the other employee’s social media
activity can be taken care of and the potential risks are handled properly.
 Prevention of the disclosure of the confidential information- the company must
follow a strong customer-centric policy and a special emphasis on the personal
data of the consumers. Myer must have a special branch of IT department that
will especially look after the safeguard of the confidential data. Firewall and the
stringent procedures of lockdown must be kept so that the data kept in the servers
can be effectively prevented. Confidential data like the credit card details,
customer choices, and the customer login details must be kept with utmost secure
peripherals attached (Väyrynen, Hekkala & Liias, 2013).
 Devising the procedures for handling the negative feedback via the social media
by replying to the comments and replying to the feedback so that the issues can be
solved quickly. Companies can have a dedicated team of experts that will handle
the customer feedback and the grievances on the social media platform. The team
will efficiently scan through the feedback messages and appreciate the positive
feedback and at the same time address the negative feedbacks. The feedbacks are
the most important part of Myer that wants to spread its name via the social media
platform. The high number of customer base needs to be managed effectively so
that the grievances do not hamper the brand image of the company (Hardhat,
2018).

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 Credit card scams on the social media- the retailers can act fast by reporting the
same to the customers via their official social media page and the scams can be
reported to the authorities and the platforms. This procedure can be done on a
regular basis to reduce the scams on the social media page. Myer can set up a
team that will scan the phishing scams that are not affiliated and not legitimate
according to the Myer. An important message can also be conveyed to the
consumers regarding the fact the Mayer never asks for their consumers to submit
their financial details via the advertisement and email. Also, it is important to note
that the customers if are concerned about the legitimacy of the email or the
advertisement, then such consumers can freely contact the customer service in
order to clarify (Malhotra & Van Alstyne, 2014).
 The social media platforms can be asked to crack down on such fake Facebook
pages and the enterprises that promote such illegal activities. Fake Facebook
media pages can be reported and it can be tracked and blocked on the social
media platform. Facebook commits to working in this field and for the betterment
of its social media platform (Bonsón & Ratkai, 2013).
Conclusion
From the above study, it can be concluded that social media in the organization plays a
vital part in the development of the company. In this study, a company called Mayer is used and
is one of the largest departmental store group in Australia. The important part is that the
company is facing issues with respect to its presence on the social media platform. This is, on the
other hand, has hampered the conduct of its business and has also hampered its brand image, due
to the increased number of consumer grievances.

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Reference
Badea, M. (2014). Social media and organizational communication. Procedia-social and
behavioral sciences, 149, 70-75.
Bonsón, E., & Ratkai, M. (2013). A set of metrics to assess stakeholder engagement and social
legitimacy on a corporate Facebook page. Online Information Review, 37(5), 787-803.
Facebook.com. (2018). MYER. Facebook.com. Retrieved 26 April 2018, from
https://www.facebook.com/myer
Fairworkcentre. (2018). Social Media and Unfair Dismissal | Fairwork Online.
Fairworkcentre.com.au. Retrieved 26 April 2018, from
http://www.fairworkcentre.com.au/newsblog/Case-Studies/Social-Media-and-Unfair-
Dismissal/
Financial Review. (2018). How Myer CEO Bernie Brookes caused a social media stink with his
comments on the NDIS. Financial Review. Retrieved 26 April 2018, from
http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/how-myer-ceo-bernie-brookes-
caused-a-social-media-stink-with-his-comments-on-the-ndis-20130502-jyak6
Hardhat. (2018). Hardhat - Myer Social Media Strategy. Hardhat.com.au. Retrieved 26 April
2018, from https://hardhat.com.au/our-work/myer
Malhotra, A., & Van Alstyne, M. (2014). The dark side of the sharing economy… and how to
lighten it. Communications of the ACM, 57(11), 24-27.
MYER one. (2018). MYER one. Myerone.com.au. Retrieved 26 April 2018, from
https://www.myerone.com.au/home

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Myer. (2018a). founder. Myer. Retrieved 26 April 2018, from https://www.myer.com.au/c/about-
myer/the-company/about-us/content-1878-1899.html
Myer. (2018b). Myer Today. Myer. Retrieved 26 April 2018, from
https://www.myer.com.au/p/about-myer/the-company/about-us/content-myer-today/
SmartCompany. (2018). David Jones, Myer hit by marketing scams: How to shut down
scammers by listening to what the internet says about your business - SmartCompany.
SmartCompany. Retrieved 26 April 2018, from
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scams-shut-scammers-listening-internet-says-business/
Väyrynen, K., Hekkala, R., & Liias, T. (2013). Knowledge protection challenges of social media
encountered by organizations. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic
Commerce, 23(1-2), 34-55.