Okay, I know this is my third Domino’s post in about a week, but pushing aside my love of pizza, they’ve actually been quite relevant to social media lately. Last week I posted about how Domino’s was displaying #newpizza Twitter feedback on their microsite and that what they displayed didn’t quite match up with Twitter’s search results. Whatever the reason for the misalignment, Domino’s got a bit of heat from various sites and bloggers (including yours truly). This week, however, a friend of mine sent me a post about how a Domino’s franchise owner in Chicago went above and beyond, and then beyond the beyond, to put out a reputation management fire using social media as the bucket of water.

To make a long story short, a woman ordered a pizza from Domino’s that took over an hour to get delivered to her house, and then turned up being the wrong order. The customer complained about the mishap on Twitter, where it was spotted by Ramon DeLeon, a managing partner from seven Domino’s in the Chicago area. He acted swiftly by doing the following:

  • He contacted her and apologized (presumably via Twitter)
  • He sent the correct pizza over to her
  • He sent her a video apology featuring him and the store manager
  • He provided pizza for 350 people at the Chicago Social Media Club, an organization the customer is involved with

You could argue that this is going a bit overboard to appease one angry customer — an apology and correct order on the house would have probably sufficed. However, it’s easier to complain when someone does too little than when he/she does too much, and DeLeon proved that by going out of his way to turn a customer’s negative experience with Domino’s into a positive one.

DeLeon has a good quote about social media:

“The only way to put out a social media fire is with social media water.”

When someone takes a complaint public, it’s best to address it publicly. Even if you have to address the issue behind closed doors, a public acknowledgment of the situation and/or a public apology shows the user and his/her followers/friends that you’re listening and taking action. Silence can be deafening, especially to angry customers.

Ramon DeLeon appears to understand this and has embraced social media with open arms. He has 2,800 followers on Twitter and updates his account regularly, interacting with people and addressing customer concerns. He monitors social media activity using a variety of tools and has created video responses to different customers’ feedback. This isn’t someone who just “gets” social media, this is someone who loves social media.

It’s one thing to assign the young intern or new hire fresh out of college all of your social media tasks because “young people get social media, right?” It’s entirely another, more successful approach to find the person who is truly passionate about your brand and about social media and actually enjoys using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., and entrust him with your brand’s social presence. When you love what you do, it shines through and people notice. Ramon likes his job, and he likes social media. He’s embraced the latter so that he can continue to grow his business and reach out to his customers, and he’s successful at it because he cares.

You need to make sure the right person is handling your social media marketing, not just whoever’s available. It can mean the difference between failure and success, or even the difference between treading water to stay afloat and blasting across the sea in a speedboat. Users and customers are more savvy than you think, and many of us can pick up on who’s social because they feel they need to be, and who’s there because they really want to be.