Social media calms the crisis

The first 2013 Hamilton Social Media Club yesterday proved that Facebook and Twitter are used for more than just displaying pictures of breakfast foods.

The event in Wintec’s new Media Arts building focused on the use of social media platforms in a crisis.

Speaker Jason Dawson was the leader of the crisis communication team after the Christchurch earthquake and says social media was vital in keeping everyone informed.

“We had a team that literally all they were doing were responding and monitoring the social media pages,” he said.  “After the quake everyone wanted to help however they could and social media helped everyone feel connected.”

Dawson says in a time of such tragedy social media was also a place for encouragement.

“We were showing Bob Parker his fan page every day and giving him a pat on the back, trying to keep his spirits up before going out and doing everything he needed to do,” Dawson said.

Another speaker at last night’s event was young businessman Finn Puklowski who, along with his family, started United Sweets in Hamilton.

The company uses Facebook as its primary marketing tool and ran its first competition, a return trip to Hamilton, through Facebook and Youtube.

Puklowski said he wanted to keep the marketing young and relaxed and show some of their personality.

“[Social media] allows us to be us,” he said.

United Sweets ran into crisis when a promotion they were running crashed their website and within minutes their Facebook page flooded with dissatisfied customers.

People threatened their team with lawsuits for unfair trading and Puklowski described the event as very embarrassing.

After a crisis meeting United Sweets ran another promotion apologising and offering free shipping on all their products.

The feedback was positive and the company saw a 300 percent increase in revenue on the previous promotion.

“It was massive and we managed to sort out some of the crisis by toning down how ridiculously emotional people are in social media and Facebook,” he said.

The Social Media Club is an international organisation and the Hamilton branch was started last year by ex-Wintec student Adam Smith as a way to help market his own online marketing business.

Lauren Hall took over the club in January earlier this year.

“I like seeing it grow, seeing more likes and seeing more people come along,” Hall said. “I want to develop the demographic a little more and I’m trying to bring along some more high profile speakers. Someone I’d really like to come along is Jasmine [Griffin] from Whittaker’s, she does such an amazing job in social media.”