Businesses have been warned to become aware of the problems associated with maintaining social media profiles after video rental chain Video Ezy has suffered dozens of complaints directed at its Facebook page due to its association with radio operator Austereo.
The company has come under a significant amount of controversy after radio personality Kyle Sandilands made disparaging and insulting comments towards a News.com.au journalist.
Several advertisers dropped their support for the Kyle and Jackie O program – a report from The Australian suggests 60% have left – but Video Ezy has not done the same, leading to a number of complaints on its page.
James Griffin, who runs the online reputation management company SR7, says the complaints are a testament to the nature of how companies now conduct more of their business out in the open.
“This is such a representation of the shift in how users are talking on social media, from a brand or an organisational point of view, it just brings such a huge amount of new challenges.”
“If you were sitting on the other side of the page at Video Ezy, the key challenge there is making sure you’re listening and figuring out when to respond.”
Video Ezy has come under attack from a number of customers who want the business to remove its advertising from the radio show – some have even said the company is deleting their posts.
Already a statement from the company has appeared on the site, saying that the company’s relationship with Take 40 Australia will continue – although it said it does not condone the comments made by Sandilands.
“Video Ezy will continue to assess our advertising partnerships to ensure they properly reflect the standards and values of our company,” it said.
“In addition, allegations made by online campaign organisers that Video Ezy have been deleting posts from our Facebook wall are false and incorrect.”
Paul Uniacke, co-owner of the Blockbuster and Video Ezy chains, says the business is fully aware of what’s going on, and notes he intends to review the situation soon.
But Griffin says the company has dealt with the issue as well as it could have.
“In terms of Video Ezy’s response, I think it’s fine. They’ve done quite well, and they probably couldn’t have done much more than they already have.”
Griffin says the entire incident shows how businesses need to start making sure their Facebook walls are properly staffed and monitored, as situations may come up that companies could not have anticipated.
“Who would have thought that a totally unrelated issue on a breakfast program would have played out on the Facebook page of a video rental company?”
“This is just showing how differently consumers conduct their business now. More of this is done in the open now, and as this issue shows, people speak in these online arenas and businesses are expected to listen and respond.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
