Tara points to a great story about how flickr were able to manage their recent down-time crisis and I think it holds a lesson for all of us.
After acknowledging that they had gone down (sorry, no smut here!!!) they didn't post your usual run of the mill "sorry, we're doing everything we can" message. They used their typical friendly, humourous, but ultimately, respectful tone to turn it to their advantage.
Miffed users were invited to print off and colour in two round circles! Genius.
Further highlighting the benefit of tags, the entries were tagged with a "flickr is buggered for now" type tag which would be searchable once they submitted their photos (of the circles) and when flickr went back online.
Just think about the sheer genius of what they did.
1) Acknowledge the problem (respectfully but in a friendly tone - we are only humans!)
2) Use the very tool that draws people to the site to "divert" attention without looking like they were diverting.
3) Buy time to allow them to get things sorted (some of the entries are works of art)
4) Gave people something they wanted
5) Turned negative buzz into positive buzz.
6) 1,032 entries later you have not only sorted the problem but also have not pissed off your regular users.
Gotta love it. Simple.
Tags: pinko marketing, pinko, flickr, tara hunt, flickrcolourcontest
No comments:
Post a Comment