To me, the most interesting and pertinent background information in the Hero Cycles' effort from Sunday are these:
1. Ethirajan posted the original news on 19th August, 7:46 am
2. Hero Cycles responded by the same day, 2:31 pm
3. Ethirajan confirmed that the child has been told
1. Ethirajan posted the original news on 19th August, 7:46 am
2. Hero Cycles responded by the same day, 2:31 pm
3. Ethirajan confirmed that the child has been told
this update at 3:49 pm
4. By evening, that day, there was closure, with the girl being given the new cycle.
- all this on a Sunday!
And,
5. Pawan Munjal's tweet on Monday night completed the loop beautifully.
Point is, this choice was available to all cycle brands. Hero Cycles
4. By evening, that day, there was closure, with the girl being given the new cycle.
- all this on a Sunday!
And,
5. Pawan Munjal's tweet on Monday night completed the loop beautifully.
Point is, this choice was available to all cycle brands. Hero Cycles
is not mentioned as the brand the little girl wanted, in the Tamil news item. The brand's handle is not even tagged in the original tweet! They picked it up themselves and came into the picture. It's obvious they are monitoring category keywords too (like cycles and bicycles) and
this can be a huge noise online given how common those words are. But still, to pick this generic mention, escalate it as a potential opportunity to intervene, get the buy-in for the cost and close it quickly... on a Sunday... this is a brilliant PR effort executed really well.
The true power of social media monitoring in action, combined with empowered employees to take decisions fast. Even the framing of the response by the brand was ace - the priority was not the brand, but the girl's gesture. The brand was merely incidental - how it should be!
