We love Dairy Queen, but we’re split on its response to the company’s data breach incident.
Dairy Queen’s website offers a blizzard of information about the breach. The top of the company’s homepage includes the words, “Data Security Incident” and a tab to click to learn more. The president and chief executive officer wrote a letter to customers. Additional tabs show a press release and a list of FAQs and affected stores and dates. Yet another tab offers additional information. Customers can learn about free credit reports and how to handle unauthorized transactions.
At the bottom of the homepage are four social media tabs. The company’s Facebook page has more than nine million Likes. The Twitter account includes 244,000 followers. The social media combo also includes a YouTube Channel and Tumblr account. This is where Dairy Queen had an opportunity to shake things up and that’s why we’re split.
We see frequent Dairy Queen social media posts. What we can’t find are posts about the data breach. Yes, others on social media are talking about the breach. But where is Dairy Queen in the social media conversation? Isn’t social media an easy way to quickly reach, in this case, up to nearly ten million people, many of them your biggest fans?
We’ve noticed, during crisis communications, companies often neglect to order up a social media response. We don’t get it. Social media channels often are better ways to communicate than websites, and it would be refreshing if more companies didn’t leave those options out in the cold.