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5 PR Lessons From GoDaddy Hacking

September 11, 2012 By Nancy McNulty Leave a Comment

The first rule of crisis management is to provide your base with a response so you are the definitive source, and, in the case of GoDaddy’s hacking by AnonymousOwn3r today, to assist millions of frustrated customers losing a great deal of Ecommerce.

In December 2011, Social Media Week and a host of others criticized GoDaddy for not responding directly to their customers during the “Leave GoDaddy Day” PR crisis.

“It’s hard to say exactly what GoDaddy could have done differently to avoid this disaster. Perhaps they could’ve posted a statement on their site and enabled commenting from the community. They definitely could have been better about listening to their customers and responding in real-time,” Jennifer Charlton, Social Media Week

Fast-forward to today’s hacking crisis and GoDaddy has still proven themselves slow to respond and take the lead role in providing information. Look at this Google search sample where they have no direct presence in the crisis.

Go Daddy Hacking Google Results Forest Home Media
Companies should work hard to be the source of information in your crisis.

Today, GoDaddy has been flooding Twitter with direct messages to their customers with things like “thanks for your support, we are working on it” while providing minimal informative updates.  On Facebook, GoDaddy opened the dialogue for direct feedback from customers but again little in the way of informative updates.

GoDaddy Twitter Response on crisis- Forest Home Media
GoDaddy has flooded Twitter with direct messages of thanks for the support.

While it is admirable how quickly their little fingers are able to direct response, it would be more helpful if informative updates were also being sent. They need to number or identify their updates like “Update #20, sites are going back online incrementally.” Something more helpful than the barrage of “thanks for understanding.”

It is unfortunate and somewhat understandable that their website was also unresponsive but it seems after the previous crisis, they would be able to provide a better response mechanism on their webpage. After checking on and off all day, I apparently caught the webpage message at 5:45 p.m. CDT and I’m betting Danica Patrick is wishing her pic wasn’t part of it. This message must have only been posted briefly.

GoDaddy Hacking Apology- Forest Home Media
GoDaddy’s apology page captured at 5:55 p.m. CDT.

It is also ironic at 1:33 pm (CDT)  a GoDaddy email blast was sent out entitled “Today’s Lesson” which I immediately thought would be a crisis response. However, not so much, it was just another 20% offer.

 

GoDaddy Email blast fail- Forest Home Media
GoDaddy’s email blast with the ironic name “Today’s Lesson.”

The top five PR lessons learned today from the GoDaddy hacking which a company should contemplate for a crisis management response plan are:

  1. Be the first to break the news or respond officially ASAP.
  2. Outline a game plan in your announcement.
  3. Cancel any embarrassing or inappropriate activities as soon as possible.  For example, an event, party or in the case of GoDaddy, an email blast with “Today’s Lessons” which make no mention of the crisis.
  4. Have an alternate news site available to provide customer information.  As evident in the Google search, the voice in the crisis was being owned by other voices and it wasn’t GoDaddy’s first time at the rodeo.
  5. Yes, provide your affected customers, group or base with an outlet to express their frustrations and seek assistance.  When responding back directly, be helpful and less automatic.

At this point, Forest Home Media has made the decision to remain with GoDaddy for our website hosting. We are predicting site security will be a top priority.

Filed Under: Public Relations

About Nancy McNulty

For over two decades Nancy McNulty's public relations efforts have built and launched an interesting spectrum of projects from premier home tours and new businesses to product lines and signature events. She handled the PR for the Middle TN Home Builder's Parade of Homes for over 10 years, served on the PR team for the Southern Living Idea House and the HGTV Smart Home 2014. She delivers engaging campaigns based on strong content creation that helps to successfully build, brand and grow businesses into industry leaders.

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"Forest Home Media and Nancy were our hands and feet on the ground to execute a flawless media day open house for the HGTV Smart Home 2014 in Nashville. Starting with a strategic end goal in mind, she knew all the right people to contact, all the right outlets to tap and all the right resources to utilize in creating an amazing event for HGTV. In fact, it generated more local and regional buzz for this project than any Smart Home prior. Nancy is anything but cookie-cutter with custom, solutions-oriented approach producing winning results every time." - Kristin Alm, Director Corporate Communications, Scripps Networks (HGTV) To read more client reviews click HERE

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