Now it's always a massive shock when companies go into administration or out of business as not only are they brands that many of us have grown up with, there is also the mass-job loss that follows. It's always disappointing when people lose their jobs, especially as many will have worked that the particular company for years and will have a genuine love of the brand.
Now most of these companies disappear with what seems like the minimum of fuss, there maybe an article on the news and questions asked about how it happened and who's fault it is, however then it seems to become just accepted and then the story goes away.
Then there is the HMV story, which is where a company underestimates Social Media and their plight starts trending worldwide on Twitter. Now most of you will know what I'm talking about, however if not then I have posted their feed below:
On Friday last week anyone that followed @HMVtweets would have seen the following tweets:
Now clearly Twitter had witnessed in a way something that no company ever wants revealed, the way they were going about sacking staff. It just so happened that in this particular case, the staff member felt aggrieved and just happened to be responsible for HMV's Social Media. A very dangerous combination.
Now in my opinion this just highlights the problem with HMV. The company never properly embraced Digital, and it just seemed like it was an after thought. Digital is not an afterthought, it should be at the forefront of any companies' thoughts. If we take just Social Media into account for example, Facebook has over 32 million UK users, who many could be potential customers. Surely that is reason enough to invest? Not only does it have a great reach, however many campaigns can give you immediate feedback.
There are several changes that I have noticed within the eCommerce market over the last few years. Companies that are slow to embrace digital seem to be the ones that struggle. HMV is a prime example of this.
