Crisis Management Case Study: Digiornos Social Media Mistake

Social media crisis management done right

DiGiorno landed itself in the middle of a social media firestorm when it accidentally made light of a discussion on domestic abuse by using the #WhyIStayed hashtag, tweeting “#WhyIStayed You had pizza.”

Whoever was running the account realized their mistake within minutes, deleting the offending post and sharing a frank apology:

A million apologies. Did not read what the hashtag was about before posting.

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) September 9, 2014

We heard from many of you, and we know we disappointed you. We understand, and we apologize to everyone for this mistake.

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) September 9, 2014

Following that, the account went into full crisis management mode, spending a solid 24 hours apologizing to Twitter users, followed by a drastic alteration of its social media schedule, which typically involved snarky posts from morning ’til night. From September 9 through October 1, @DiGornoPizza went virtually silent, only tweeting to apologize or resolve customer service issues.

On the 1st, DiGiorno’s kicked back into action with the tweet below:

So, October is National Pizza Month? I thought that was every month HAHAHAHA seriously tho #NationalPizzaMonth

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) October 1, 2014

The brand’s return to levity was met with enthusiasm from many on Twitter, and all signs point to the reputation threat created in the first place being nullified. Excellent social media crisis management from DiGiorno, and an example other organizations should be filing away for possible use in the future.