Are witty customer service tweets just PR stunts?

By on Thursday, March 13, 2014

The latest in a long line of witty customer service tweets hit the headlines this week with Argos taking the plaudits for its witty response to a self-styled ‘badman’ from Moss Side.

The tweet was later picked up by social news site Reddit and then by Metro and the Daily Mail. National journalists and news agencies are well-known lurkers on Reddit and often take the best content and publish it themselves.

Argos tweets

But are these amusing tweets simply simply PR stunts?

Perhaps this was the work of an empowered and witty social media team?  Or maybe the press office had a hand to play in it?

Playing devil’s advocate, there is reputational risk in replying to criticism online. Perhaps in the wrong hands things could have turned nasty and Argos might have been accused of ‘dissing his street talk’ or worse racism (I know, I know – kill joy – but I am just thinking things through).  The PR department might want to sign these off first.  They might even – gasp – set them up as stunts.

For the record, I applaud both potential strategies, whether these tweets were authentic or a creation of the press office.  First class stuff either way.

 

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