SeaWorld has had a public relations crisis, after Dawn Brancheau a veteran trainer was killed by a whale, and this left the audience horrified during a lunchtime show. The company has had to halt the Shamu show held in Orlando theme park, San Diego, and San Antonio to address the death issue. In dealing with the accident, Dan Brown made a mistake by not correcting the Sheriff department who alleged that Brancheau by mistake fell into water, and he stated that he drowned while there was an attack from a killer whale.
Social media will be very useful in healing and strengthening the public relationship of the company. The organization will have to use social media and accept that a mistake had happened, explain how the accident took place, the reason it happened, and ensure it is not repeated by reviewing the safety precautions (Tompkins, 2014). By doing the above procedures, the company will give a comparison of its precautions and show how they match the standard ones, and the chances of trust levels rising to normal will be high. The released information will counter the rumors that have circulated the social media for the time the company has been in public relations crisis.
The occurrence of a negative issue that affects a firm ends making it more attractive because more people view its story on the social media, and this makes it known to some of the individuals who never knew of it. The use of social media to show the positive image of the SeaWorld Company will be essential because the new customers who will have heard the accident and read the new statement released may visit to see if the changes have been implemented. The increase in social media views will add to the popularity of the company.
References
Tompkins, C. (2014). SeaWorld faces public relations challenge in wake of trainer’s death. Latimesblogs.latimes.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016, from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/02/seaworld-faces-public-relations- challenge-in-wake-of-trainers-killing-by-captive-orca.html
