10 lessons from Pinduoduo’s suicidal PR

It’s only the first few days of 2021, and Pinduoduo has already booked a spot in the top ten crisis public relations events at the end of this year with a magical suicide PR...

I will not go into the details of the whole story. The dead are gone, so cherish life. If you still don't know the specific circumstances of the incident, it is recommended that you change your career.

Although it is foreseeable that there will be a lot of people criticizing Pinduoduo’s public relations for being crappy, I still think that it’s ok for outsiders to watch the fun, but as a public relations person, you should at least see something deeper from every public relations event, whether successful or failed.

We all felt relieved when criticizing Pinduoduo’s suicidal public relations this time, but what lessons and experiences can we gain?

01

The root cause of this incident, in the final analysis, is corporate values. The 996 culture of domestic Internet companies has a long history, and it is not the first time that remarks and cultures such as 996, 007, and big and small weeks that have been criticized by the public have occurred.

The Internet has memory. Just take Pinduoduo as an example. How long has it been since the “toilet door” incident? Some people treat this kind of thing as a joke, and even want to make a name for themselves. This all stems from deep-seated distorted corporate values. It is an open secret that Pinduoduo has a lot of overtime, and even the freedom to go to the toilet is a luxury for office workers.

All coincidences are inevitable. It is no exaggeration to say that the sudden death of a 23-year-old employee is by no means an accident at Pinduoduo or even other large companies. How to avoid such things fundamentally and institutionally is not something that can be solved at the public relations level.

02

Sometimes doing 100 good things can have less impact than doing one bad thing. Pinduoduo has done so much "public welfare" in recent years and has invested so much energy and money in supporting the country's poverty alleviation policies. This contribution obviously cannot be ignored, but unfortunately, the impact of this incident will obviously subvert the brand goodwill that Pinduoduo has built up over the years.

If Pinduoduo's biggest public relations in the past few years was to take off the "Pinxixi" hat, then after today, being labeled as cold-blooded and a habitual liar is the real crisis for Pinduoduo, because this is not only a black spot for its competitors, but also a black spot for the entire nation.

Working in public relations is like walking on thin ice. All the positive images you create are not as good as a failed crisis public relations.

03

There were several serious mistakes in Pinduoduo's first statement, especially regarding the "response" on Zhihu. Pinduoduo's public relations and relevant persons in charge did not conduct a strict and careful investigation of the situation, and rashly stated that the so-called "response" was a "rumor."

There is a very basic error here. Perhaps Pinduoduo has not discovered that the screenshot of "Pinduoduo's response" is not just one version, but comes from multiple mobile phone models, and multiple screenshots involving PC and mobile terminals are being circulated at the same time. The cost of spreading rumors in this way is obviously too high, and it is illogical. The public relations person in charge should have the opportunity and obligation to check various possibilities, such as whether the official account was stolen? Does anyone else have the account password?

Even in the face of such a high-level crisis, Pinduoduo had the opportunity and conditions to verify with Zhihu as soon as possible. After all, if it was really an invitation, then the testimony of Zhihu as a platform would be much more convincing than Pinduoduo's own words.

But Pinduoduo did not do so. Instead, it rashly stood on the opposite side of Zhihu and human nature, triggering a more serious secondary crisis.

04

In this era of powdered media environment, please remember that official statements should not be issued at will. As public relations professionals, we fully understand the crisis public relations principle of speed first, but in the current environment where "turnarounds" happen faster than turning pages, we recommend that you be cautious when issuing official statements.

In this incident, Pinduoduo officials released the first statement which was inaccurate without carefully investigating the cause. The second remedial statement even had a bit of a desperate slant. It was directly circulated in major social networks in the form of a word document, without an official seal or signature, and its authenticity was unclear... This is obviously not the level of a public relations department of a listed company.

05

The second problem in Pinduoduo’s statement lies in the screenshot of the victim’s family. Several details can be seen from this screenshot. There is a "Delete" button under the text in the circle of friends, which means that the screenshot came from the publisher, and the screenshot was taken 2 minutes after it was published. What does this mean? Those who understand will understand.

To be honest, no matter what means Pinduoduo's public relations department used to "deal with" the victim's family, this was all behind-the-scenes work. Attaching such screenshots directly to the official statement and attempting to use the victims as a scapegoat is inappropriate and should not be used as a public relations tool.

06

Is Pinduoduo’s response on Zhihu really due to poor management of suppliers? We have no way to judge or prove it. But at least it proves the necessity and importance of companies managing official accounts.

If what Pinduoduo said is true, then as a listed company with a huge market value, the chaotic internal control process of its official social media account is also a huge mistake.

For public relations, managing all official accounts is a very basic but very important thing, such as a smooth handover when the account administrator leaves, the switching of usage rights between daily use and emergency events for external suppliers, whether passwords are changed regularly to prevent account theft, and ensuring proper control over content release.

07

In this era, I personally strongly advise against anyone speaking on behalf of the company in their personal capacity, unless you are the boss and the first person in charge of the company.

Are there not many examples of people causing trouble by speaking? I still remember clearly that a while ago, Xiaomi executives called their users losers. Nowadays, many social media provide corporate certification, either by adding a V or an employer’s unit. Even anonymous communication platforms like Maimai display the company name.

Although this may sound alarmist, the fact is that similar incidents have occurred more than once and it is impossible to prevent them in the future. Therefore, please be careful when speaking on various social media platforms with corporate certification, because every word you say under your company name or title represents your company... Especially in sensitive positions such as public relations, even a simple WeChat screenshot may lead to a crisis.

08

Those who work in public relations know that among many social media platforms, Zhihu has always been the toughest nut to crack. Zhihu officials rarely interfere too much with the content of the platform, but when they do, they often use a big move. As a close partner of Zhihu, Pinduoduo committed a big mistake by not communicating in advance.

Zhihu dealt a heavy blow to Pinduoduo with just one move, and it was a painful slap in the face. If Zhihu continues to fight back, it will not be difficult to find out the IP address of the account that made the statement. The latest situation is that Pinduoduo’s Zhihu account has been blocked by Zhihu, which is really amazing.

In addition, in recent years, many corporate crises have originated from the Zhiyan section of Maimai. Firstly, due to its anonymous nature, and secondly, because there are so many people and so many opinions, almost anyone can have an opinion. This is a bit disadvantageous for large companies with tens of thousands of employees. Therefore, I suggest that public relations must add Maimai to the key focus list of public opinion monitoring, as many crises often occur from within.

09

Pinduoduo, which has just encountered suicidal public relations, must be keeping an eye on external public opinion now, but in fact, internal public relations are also very important at this time, and it is necessary to stabilize morale.

The responsibility of public relations is public relations. An enterprise like Pinduoduo has at least tens of thousands of employees, which is also a not small group. When an employee dies suddenly, how should public relations be conducted internally? How to appease other colleagues in the same line or department? Should the work intensity of employees be adjusted? Should we emphasize and implement these values ​​internally? How to ensure that all exports are unified and how to avoid the "reversal" of related events on platforms such as Maimai? These are the internal PR parts that public relations also need to care about and pay attention to.

10

I have dealt with many PRs from large companies, and they all have a certain degree of "arrogance" that is inconsistent with their age. This confidence is given by the platform they are on. In the eyes of many public relations professionals in large companies, there is nothing that money cannot solve. "Public relations" is not only a profession, but also a "verb" and a synonym for power.

Although this kind of situation is not good, it is common. When a public relations person feels that public opinion can be manipulated and black and white can be reversed, it is a misfortune for this industry. I said in "PR is not important, values ​​are important" that public relations is only the final outlet for a series of corporate actions and can never deviate from the corporate values ​​and the three views of the founding team. Those seemingly stupid public relations behaviors are not necessarily bad public relations. In most cases, there are often fundamental problems involving values.

No matter how awesome the public relations are, it can’t change the problem of values. If working in PR makes you a less than respectable person, then I suggest you leave.

Author: Jun Xiaobao

Source: Jun Xiaobao