Corporate Crisis

Crisis can occur at any given moment and can have major impacts on a corporation or a brand but can also become an opportunity to grow and develop. Companies need to be prepared to deal with crisis before they occur and should be aware of all potential crisis within their own organization. This way when something does go wrong they are to prepared to act and can do so quickly. However there are of course some instances when crisis can occur which can not be avoided due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather or employee misdeeds. Fortunately for American Express, it appears they have done a great job being prepared for any and all crisis that may happen within their company. I did some research and could not come up with any real crisis that AmEx was forced to face. This does not mean that a crisis did not occur but the company could have done a great job of revolving that issue quickly with limited media exposure.

American Express has such a strong brand name that I am sure they do everything possible to protect that name. This means they must have a team in place to deal with all potential crisis that could occur within the company. The probably have plans in place in case something does go wrong so they can act quickly to fix the issue. However, in recent years with the economy not doing so well, companies like American Express have been forced to deal with major issues. This is not particularly a crisis that affects the company directly but does have major impacts on the corporation. As a card member I know the company is doing a lot to keep their clients informed about current information from the government regarding credit cards. They have created a consumer resources page on their web site to keep customers up to date on relevant information. This is a place people can go to figure out how the credit card reform affects them directly. The company has also been sending out direct mail pieces in the recent months to again keep customers informed. I am sure the public relations teams at AmEx have been involved in the planning of these initiatives. American Express is doing a great job of avoiding panic and a potential crisis by keeping their customers informed.

Seeing as American Express has done such a great job avoiding major crisis and keeping their customers informed I am going to spend some time looking further into AmEx's Twitter. I briefly discussed the companies social media campaign a few months ago but have recenlty been very impressed with the way they use Twitter to interact with customers. The company has created two different Twitter accounts with two different functions.
One Twitter account is used as a general way to get information out to the public as well as a way to give updates on current promotions and products. AmericanExpress Twitter is very informative for those interested in what is going on within the company and how things can affect them as customers or a member of the public. AmEx keeps the public informed quickly and efficiently by constantly updating their account. People rely on social media to get information to them at all times and this is put to good use by AmEx.

The other Twitter account, Ask AmEx, is used by a team of five American Express employees (four pictured to the right) exclusively to resolve customers concerns. Here, customers can Tweet any issues they are having with their cards, statements, or any other problems relating to customer service. This is a great use of social media because customers are able to directly interact with a major corporation on a personal level quickly. This way they do not need to waste time on the phone calling customer service to have a simple issue resolved. This use of Twitter also shows the general public how quickly American Express is able to resolve issues and how they can satisfy customers quickly and efficiently. Using social media like this is so important because it shows people how your company deals with customers concerns and issues with service.

American Express does a great job handling crisis and social media which further proves what a strong company it is. The company has created such a strong brand name and they do everything possible to keep that name in tact. They want their customers to know they are there for them at all times and do their best to keep them informed regarding relevant information. Being prepared and planning for all possibilities is crucial for any corporation and AmEx does a great job of doing this.