Sarcastic questions targeting the quality of food and Fieri’s personality with harsh, punishing phrasing fill Wells’s review of the restaurant. Line after line of well-written negativity details the critic’s awful experience. Wells includes vicious quips such as, “Somewhere within the yawning, three-level interior of Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar, is there a long refrigerated tunnel that servers have to pass through to make sure that the French fries, already limp and oil-sogged, are also served cold?”

A negative review in the New York Times can crush a restaurateur and ultimately affect the business’s bottom line, but Fieri’s team was able to use the buzz to its advantage. Fieri traveled to New York City and appeared on Today, to rebut the review in a six-minute long segment.

During the segment, Fieri acknowledged that as a new restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar is not perfect, but he also offered that the reviewer unfairly targeted the establishment to make a name for himself. The segment was filmed in his restaurant with examples of his food sitting on the table in front of him: a smart move.

Fieri calmly and clearly delivered his key messages, which he has maintained across media correspondences. In email messages and interviews, the Food Network host repeats that he stands by his food and staff, but he also recognizes that the review has given him something to think about. Fieri’s humble, down-to-earth demeanor will no-doubt earn his restaurant sympathy – and interest.

Is all publicity good publicity? It depends how your organization responds. Fieri’s team took the negative review as an opportunity to positively promote the restaurant on national television.

Fieri’s supporters will still pour into his eatery with enthusiasm while others may venture in just to see if it is truly as awful as Wells describes. In either case, diners are still filling tables.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Enter Google+ Hangouts.

The hangout feature was included in the initial launch of Google+. It lets people from around the world get together to video chat as a group about different topics of interest. Since its inception, the service has added a few new features that are marketing-friendly, such as the ability to broadcast live from Google+ – as well as the organization’s website – and the ability to record the session and post it to YouTube for future viewing.

Take a look at the innovative ways some organizations took advantage of Google+ hangouts over the past week:

• Manchester City Football Club hosted its first hangout this week. Fans had the opportunity to chat with Patrick Vieira, Manchester City’s football development executive, before the team faced Arsenal on the field.
• The Economist hung out with readers to discuss the rise of China, a topic it has explored in recent issues of its publication.
• The White House hosted a hangout to discuss the Obama Administration’s efforts to combat human trafficking in the United States and abroad.
• The New York Public Library hosted American novelist Stephen Chbosky to discuss his book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
• KQED Science hosted a hangout with leading astronomers to discuss black holes.
• Pure Michigan, Michigan’s travel and tourism organization, hosted a 30-minute hangout with experts in Michigan’s craft beer industry.

How can your organization leverage Google+ Hangouts?

First, think about your audience. Whether it’s a cause, product or service, what makes them rally around you? Are there frequently asked questions you can address or helpful tips that would interest your publics? Look for an interesting topic that is relevant to your business and your audience.

Second, the spokesperson or spokespeople should be prepared with the same media training that would apply to a television interview. This should include the company’s key messages, what the audience should take away from the hangout and how to handle any potential dicey situations.

Third, promote your hangout on your website and on your other social media platforms. Many organizations choose to take questions via a designated hashtag on Twitter, especially when broadcasting a live hangout.

Hangouts provide one more tool for organizations to build a community with their publics. Have you ever held or participated in a hangout? How was your experience?

Photo Source: Flickr

Shark Week’s official Twitter account has more than 88,000 followers but the account doesn’t merely push out updates. By monitoring for tweets about Shark Week, the moderators can observe the conversation and reply when other users ask the Twittersphere what Shark Week is all about. The Shark Week team also responds to fans who are excited to watch the programming, cementing that good relationship. Here is just one example:

This year, Discovery Channel has partnered with Georgia Aquarium to present a Shark Cam, powered by Ustream. Georgia Aquarium and Discovery Channel have representatives on hand to interact with shark fanatics about what they are watching through the #SharkCam hash tag and on Ustream’s social chat component.

Another first for Shark Week, Discovery Channel is using YouTube celebrity Philip DeFranco to host an all-social-media contest. Every night, DeFranco asks people to choose what a giant mechanical shark will crush with its steely jaws by voting through Twitter or a live poll on Facebook. DeFranco’s internet celebrity with more than two million YouTube channel subscribers, 300,000 Twitter followers and 430,000 Facebook fans offers Shark Week a socially-engaged audience to share its message.

Even on social media outlets that do not have an official Shark Week presence, rabid fans are taking over. A quick search on Pinterest for Shark Week returns result after result of Shark Week themed cupcakes, snacks, decorations and even drinking games.

By finding social media channels that work for its audience and thoroughly engaging with them, Shark Week continues to grow its fan base, many of whom practically view the week as a holiday to celebrate. Shark Week stands – or swims – as a great example of an integrated, multiplatform campaign.

In fact, Shark Week had almost 30 million viewers last year. Not bad for a program that began as an idea on the back of a cocktail napkin.

Photo credit: dms1259