At the end of January music retailer HMV saw itself at the outburst of a serious social media crisis. Company employees were live tweeting their own mass redundancy from the brand’s official Twitter account @HMVtweets, using the #hmvXFactorFiring hashtag (which is still quite popular). The tweets went viral in a number of seconds and got thousands of retweets and mentions.

For about 30 minutes before it was stopped, the tweeting was telling the world what was happening behind closed doors – more than 60 employees were pulled into HR and got fired just like that.

Funnily enough, the tweeting also announced in public the apparent lack of understanding for social media by HMV’s Marketing Director who asked “How do I shut down Twitter?” (Just another example how traditional marketers still don’t take social media seriously…)

This Twitter meltdown is certainly damaging the value of the iconic HMV brand, which right now is a particularly bad issue as the company is in administration and is looking for someone to buy it. But who would want to take over a damaged reputation?

It’s also questionable whether HMV handled the outcomes in the best way possible by deleting the tweets. Everything had already spread like a virus with thousands of retweets and mentions of the brand and the designated new hashtag as well taken screenshots of the tweets. Here comes of course the question whether deleting tweets is the right answer; had they been honest and apologised then the whole Twitter disaster might have had a slightly different ending and less excruciating coverage all over the internet and the media, including by numerous of bloggers and every major news outlet.

What’s shocking too is that the HMV team did not consider changing the Twitter password in advance, which is pretty basic when you are about to fire the person who runs it.

Obviously, there were no actions before announcing the redundancies. This is indeed a very good example that shows the need for a crisis plan, especially in situations of mass redundancies, where over 60 people are being fired without receiving any prior notice.

What’s more, HMV should have planned for potential negative publicity. Taking appropriate steps to mitigate the risks of a crisis, but also to quickly gain control over the communications when one arises are crucial in today’s world of social media where everything can spread like a virus. It’s pure common sense to have a plan for a potential crisis – a necessary measure to safeguard the image of the brand by gaining control over the communications.

HMV should have also prepared the communications team to act quickly in case an emergency arises when announcing the redundancies, ensuring that it owns all social media channels (including changing the passwords on time) and timely participating in the conversations happening online in order to guide their directions (well, at least to a certain extent).

In my personal opinion HMV should have been honest in advance, because transparency is a key value in today’s business environment. Ideally, HMV should have given the employees prior notice, but also notified the media with a simple press release in order to ensure that if there is any coverage of the mass redundancy at least it would focus around the company’s own words.

This Twitter crisis has very much affected HMV’s general social media know-how as well as its business ethics. In today’s world of social media organisations have lost the power to control the communications about their brands. The only thing companies can do is to be honest and prepared for any crisis situation possible.

So what are the lessons that we can learn from the HMV Twitter disaster?

1. Always have a crisis plan.
2. Plan for the worst and take appropriate measures.
3. Prepare your comms team and have it on board at all times.
4. Be honest and transparent.
5. Always have your reputation in check.