There's been a lot written about the PR meltdown caused by Ocean Marketting (sic) Ocean Stratagy (also sic) and (currently) Ocean Deep Sea or Ocean Distribution. They treated their client's customers in the most appalling fashion. You can read the origins of the storm on Penny Arcade here and here.
Understandable the Client N-Control wanted to sort out the mess very quickly and have hired a new PR company that are doing a great job. (see the press release they issued)
There are a whole host of blogs doing the rounds about the fine detail of the events, but my attention was caught by this excerpt from the press release:
- N-Control immediately proceeded to extricate Mr. Christoforo’s access to their email and social media accounts, a process that is still ongoing
In July last year I wrote a blog alerting folks to the need to ensure that if they're outsourcing their social media then they own their own feeds and content. You must have to have access to your own social media! Misuse by a third party is rare, but if the proverbial bus takes out your consultant then how do you get access to your stuff and talk to your customers?
Do you really want your company posting things like this? (from the former official feed of N-Control)
A checklist for you:
- Do you have the log-in details for all your social media platforms?
- Have you tried them recently? (They may have changed!)
- Are the email addresses that the accounts run from accessible to you?
- Have you actually read your own feed(s) lately?
- Can you access all the correspondence being conducted on your behalf whenever you want to?
- Do you own your domain name?
- Can you prevent your outsourced partner from deleting your website?
If the answer to any of these questions is "no" then you may have a problem...
