IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MANAGING BRAND REPUTATION IN CRISIS
INTRODUCTION
Social media crises are a reality and a risk that we all face today. We’re all vulnerable to online attacks that threaten having a lasting and damaging impact on our brand’s reputation, both online and offline, and bottom-line.
Managing your online risk requires more than just social monitoring of your brand. It requires a plan against them.A social media crisis is an online situation that has the risks of having, a negative and long-term impact on your business or organization’s reputation and/or bottom-line.Social media crises usually involve strong, negative emotions that are relatable and can
easily:
- Outweigh common sense
- Get clients, fans, staff, stakeholders and others riled up
- Provoke viral behavior
Social media crises risk going viral very quickly, in a very short period of time, they risk being highly unpredictable and, often, unforeseeable. When not responded to promptly and in a proper manner, social media crises risk having a damaging and lasting negative impact on your brand’s reputation and bottom-line.A social media issue is a lesser situation than a social media crisis – though one that
still needs to be addressed and resolved in a prompt and proper fashion.
Social media issues are negative and potentially viral situations taking place online about your brand, but they do not threaten any severe long-term negative impacts on your brand’s reputation or bottom-line.
Some examples of social media issues include, but are not limited to:
- Negative comments or discussions being posted about your brand online
- Unacceptable comments being posted to your channels
- Negative customer service issues
- Negative pressIf not responded to in a prompt and proper manner, social media issues risk escalating into more severe social media crises.
However, when responded to quickly and properly, social media issues define a unique and positive PR opportunity for your brand. The best way to prepare your brand for both a social media crisis and a social media
issue is to:
- Assess and understand the risk that social media and the online world
present to your business or organization. This is typically done with a
vulnerability audit or risk assessment. - Take the necessary steps to prevent the preventable risk.
- Develop a social media crisis management plan to protect and prepare
your company against the unpreventable risk. - Train your entire team to be able to efficiently detect, respond and resolve
a social media crisis and a social media issue. - No company or organization is immune to a social media crisis – or issue for that matter.
- A social media crisis can come from anywhere, when you least expect it. It could be the launch of a new campaign, a technical malfunction that leaves clients upset, an angry employee who posts an unwanted video online, or a thousand other scenarios.
- The best that any brand can do is to be able and prepared to detect the warning signs of a social media crisis as soon as they begin to show themselves.
- To communicate effectively and in real-time with your market and your staff through the crisis.
- To resolve the situation in the least amount of time and with the least amount of repercussions to your brand for the long-term
