“Did That Really Just Happen?” Social Media Crisis Management
We’ve all seen that one post, picture or tweet that made us ask, jaws dropped, “did that really just happen?” Social media problems arise every day for brands of all types. A company has the option to fix it or fall deeper into the black hole of crisis. According to Ozgur Alaz, author of Ozurg Alaz: 7 Steps For Social Media Crisis Management, there are 7 steps for social media crisis management. Here we’re look at a few:
Preparation
Most important step for social media crisis management: Preparation. There are three components of preparation; eliminating risks, competency in social media, and tools to manage crisis. Eliminating risks increases your brand value, as well as relates to the competence of social media in your company. All employees need to be knowledgeable of social media; eliminating the threat of those who are not by providing informational advice, will greatly benefit a company by taking away the threat of employee mistakes. The last preparation must is the need for crisis management tools, such as a crisis meeting room. Preparing for a crisis is a must do in terms of management.
Knowing Relationships
Building relationships is another key component of social media crisis management. Social media can get to a lonely state because there are millions of users to interact with and few companies to befriend. The company needs to create relationships and retain people who will defend the company. These people/companies are known as “‘brand friends’; they know you, trust you and defend you when it’s necessary.” This will in turn lead to loyalty and trust in your company, as well as a “friend” to help back you up during crisis.
Knowing Stakeholders
Stakeholders are the people who are invested in your company. A company must get to know its stakeholders in order to come up with a strategy. Stakeholders are not just customers; they are employees, suppliers, government, journalists, and investors. “It’s important to create a stakeholders map and think about their motivations and communication channels that lead to them.” This is vital to the creation of the company’s strategy.
Choice of Strategy
First off, it is important to know that a company’s strategy will change frequently based on different situations. This being said, a company relies on scenario analysis and keeping their employees updated. There are some strategic decisions to be made, which include; “What’s your message?”, “What’s your attitude?”, “How will you create plausibility?”, “Will there be any official statements made? How frequent will they be?” These all are great questions to ask in order to be fully prepared for any issues that arise.
Check out all of Alaz’s tips here.
Final thought: It is imperative to be ahead of the curve when dealing with social media crises. A company’s reputation can be significantly affected by negative social media content. Here are some examples of good and bad crisis management practices.
AppleBee’s:
A waitress posted this picture and was later fired for violating one of AppleBee’s rules. AppleBee’s was ridiculed for firing this waitress; they defended their decision to the end, which did not help them at all.
KitchenAid:
An employee accidentally posted this on the company’s twitter account; the head of KitchenAid brand sincerely apologized and explained what happened. This honesty was a huge plus for the brand.