There is no denying that we are living in the digital world with all its boons as well as pitfalls. Most companies will at some point in time encounter a social media crisis. A disgruntled past employee or some unscrupulous competitor or a plain mischief-monger may post some adverse remarks that could seriously affect your online business.
The onus is on you to keep a watchful eye over all mentions about your company on the internet. You may set up Google Alert so that you are immediately informed whenever your company is mentioned on the internet.
The first lesson is never ignore any negative remark in the social media. Whatever the case, you need to be prepared for a follow-up action so that the adverse remarks are deleted – and your company reputation is preserved.
Whatever the nature of the social media crisis and whether it is internally or externally created, it is essential that you evolve and put in place a social media crisis plan before engaging with your communities.
Create social media crisis guidelines for responding to posts or comments during a social media crisis. In most internal cases, an adverse post can be straightaway deleted and if need be, a correction or apology can be quickly offered. For external comments, evaluate the content before taking steps to delete it.
It is absolutely necessary that you immediately respond and follow through any negative comments.
Never let offending remarks uncontested for long. The longer such remarks linger on your account, the greater the damage to your online reputation.
If the complaint is authentic, do not hesitate to publicly issue an apology or retraction. This will send strong signals that you care for your customers and their sentiments. This also would reveal that you are actively monitoring your social channels – and that you give importance to your brand’s social reputation.
If the offensive remark is deliberate and misleading, ask the offender to delete the remark forthwith and in the event of his/her failing to delete, do not hesitate to issue legal notice. In all such cases, never plead with the offender as that will leave the company in a weak reactionary mode.
Try to use humor in select cases to defuse the seriousness of the situation. It may not be effective in every circumstance, but humor can be used to quickly deflect a crisis situation.
It may be worthwhile to suspend all your scheduled posts until you’ve fully addressed the crisis situation according to your social management plan. This should also be done in the event of a national or global tragedy, so your brand does not appear disconnected or insensitive.