Today’s news cycle is relentless. There’s no hiding anymore, no hope of withholding information or putting a cap on a crisis. Social media has given every individual on the planet the opportunity to be heard, to voice their opinions and make public their complaints.
Chick-Fil-A is on the latest in a long list of companies that have suffered through PR nightmares played out on Facebook or Twitter. PR pros and marketing directors need to incorporate social media strategy into their crisis communications plans. Ignoring the amplification power of social media is to ignore perhaps the most public and accessible tool your audience has for communicating.
If we take a look at the Chick-Fil-A situation and the Susan G. Komen- Planned Parenthood fiasco we see a few things in common. First, an apparent lack of preparation. In both instances, there appears to be no social media crisis plan in place to handle the influx of negative comments. How can we tell? It’s clear from the time it took the companies to respond. By the time the Susan G. Komen foundation responded, it’s own partners had already posted negative messages about the funding cuts for Planned Parenthood. That tells me there was no internal communications plan in place. In the Chick-Fil-A situation, as of this moment, Chick-Fil-A still has no response on it’s website and only one official statement on it’s Facebook page. Second, we see a lack of respect for the audience. Allegedly Chick-Fil-A’s PR team created a fake account, posting positive messages on their Facebook page in support of the company. When their audience found out, the story exploded, causing a second ground of angry comments, tags and tweets. The Susan G. Komen Foundation under estimated the passion of their audience and the preparedness of Planned Parenthood to respond.
So what can we learn? Even if your company isn’t as big as Chick-Fil-A or The Susan G. Komen Foundation, you still need a plan in place. You know what they say about an ounce of preparation…
Here are 5 things you can do to prevent a social media nightmare:
Include social media in your crisis communications plan.
Don’t have one? Write one, now, before you need it. Include team members involved in marketing, client management and executives. Determine, who will manage the situation, what the chain of command will be, who will be engaging with the audience, who will be handling the media, and who will decide on the message?
Shine a light on it.
Whether you are a politician embroiled in a breaking scandal or a company dealing with some bad PR, address it. Don’t let people speculate on your behalf, put words in your mouth or own the conversation. Staying silent or denying what you know is true only makes it worse. Make a decision to won up to it and shin a light on the situation.
Be ready with a response.
I had an amazing experience the other day with my Internet services provider. When calling to complain that my service had been spotty I punched in my account number and heard an automated recording which acknowledged an equipment failure in my area, gave me assurance that they were already working on it and an approximate time of repair. Then they offered me an automated call back when the equipment was repaired. All I had to do was press “1”. Then they offered to connect me with an agent if I had further questions. Needless to say, I had no further questions- they had addressed all of my concerns. They were ready and had taken action. Are you?
Social media is a place for your company to show that there is a person behind the door, so forget pushing out an official corproate statement. Address the issue in a genuine way on your Facebook page or Twitter feed. Leave the official statement on your press release, your audience doesn’t want to hear it, they want to hear from you.
Monitor and Respond.
Use conversation monitoring tools to keep a pulse on what is going on. You may not be able to respond to all comments, but you can address the majority of concerns or comments through mass messaging. Is your e-commerce website out? Are the phones out at your office? Post about it and let people know how they can reach you. Has a deal gone bad? Craft a factual message about what happened and how you are dealing with it. Remember, responding gives you the change to address not only your supporters, but also your competition.
Continue Your Business.
Don’t let the crisis be the only message on your social media networks. Address it and move on as best you can. You may have to address it again and again, but why not continue to post about good new or other news related to your company? Not only will you show your competitors and audience that this crisis is not killing your business, but you’ll also push down any negative comments to less important real estate on your page.
Should You Shut Down Your Page?
Shutting down comments on your page may seem like a natural way to end the crisis. The opposite can be true, remember that people can tag you on their pages without your permission. Also, shutting down your page can serve to only further anger your audience. This should be of last resort and only with warning. If you haven’t posted community guidelines on your page, do so now, so you can point to this policy if you ever need to block someone or shut down the page. It is important that you consider this only as a last resort, as the damage to your reputation as a company that is unwilling to take criticism can be long-term. Before you shut down the page,show respect for your community by posting that you are going to do so. For example, “While we respect the opinions of all of our customers, the recent postings on (SITUATION), are malicious and we feel inappropriate for our community page. Our community guidelines clearly state X, Y, Z and at this time we’ve made the decision to temporarily close comment. We are still accepting your thoughts and comments on our webpage, through email (give an email address), or on the phone (give an appropriate number for complaints).”
Hopefully you’ll never need to implement a social media crisis plan, but if you do, at least you’ll be prepared.