How to Avoid a Social Media Disaster

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If there’s one thing that keeps social media marketers up at night, it’s the ever-present threat of a PR disaster. By now, every marketer is well-aware of how quickly dissatisfied consumers can turn to the social airwaves to vent about a brand. Nestle, BP, Domino’s, Southwest Airlines, and many other brands have witnessed the unbridled power of social media as a platform for disgruntled consumers to rally around an anti-brand cause.



You can never fully “control” what your customers say about your brand on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and forums — nor would you want to. After all, the biggest benefit of social media is to allow your customers to express their opinions and talk about your products and services among themselves, creating a loyal fan base that spreads the word about your brand to their friends and family. However, there are several actionable strategies you can take to avoid — or circumvent — a negative PR storm about your brand online.

Here are five tips to give your brand the best possible chance at avoiding a social media PR debacle, and strategies for quickly handling problems if they arise.
1. Create a Social Media Policy/Community Management Plan

Every brand participating in social media should have a clear policy and community management plan in place. Map out crucial “Terms of Service” such as:

* What’s not tolerated in conversations about your brand. Things like foul and abusive language, threats against individuals, hateful speech, flame comments about products or services, and similar comments are best handled as strictly forbidden. Make sure this plan maps to the Terms of Service for each channel in which you are active, such as Facebook, MySpace (MySpace), Twitter (Twitter), or YouTube (YouTube), all of which have their own guidelines on unacceptable content.
* Hire a community manager or qualified agency partner who monitors your brand’s entire social media presence on the web. Your lead community manager should be in constant contact with the PR and marketing departments, and have clear escalation lines to the customer support team for hot-button issues. The community manager should not only monitor and manage your branded communities in Facebook, Twitter, and corporate blogs, but also use social media monitoring tools to find out where else your brand is being discussed online, such as third-party blogs and forums.
* The community manager should work with the executive and PR teams to decide who will respond to which type of comments. High-level “red alerts” need to be handled by a top executive, preferably someone both knowledgeable and accountable to your customer base. The PR team should, of course, be integral in crafting all outbound communications, but in rapid-response situations it’s best to have a key executive who’s already provided his or her willingness to be accountable and available.

2. Have an Escalation Plan

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Decide ahead of time what steps your company will take if a flare-up occurs. Knowing ahead of time how you’ll respond to negative comments takes the “panic factor” out of potential negative commentary. Map out the following steps:

* Decide which type of comments require immediate response (such as a huge flame against your brand, a customer service rant, or a nasty rumor) and which are best left alone for the time being (a few negative product reviews, a customer discussion comparing your brand unfavorably to another, etc.). Which are indicative of a larger trend, and which are singular expressions of dissatisfaction or concern?
* Make a plan for who will flag negative comments, and how they will officially communicate these “flags” to the PR department in order of “Urgent,”"Wait,” or “Monitor.”
* Create corporate-wide guidelines for the first, second, and third steps to take in the event of a sudden negative sentiment storm. For example, the first step might be: Flag and collect negative comments. The second might be: Community manager works with PR and CEO to craft immediate “we hear you and are working on it” response. A third step might be: Have PR team and CEO craft and post official response.

3. Plan for the Worst – Expect the Best

What’s the worst case scenario your brand could possibly suffer in a social media PR meltdown? That situation probably won’t occur, but by imagining the worst, you can craft “first line” responses ahead of time, so you won’t be caught off guard. That way you’ll be well prepared if sentiment around your brand suddenly begins to trend negative. This kind of brand take-down, should it occur, happens extremely fast — in a matter of hours.
4. Respond Quickly, Personally and Directly

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If online commentary starts to trend negative rapidly, consult your community management plan to decide who will respond first. Acknowledge questions and negative comments, and assure consumers you’re working toward an answer. Then, execute your official response as detailed in your escalation plan — an official blog post on your domain is always the first, best place to post new relevant information. Even after you’ve delivered an “official” response, go back to unhappy individuals and point them to the latest blog post, as individual responses go a long way. Remember to speak personally and directly. Speed and honesty are what customers value most.
5. Don’t Play the Blame Game

Consumers expect brands to pass the buck and not own up to problems. Go against the grain and stand up for your mistakes. Acknowledge that you are working to correct the problem, and inform those looking for guidance when and how you will improve the situation. Customers are typically seeking accountability and accurate, direct information from the primary spokespeople of the brands they trust. Reward them with this through the social media channels you manage.
Learn from Great Examples

Many companies do a great job staying ahead of the social media curve.

Best Buy receives a lot of negative commentary from tech enthusiasts, but the brand has been able to stay engaged with both their fans and detractors. The company has created an instant-response customer service realm with its Facebook page, Twitter account, and other social channels.

Meanwhile, Virgin America is also doing a great job with proactive social media outreach, relying on a dedicated team of community managers. The brand’s proactive approach centers on responding immediately to customer ire over anything from flight delays to website downtime (which happens a lot thanks to their ever-popular Twitter deals). Through its various social channels, Virgin America keeps users informed and content.

Lastly, Ford is also a social media leader when it comes to keeping customers happy. Scott Monty, Ford’s social media specialist, gets a lot of attention for his efforts on Twitter. His actions on blogs and forums helped avert a potential PR disaster a while ago. As lawyers for Ford sent cease-and-desist orders to forum users who had used and altered the Ford logo (much in the same way as the Nestle debacle), Monty responded quickly to angry users, many of whom were absolute fans of the brand and were showing their loyalty by including the logos in their forum avatars.
Conclusion

Social media is a great tool for brands to connect on a personal level with their customers. Unfortunately, it’s also a great tool for malcontents to rally negative sentiment about your brand. Your best line of defense in today’s customer-driven world is to develop a comprehensive social media policy and community management plan within your company before any potential PR disasters strike — and quickly respond to any flare-ups.