The
social media
outsourcing company you’ve hired should not only be on the lookout for the
latest trends in the industry but it must be ready in times of social media
crisis as well. After all, they’re the ones who are handling your accounts and
in the frontline of your company’s defense online.
Customers no longer punch your
hotline number to voice out their complaints. Social media is the modern
customer service center. It is where they could easily reach you with the hopes
that you can see their tweet or comment immediately. Regrettably, anyone in the
world with a social media account can see it, too. A simple complaint could
turn into a public debacle in a matter of seconds.
How can you contain and fix a
social media crisis?
First,
let us identify what a social media crisis is. According to Social Media
Examiner, if there’s a high volume of incoming social media messages on one particular
topic, chances are you have a social media crisis on your hands. Or a dear
employee of yours posts something offensive or malicious on the official
Facebook page of your company.
Here are the tips
you and your social
media outsourcing partner should keep in mind:
Turn
your social listening ear on
·
Your
company name
·
Your
products and/or brands
·
The
competition
·
Customer
service inquiries
·
Influencers
·
The
CEO
·
Your
media spokesperson or PR representatives
·
Keywords
related to your industry
We
are not telling you to watch every social media account of yours like a hawk
because you might never sleep a wink to be able to do it. Instead, use social
listening tools like Google Alerts and Social Mention where you can automate
and categorize every social mention related to your brand.
Social
media crisis management plan
Create
this before your social
media outsourcing vendor creates your Facebook or Twitter account. As
the late Benjamin Franklin said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
Form
a crisis committee
Who
is involved? Hint: it is not a five-man team. The entire company and your
vendor must be involved in this. Anyone in the company with a social media
account can share their sentiments on the matter. And sometimes, it could
create further damage even if they’re only trying to ‘help.’ Distribute a
social media policy to each employee that contains the guidelines everyone
should follow during a crisis.
Conduct
a drill
Simulate
a crisis scenario after you’ve created a social media management plan with your outsourcing
partner. In this way, you will able to identify the loopholes on your plan and
fix it accordingly. Only a foolproof plan can handle any social media crisis.
Act
fast
How
long should you respond to an online rant? Is it after an hour or a day or a
week? Prolong response time and you will be creating your own quicksand where
your brand will never survive. Keep in mind the real-time nature of social
media. Being proactive is the key. However, acting fast doesn’t mean you can
reply in haste. As you formulate a well thought-out response, you may
acknowledge the comment first and an assurance that you will get back to them after
you gathered enough information on the matter.
Post
moderation guidelines
This
is an idea we’ve got from an article on
Forbes. “Post moderation guidelines on your social media pages to make it
obvious what behavior will or will not be tolerated within your social
communities.” Think of it as a making a play book on your brands persona and
ethical handling of crises in the brand’s personally special way.
Don’t
send out ‘robotic’ replies
Users
can see through automated responses and it could hurt your brand even more. It does
not only sound robotic or lame, it also shows you don’t care for other people’s
opinion. Remind your social
media outsourcing partner to avoid doing this.
A
social media crisis can happen anytime but once you have a well-formulated plan
in place you could definitely save your brand’s reputation and image.
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