Ignoring social media and review sites is brand suicide – we’ve seen it over and over (a quick search for “Play Dough Extruder Scandal” will give you a prime example of what happens when you don’t handle things). Lissa Duty gave us some real talk about Real-Time Brand Management at the Rocks Digital Marketing Conference.
Brand Management in Response to Conflict or Crisis on Social Media
A GREAT response to potential controversy is embodied in Groupon’s “banana bunker” example – they were prepared for the feedback they were going to get and had someone ready and posting clever responses (seriously…. read the comments – Pure Gold!).
So, how should you and your brand deal with potential conflict or an “already-in-progress” crisis?
- Create a response
- Draft potential scenarios
- Get ahead of the negative complaints
- Create a digital marketing campaign to dominate keyword searches
Brand Management Before a Crisis Arises
Better yet, before an incident arises – Have a DEFINED SOCIAL PROCESS
- Research your brand and document all the online accounts related to it
- Work to gain access/claim all of your accounts
- Optimize accounts for brand consistency
- Clearly define who can register new accounts
Managing the Process
- Create a schedule for monitoring and responding to brand accounts
- Social media account access needs to be centralized
- Define who is responsible for monitoring and how often
- Define company expectations regarding employee participation on social media
Have an Aligned Marketing/Social Strategy
- Define project goals and disseminated to all involved teams
- Marketing team works in conjunction with social team
- POC responsible for ensuring marketing objectives are aligned across platforms
Have Consistent Messaging
- Support responses should match across platforms
- Website FAQs and online answers consistent
- Social and customer service teams need to know what is on the website
- Inconsistent answers are a negative customer experience
Keep an Eye on Content Sources
- Have pre-approved content to share on social media
- Designate 3rd party websites that are approved for posting on social media
- Use keyword searches
Have a Response Strategy for Both Positive and Negative Responses
- Don’t ignore negative feedback
- Have an escalation procedure with a POC name and contact information
- Make sure account alerts are being emailed to a social media account that is being monitored
Bottom line: Have a plan for managing your brand, make sure everyone in your organization is aware of the plan and stick to the plan!
Do you have stories of how a brand has handled a crisis well or badly? Share it with us below.
To learn more about Lissa Duty, who is also a co-founder of the event, you can read her full bio on Rocks Digital.
