What is a Social Media Crisis and Are You at Risk?
What is a social media crisis
Let’s start at the beginning. A social media crisis is when uncontrollable and negative activity is taking place about your company, online.
Now I’m not talking about a little rumor or some negative criticism posted to your Facebook wall or blog stream. (Although there is a proper way to respond to these types of situations to refrain them from developing into something bigger). I’m talking about a full-on social media crisis.
For example, if you wake up one morning to find dozens or more negative comments flooding in about you online, all mentioning the same situation or topic – then this is a major red flag and time to put your social media crisis plan into action.
Who does a social media crisis affect?
There’s a misconception floating around stating that a social media crisis only attacks big corporations and/or brands actively on social media. Unfortunately, these theories are false. Social media crises don’t discriminate. They can attack any brand – from the small brand-of-one to the mega corporation – at any time.
So how can you protect your brand from a social media crisis?
The wisest solution here is to be prepared your company with a social media crisis plan. It’s a known fact that for every 1$ you spend developing a crisis plan, $7 is saved in brand damage and repercussions when you eventually find yourself faced with a crisis.
Learn to protect yourself from a social media crisis
The following strategic steps will help you prevent and overcome a social media crisis.
Preventative measures:
1- Monitor the discussions around your brand
No matter the size of your organization, things are being said about you and your business online. The first step to overcoming a social media crisis is to regularly monitor and respond to these online conversations accordingly.
Note: There are a tons of free tools out there that will help you do this. You just have to set them up to alert you when someone mentions your brand (or whatever keywords you’re monitoring for) online. For a list of some awesome free tools to check out, click here.
2- Build a loyal following
This is a very important preemptive strategy. A loyal following will come to your aid in a social media crisis and help you regain control of the situation. Trust me, when you find yourself faced with a social media attack, you’ll be wishing for all the help you can get!
3- Brainstorm different possible crises
Prevent the preventable. This is a great exercise to do a couple times a year. Get creative and explore the different scenarios of possible crises and then find a way to prevent those that can be prevented, while preparing for those that cannot.
Steps to take once you’re in a social media crisis:
1- Respond to the crisis immediately
This is extremely important. The secondyou realize that you’re under social media attack, you must RESPOND! Your first response should simply advise your audience that you’re aware of the situation, that you’re looking into it, and that they can rely on you for more information as soon as you know more. This simple tactic will immediately help you begin to regain control of the situation.
2- Release an official statement
So the public is aware that you’ve been alerted to the crisis and that you’re in the process of looking into it. Once you’re ready, it’s time to hold true on your promise and release your official statement. This statement should be released on the same channel that the attack originally broke out on.
Within this official statement you should remember to:
- Be open, honest and transparent
- Do not make excuses – confront the situation head on
- Answer all common questions
- State how you are correcting the situation
- Assure your audience that you’re taking the proper measures to make sure that the situation will never happen again
- Show that you are sincere, understanding and compassionate
3- Sincerely apologize
The truth is that if you share a strong relationship with your customers and fans, no matter how upset they are, they’re going to want to forgive you. Forgiveness is in our nature and a part of our society, but in order for them to forgive you, you’ll need to sincerely apologize – and mean it.
Along with your sincere apology, it’s very important to show that you’ve learned your lesson and that you’re taking the measures to make sure that no such event will ever happen again. This will allow you to continue to strengthen the relationship you share with your customers and fans, instead of watching it be destroyed by the crisis.
Bonus tip:
Never delete a negative comment
There’s one piece of advice that I can’t close this article without sharing with you. It’s very important and is the number 1 biggest mistake that brands tend to make when faced with a social media crisis: they get scared and delete the negative comments posted to their channels.
It’s a normal reaction to want to hide the negative, but what these brands don’t realize is that by doing this, they’re only further upsetting their audience. You need to remember that it should always be about strengthening the relationship, so instead of deleting the comments, respond publicly to them and focus on strengthening the relationships rather than destroying them even further.
In conclusion
A social media crisis, unprejudice and unpredictable, can strike at any time – no matter your brand’s size, industry or social media presence. However, with the right social media crisis plan, you can learn the proper ways to respond to such a crisis and turn the negative situation into a positive brand experience, bringing you even closer to your customers and fans.
Now this is something worth investing in!
Have you prepared your company for a social media crisis, and if not, do you intend to? Share your thoughts and experiences with me below!
Reading your post I couldn’t help thinking immediately about that guy that intentionally treated some of his customers very badly so that the negative publicity will give him more links for his online glasses frames website.His strategy worked for a few years, bringing him higher and higher in Google SERP as more and more people were complaining and posting links to him (in an effort to warn others) and made him a lot of money.
Last time I read about him though he was arrested and under investigation. (true story if you want to check it out guy’s name is Mr. Borker).
The point is very valid but here is the thing a bigger picture. For the past 3 years, all I have heard about is facebook and social media vs Google and to be honest if you are in the news you’re customers would come to you. First it was Mark zuckerburg being the fastest millionaire, now it is the $ 100 Billion IPO, similar with Google one after other they are launching things, the privacy issue, the court cases etc.
I do agree with you partially, I think corporate people won’t intentionally do it, but I would assume that competitors would like to bring one of my performing product down with hoaxes and bad word of mouth. What is bad worth of mouth ? the most effective piece of marketing yet in any community, FB and google just beef it up with making it online !
A social media crisis is negative publicity and I definitely don’t think this is done on pourpose.
This goes for companies just as surely as it goes for consumers. What’s especially exciting is that the tools that allow people to connect with each other, their communities, and the companies they want to patronize, are still in their infancy — imagine the impact they’ll have when they are all grown up.”..
Hi Rosey,
Yes, I’ve read about the Borker and his scams may have worked periodically, but they eventually caught up to him. As is usually the case.
I have an interesting article that you might like to read talking exactly about how “there is no such thing as bad press” doesn’t exist anymore. Here’s the link if you’d like: http://www.melissaagnes.com/there-is-such-thing-as-bad-publicity/
The majority of social media crises, however, are not intentionally started and do have a negative impact on the brand and their reputation. That’s why it’s important to understand the “rules of a social media crisis” if you want to reverse the effect and come out strong.
Thanks for the comment Rosey!
Hi Mellisa,
Truly, planning on ways to prevent social media crisis is a great method for staying at the top of your business at all times avoiding the bad guys. But, there will certainly be times when the unexpected will occur even with social media planning already on ground. What I just think we should do is to focus on ways to make our readers, customers or followers stay happy at all times. When they are happy, the business will continue to grow and even, if bad people come on board trying to spoil the business for such a company, the customers would be those who will rise up and fight against the attack.
I have had an experiences of this before and people like Pat Flynn and Onibalusi Bamidele have experienced it as well, but, their readers and followers rose up for them because “they both have happy and responsive audience”.
Thanks for your points and thanks for the suggested links.
That’s terrific Daniel! That’s the very reason why building a loyal following proves to be so beneficial in a social media crisis! I’m glad to hear this and props to you for taking such good care of your community!
Thanks for sharing your experience with me 😉
Hi Olawale Daniel,
Welcome to my blog, And Thanks for your comment.
I hope to see you back around here. 🙂
Are you training students in the use of Social Media either as part of a CRM campaign or as a separate platform to interact with existing and potential customers? If no, what are your thoughts on why not.
Hi Oda,
No, I people and companies how to protect themselves from social media crises. I offer consulting, do speaking engagements and presentations.
Hope this helps! Thanks for the question 🙂
Hi Melissa!
Wonderful post, you covered all points in your post about “How to protect yourself from social media crisis”.
Social media is a powerful crisis management tool, but only if you have been using it when you are not in crisis mode too. It’s real engagement not campaign-based marketing. What you think ?
Thanks for sharing this informative post.
Hi Bashir,
Thanks for inviting me to write for your excellent blog 😉
It’s definitely best practice to be on social media and to understand the rules and mindset of social media, before you find yourself faced with a social media crisis. However, it’s not impossible to overcome a crisis if you aren’t yet using the tools – it’s just harder to do.
Thanks for the great comment and again, for the opportunity to write for your community 🙂
Hi Mellisa, Howday!
You are most welcome, Its all my pleasure and happy to see your post on my blog. No doubt that in your post there are so many points those are useful for all.
Thanks for giving me a chance to appreciate all of your efforts. I hope we will work.
Thank you so much. 🙂
Nice post Melissa!
Those are wonderful tips indeed about how to overcome and face social media crisis, that does come forth us sometime or the other. However, I have been lucky so far to have not really come across such crisis in my life. 🙂
I think what matters most is that you build a trust-worthy community of people, and even if you do have some people who land you in trouble, learn to respond and face the comments boldly. Deleting them is never a solution as they would crop up again, instead reply to them and clear the facts in a proper and matured way.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hi Harleena,
Thank you, Im glad you enjoyed the post 🙂 Im also glad that you’ve never encountered a social media crisis of your own. Hopefully it will stay that way, but just in case, now you know some great techniques to handling one!
Your way of thinking is right on! With that type of mindset, even if you do face a crisis one day, Im sure you’ll do well at overcoming it 😉
Thanks for the great comment!
And yes, I forgot to add that if you have committed a mistake, be bold enough to face it and apologize for it as well. 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Hi Harleena! Welcome back to my blog.
I am 100% agree with you. Committed the mistake and apologize for it. I hope Melissa will reply you too.
Thanks For leaving your comments.
Yes, absolutely you are both right on! If only everyone in business had your great outlook!
Great comments Harleena and Bashir!! 🙂
good blog!! You could start many more. I love all the info offered. I will stay tuned.
Hi Melva,
If you’re referring to the Ajnabii blog, yes! Bashir has done a tremendous job here!
And if you’re also referring to this guest post Ive written, if you like the topic and want to learn and read more, I have a daily blog on which I discuss all angles of social media crises on a regular basis. You’re welcome to come and check it out at any time! MelissaAgnes.com
Thanks for the great compliment to the both of us! 🙂
Hey Melva!
Welcome to my blog, Glad to see you here.
Thanks for your appreciation about my blog and Melissa Post. I you want to read more about social media crisis you should check out Melissa’s blog she has lot of posts. I hope you enjoyed the post.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hey Melissa,
Glad to see you & your excellent post on Ajnabii.com blog. I’m surprised Bashir’s have a master mind social media crisis specialist author. I liked your post and all points. Please kindly share some Free Tools to track and monitor Social media Crisis alerts, Is there any ?
Thanks 😉
Hi Hyder,
Thank you for the nice compliment! Don’t be surprised though! Bashir is a loyal reader and fan of mine so I was more than happy to provide his audience with insight on social media crises when he asked me! 🙂
There are many, many tools that you can use. Both free and paid. Check out this post I wrote on my own blog for a nice list of some http://www.melissaagnes.com/the-best-social-media-monitoring-tools-for-your-brand/
Also, if you search “Social Media Monitoring” on my blog, you’ll find a lot more useful tips and help!
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for the nice comment Hyder 🙂
Hi Hyder Bro,
Glad to see you back on my blog, Lot of thanks for your appreciation. You know what its my luck I’m Melissa fan and yeah her reader too. I loved her all posts about social media crisis, She is very talented as you said social media specialist 🙂
Check it out her blog posts You will see lot of free and paid tools and much more info I hope you will enjoy.
Thanks for leaving your comment. 🙂
Hey Melissa, Great.
Thanks for your points and thanks for the suggested links. I will check. 🙂
Thanks Bashir Bro.
Indeed. These days social media has become very big. one must take precautions to protect their image. A company usually has a group of people to protect them from negative image but it does happen. Quick and effective response from the company will help.
You’re absolutely right Shalu! Quick and effective response goes a long way – more than most realize. And a social community can be extremely helpful and effective, but it’s important to know how to ask for their help and a crisis plan puts all these things into perspective 🙂