Cyberspace is a deceitful place – full of information good and bad, trustworthy and not so trustworthy.
In this age of social networking, brand reputations can rise and fall in “real-time”or, “social media” time, so damaging information about your brand could be out there at any time. How quickly and strategically a company responds to a Twitter, Facebook or Yelp.com assault makes all the difference.
Whether a company is large or small, the power of social networking to grow or crush that business simply cannot be ignored. Educating your social media team on a repair strategy is a vital part of protecting your hard-earned reputation. Given the right training and tools, your team can be ready when bad PR arrives by blog writers, websites, or social platforms. Here are some tips to follow if you find yourself in a little cyber identity crisis.
Don’t ignore:
Face it head on and don’t be afraid to approach the issue before it spirals out of control. Get your social media team together and execute a plan to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Address the problem:
If you see tweets or Facebook posts that are damaging to your reputation, put your customer service hat on and provide those unhappy customers with solutions to their problems. If you don’t have an answer yet, let them know you’ve addressed the issue and are working to resolve it. Most importantly, be honest.
Good news:
What are your happy customers saying? Let their comments leverage your defense and help regain control of the situation.
Grow:
Turn the negativity of the attack into a positive PR opportunity for your brand. Let consumers know about the issue and how it was resolved.
Social media is great for brands, but it’s also damaging if not monitored on a daily basis. Make sure your social media team acts quickly when it comes to reacting to bad PR. Keeping a level head and staying on top of the crisis will increase your survival odds in the event of a social networking attack.
