The number one reason companies have always deemed social media as the "wild wild west" is because they felt there is no semblance of order and a lack of control over their brand's image. Essentially, they can put the message out there, but relinquish a portion of control once it is in the hands of the end user. Nestle's recent social media PR crisis is one such example of how a brand's use of the space can quickly turn from fan adoration to an urgent case of reputation management. So what can a brand do to encourage discussion amongst true fans and those there to graffiti them with accusations?
While Nestle's first attempt to quell the fervor was to essentially demand good behavior on the fan page and establish rules for interaction, they did so under the assumption that clicking "become a fan" meant those 98,000+ people listed as fans were indeed true fans of their brand. Demands + Anti-brand = Defiance (as witnessed by folks using the Nestle logo in the manner Nestle told them not to.) In a sense, Nestle was trying to control what you cannot: human behavior.
So when you get bad press or called out for something publicly, how should it be handled before it gets out of control?
First, you have to address the concerns. Slapping wrists for bad behavior, censoring people and posting corporate babble-speak will get you nowhere in the land of social media. Addressing the concerns means being truthful by discerning fact from fiction amongst the accusations. However, addressing such concerns should not be coming from your Facebook fan page admin, but from the higher ups within the company. No one wants to hear from a mouthpiece because it simply tarnishes the sincerity of what is being said. Address the concerns in writing? Actually, I think video is better.
Second, welcome feedback, questions, concerns via email. Yes, you heard me. Set up an email account solely to handle the crisis at hand. Draw users away from posting to your fan page/blog/Twitter, etc. for the time being by offering a direct line of communication. Encourage this by actually responding to them and addressing concerns emailed to you publicly. While emails should be answered in the most factual and professional way possible, it's important that it is done in a non-formletter-like fashion. In other words, be authentic.
Third, counter with the positive to help your brand advocates emerge through the clutter of the negative press. This can be defined many ways--how you are addressing the concerns, what positive community-related activities you are currently involved in, initiatives you are a part of...you get the picture. If your social media profiles have an overabundance of negative comments, it is very likely that your loyal consumers won't take on the mob. However, posting positive commentary when warranted only encourages them to post and engage with you.
Has your brand (big or small) encountered a social media PR crisis? What was the most effective thing you did to regain control over the situation?
Posted by Shannon Nelson on April 14, 2010 7:00 AM
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Fourth, be patient as human behavior also assumes that people quickly forget things — especially in the world social media. In reality, this damage may be relatively insignificant. People aren't really fans of the Nestlé brand anyway — they're fans of Nestlé's specific brands (PoweBar, KitKat, NesQuik, etc.). If those brands are still intact, then all is well.
Fifth, quickly reconfigure your tactics with the right message. In the future, Nestlé can avoid further laziness by specifically targeting their brand influentials with more creativity and focus instead of jumping on the social media bandwagon with a "catch-all" tactic.
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Marc Raymond |
April 14, 2010 10:15 AM
Posted on April 14, 2010 10:15