Social media has forever changed the marketing and PR
landscapes. No longer do the general public have to wait for the information to
be released, the glossy brochures or the well-shaped prose. When a crisis hits your brand it is off and
running in the time it takes to blink.
Platforms such as twitter now dictate the flow of news and information to see how
adaptive an organisation has to be in the realities of social media.
All you have to do is look towards the US Presidential election
to see the growing influence of social media on a brand. In only a couple of
days, the campaign of Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton has been derailed by
vague statements about an FBI investigation into emails sent between Anthony
Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, the political strategist and Vice-Chairwoman
of Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
While nothing concrete has been released, vague innuendo is
doing what it does best in the fertile social media landscape. It’s
flourishing. Thriving. Suggestions of illegal activity are floating around on
social media without any real proof.
The campaign to elect Hillary Clinton is
losing ground rapidly to Republican nominee Donald Trump, himself no stranger
to the impact social media can have on an election campaign in light of his ‘locker
room’ talk.
Closer to home former Family First Senator Bob Day is
dealing with his own social media crisis. In light of his building empire being
handed to liquidators and hundreds of Australian families left in the lurch
with half-built homes, Mr Day announced he would be resigning from the Senate.
When it became apparent he would not be leaving until after he voted for the
contentious ABCC legislation rumours abounded he was staying put only to put
the boot into the workers who were left with nothing after his business ran
aground.
A clarification that he wasn’t actually resigning until after the vote
caused no end to the social media uproar and a quiet re-announcement of his
resignation while Australia’s back was turned, busy with Melbourne Cup revelry,
was met with a further wave of social media scorn.
Further developments, overnight, are now questioning Mr Day’s eligibility to even have stood at the 2016 election have
been raised and the issue now appears to be headed to the Australian High
Court.
What all these situations have in common is a basic lack of understanding
of just how fast social media can move. Fantasy author, the late Sir Terry
Pratchett, said in one of his novels; “A lie can run around the world before
the truth can get its boots on.”
While the context is different, the truth of the quote is
blatant for anyone to see. For all the good social media can do it can do equal
amounts of damage to a person, or companies, brand.
Understanding the importance of effective crisis
communication strategies and leadership is the difference between directing the
messaging during a crisis, or riding reactively against a turning tide of
public opinion.
Before you’re knee deep in a situation that could forever
damage your brand or reputation, keep the following in mind:
Fight or Flight:
In life, when something goes wrong we have two inbuilt survival mechanisms, fight or flight. Social media makes instant replies very easy, for everyone.
But it is important to take the time to formulate a clear message before going
public. While the time taken can allow for misinformation to flourish, it is
important everyone in the team is on-board with the message being presented. As
we all know, once it’s tweeted it’s never really deleted. Knowing the situation
and formulating your response is more useful long-term than shooting off a
tweet while you’re half in the dark.
Develop an effective crisis management process:
The last thing you want is to have a crisis become a
trending topic without warning. Develop an in-house warning system which is
designed to detect early social media warning signs. Consider the internal
processes on how content is delivered online and work out a ‘worse-case
scenario’. Having an established protocol; what to look out for, who to
contact, who to reach and how for sign off will save you a lot of time and
anguish if a situation begins to spin out of control.
Do your research:
This history of social media is littered with social media
fails. From hash tags with unintended consequences to promotions that were best
left on the boardroom floor.
Who can forget the “Lest We Forget” Woolworths
campaign? Tying the Centenary of Gallipoli to a Supermarket brand? You have to wonder
who thought that was a good idea, or why Woolworths was so slow to remove the
Meme generator given it was trending - with negative feedback - in a matter of minutes.
The list of social media missteps that could have been avoided with a bit
of research and understanding of the market is never ending.
When you enter the arena of social media you need to be
prepared for the knocks that will come your way.
Mike Cullen has recently returned to Akolade after
a period as the conference producer for one of Australia's leading economic
think tanks. Mike began working in the conference industry in 2007 after
looking for a career change from the high pressured world of inbound customer
service. Mike has worked for some of the most well-known conference and media
companies in the B2B space and in his spare time is working on his first novel
in a planned Epic Fantasy trilogy.
Mike’s most recently published story, Seeds of
Eden, is featured in the Sproutlings Anthology released in March 2016.
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