Any business or advertising agency understands the value of a a good reputation. You may take a long while building a reputation but it only takes a single mistake to damage your company’s image. This is especially true in the current age of social media marketing where transparency and customer expectations are given top priority. Ignoring strong digital voices is no longer an option. Therefore, companies have to know how to prepare and what to do when something bad happens that can damage the company’s image. When a crisis occurs, there are several tips to managing it.
Acknowledge
The first step is to accept that something has happened. Even if there may be no answers then, this will stem the tide of those still seeking to know whether or not the company is aware of the events.
Fight social media fire with social media water
A general rule of thumb is to respond first on the platform where the crisis broke. Once you have done so, you can circle around and respond in other venues that have picked up on the crisis. If you decide to deal with a problem in one platform by responding in another, your response may get no traction whatsoever. Disaster may strike at any time so you have to be present in every social outpost even if you do not routinely participate there. This is more of a precautionary measure you should take very carefully. It goes without saying that speed matters. Word can spread out like wildfire when it comes to social media. You need to be read to respond quickly. Ask yourself whether you can get a video of your CEO within a couple of hours, day or night and from anywhere in the world. If not, then you are probably not well prepared.
Be sorry
Forgiveness is part of life, you will be forgiven if you say you are sorry and actually mean it.
Create a crisis FAQ
Come up with a web page or microsite that has all the information about the crisis in one place. This makes work easier as you are able to respond to questions with a link as opposed to an answer. Doing so saves time and also prevents misinterpretations.
Build a Pressure Relief Valve
This is a strategy that has proven to be quite effective; you want people to vent on a venue you have control over. Whether it’s a blog forum, social media page, or comments section in your FAQ microsite, you want fire to accumulate on your own turf. This approach gives you the opportunity to keep conversations about the crisis in a single place, making them easier to track.
Know when to take it offline
Crisis management is more about damage control as opposed to winning. Some people will be too angry to convince them of anything. Sometimes the best approach is to offer your email address or phone number to encourage further complaints in that way.
Arm your army
Finally, keep your employees informed about the crisis. Your staff should at least be as knowledgeable as the public about the crisis.
If your company is facing a reputation crisis, contact Convergent1 today and we will get started right away to fix this problem for you.
