WHEN COMPLAINTS GO VIRAL…
CATS Recruit, 15 March 2013
Planning is key to effectively managing a social media crisis
A SOCIAL media crisis may often seem like an apocalyptic situation. While organisations and companies will never be able to fully prevent a crisis from emerging, they will have the power to systematically handle a social media crisis and drastically reduce its negative impact.
There are three key phases in any social media crisis. They occur in the following sequence:
— Pre-crisis. Before any signs of a crisis exist, everything seems peaceful, like a busy Smurf village going about its own business.
— Crisis. During a crisis, pandemonium ensues with both panic and stress levels at an all-time high.
— Post-crisis. This period marks the return to sanity. The situation is still tense, but all seems to be under control.
Phase 1: Pre-crisis
Most efforts invested should happen during the pre-crisis phase. This is when a comprehensive plan can be put in place along with any processes, tools or infrastructure needed. Crisis is a time of urgent action, not planning.
Some activities that need to be considered are:
— The appointment of a social media crisis management team;
— The development of detailed escalation and reaction plans; and
— The deployment of listening tools and any supporting infrastructure.
Phase 2: Crisis
There is a tendency to be extremely reactive during a crisis. Instead, the best approach is to take some time (no matter how limited) to assess the overall crisis situation from various standpoints. This helps determine the best approach to managing it. Here are some steps to take:
• Understand the root cause of the crisis. How did it come about? Is it the result of an unforeseen service failure, or could it be a sign of a bigger issue at stake? Social media rarely instigates a crisis, but rather amplify pre-existing problems. Understanding the real cause of a crisis is one step in the right direction toward managing it more efficiently and overcoming it.
• Assess the severity and urgency of the situation. Once the crisis has been correctly identified and classified, an appropriate reaction and response plan can be selected for effective use.
Understand that not all crises are equal. Here are some useful classifications and recommended response timings:
— Attacks. Premeditated attacks with malicious intent (within one hour)
— Outages. Service failures that result in life and health risks (within six hours)
— Complaints. Service and product failures that cause inconvenience (within one day)
— Queries. Prospects who want information about the brand (within three days)
— Comments. Opinions and sentiments of consumers and the public (within one week)
• Empathise with consumers, and appreciate their situation and motivations. It is curious to know that consumers approach social media platforms with customer service issues often as a last resort — not the first.
When they finally do, it is usually the result of frustration with traditional customer service channels, and they want to make their voices heard by galvanising public support to coerce the organisation into action.
• Respond by channelling all crisis-related communications to a single crisis communications destination. Responses should be on the same platforms that the crisis occurred.
For example, a crisis occurring on YouTube should not be responded to in a press release distributed only to the printed press. All responses must be conducted in a humble, transparent and professional manner.
Phase 3: Post-crisis
All too often, marketers and brand owners tend to let their guard down when the situation calms down.
The resources spent managing a crisis need to be replenished and the supporting infrastructure readied for the next social media crisis. It is complacent to think that a next crisis will not happen anytime soon. A crisis always happens when you least expect it.
Lastly, everyone involved should work out plans to prevent a similar occurrence in future. It is by investing in such vigilance that any social media crisis plan becomes more robust.
The key to managing a social media crisis is to plan for it, prepare for the worst, but wish for the best. Any brand that is able to prepare for the challenges of a social media crisis should also be able to benefit from the opportunities such a platform offers.
Planning is key to effectively managing a social media crisis
A SOCIAL media crisis may often seem like an apocalyptic situation. While organisations and companies will never be able to fully prevent a crisis from emerging, they will have the power to systematically handle a social media crisis and drastically reduce its negative impact.
There are three key phases in any social media crisis. They occur in the following sequence:
— Pre-crisis. Before any signs of a crisis exist, everything seems peaceful, like a busy Smurf village going about its own business.
— Crisis. During a crisis, pandemonium ensues with both panic and stress levels at an all-time high.
— Post-crisis. This period marks the return to sanity. The situation is still tense, but all seems to be under control.
Phase 1: Pre-crisis
Most efforts invested should happen during the pre-crisis phase. This is when a comprehensive plan can be put in place along with any processes, tools or infrastructure needed. Crisis is a time of urgent action, not planning.
Some activities that need to be considered are:
— The appointment of a social media crisis management team;
— The development of detailed escalation and reaction plans; and
— The deployment of listening tools and any supporting infrastructure.
Phase 2: Crisis
There is a tendency to be extremely reactive during a crisis. Instead, the best approach is to take some time (no matter how limited) to assess the overall crisis situation from various standpoints. This helps determine the best approach to managing it. Here are some steps to take:
• Understand the root cause of the crisis. How did it come about? Is it the result of an unforeseen service failure, or could it be a sign of a bigger issue at stake? Social media rarely instigates a crisis, but rather amplify pre-existing problems. Understanding the real cause of a crisis is one step in the right direction toward managing it more efficiently and overcoming it.
• Assess the severity and urgency of the situation. Once the crisis has been correctly identified and classified, an appropriate reaction and response plan can be selected for effective use.
Understand that not all crises are equal. Here are some useful classifications and recommended response timings:
— Attacks. Premeditated attacks with malicious intent (within one hour)
— Outages. Service failures that result in life and health risks (within six hours)
— Complaints. Service and product failures that cause inconvenience (within one day)
— Queries. Prospects who want information about the brand (within three days)
— Comments. Opinions and sentiments of consumers and the public (within one week)
• Empathise with consumers, and appreciate their situation and motivations. It is curious to know that consumers approach social media platforms with customer service issues often as a last resort — not the first.
When they finally do, it is usually the result of frustration with traditional customer service channels, and they want to make their voices heard by galvanising public support to coerce the organisation into action.
• Respond by channelling all crisis-related communications to a single crisis communications destination. Responses should be on the same platforms that the crisis occurred.
For example, a crisis occurring on YouTube should not be responded to in a press release distributed only to the printed press. All responses must be conducted in a humble, transparent and professional manner.
Phase 3: Post-crisis
All too often, marketers and brand owners tend to let their guard down when the situation calms down.
The resources spent managing a crisis need to be replenished and the supporting infrastructure readied for the next social media crisis. It is complacent to think that a next crisis will not happen anytime soon. A crisis always happens when you least expect it.
Lastly, everyone involved should work out plans to prevent a similar occurrence in future. It is by investing in such vigilance that any social media crisis plan becomes more robust.
The key to managing a social media crisis is to plan for it, prepare for the worst, but wish for the best. Any brand that is able to prepare for the challenges of a social media crisis should also be able to benefit from the opportunities such a platform offers.
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