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PLEASE BE AWARE: This is an old article, and while we think there are still nuggets of good advice included here, it may be out of date. Things move very quickly in the world of Digital Marketing, Lead Generation and Conversion Rate Optimisation - so please see our latest news for the most recent advice on how to get more out of your website and online marketing.
Finger’s crossed this will never happen, and for a many years it might not. We all hope for plain sailing on calm seas for our business, but sometimes, lurking around the corner a hooded figure is there watching your work and can at any moment cause a crisis. Although there are systems you’ve put in place, barriers and gates to evade the shadowy being, sometimes crises are beyond your control and bad things happen despite your hard work to prevent them.
Unfortunately there is an obvious need to prepare for the unexpected and predict its arrival at any moment. This said, you can’t know when it’s going to happen so having procedures in place to protect against the attack and to implement when the crisis happens is essential.
More than ever before, the Internet is being used as a vital resource to communicate with audiences. Whether about business developments and positive news to potential crisis communication, it can form defense mechanism to dissuade the arrival of the inevitable vacuous arena of rumour and speculation that occurs when communication is neglected.
Managing your crisis through social media communication is a brave move, but certainly not a new idea, spearheaded by Toyota Cars in 2009 following the revelations of defective gas pedals on their GX 460 Lexus. Despite a relatively ineffective crisis management campaign, Toyota Cars recognised the importance of searchable communication regarding the crisis and hash-tagged their name (#Toyota) so that when searching on Google their attempts to address issues were shown in results.
Twitter:
Your 140 characters can be used to great effect when coping with a crisis, and what you say in your posts is searchable with Google. Those seeking information on search engines will be greeted with feeds from Twitter discussing developments of your crisis demonstrating what you are doing as a business to address issues. Anyone, customers, consumers, potential customers and competitors can follow your business Twitter giving you a broad spectrum of audiences with whom to converse your ideas.
Online communication is extremely open which means that it is of vital importance for companies to monitor all the Twitter mentions in order to respond to crises or negative mentions as quickly as possible. If this is done effectively and quickly, negative comments can lead to a positive opportunity to prove to new customers that you appreciate and care for your clients.
Toyota Cars used Twitter to manage their crisis:
Twitter allows you to address your crisis through short blasts of information maintaining your view point on a crisis, or negative comments and delivering a representation of active customer service.
Youtube:
If you have a confident individual within your team, who is a good conversationalist then YouTube might be a good option for you to consider to address a large audience, following a crisis. Broadcast a public announcement to your consumers, through the video uploading service that is available for all to watch and leave their opinions. This can be a good way to show a personal side to your business and deliver the satisfaction that you have addressed any problems and are dealing with them.
This has been a popular method for a number of businesses when coping with a crisis. Toyota again, effectively used Twitter to broadcast an announcement from the General Manager, who ensured the quality of vehicles when the recall due to product stability occurred.
Remember that when using YouTube for a crisis management announcement, that you can set your options to moderate comments so that users can add their opinions to your videos make them available for public viewing.
Although sometimes thought to be more of a socializing arena, you can’t forget to involve your Facebook Page within your customer support and crisis management plan. You are given the option to allow fans to comment on your page, and these views can be shared and seen by fans of your page and the public in general.
If your business is lucky enough to have lots of fans on Facebook, it is likely that your feed will be fast moving with lots of comments from all your followers meaning that there is no need to comment on every complaint and crisis that is stated. Take heed of what is being said, and create status’s that answer a number of questions at once. Another way is to employ a number of people in your social networking department who can answer all queries in depth but through private outlets, such as personal emails or phone calls.
When negative comments occur, don’t get your back up with people who are expressing their opinions or experiences. Give yourself time to find out if there is any truth to what is being said, and if true, show that you are working to solve their issues.
This is an example of what to do in such a potentially damaging situation from Codero:
The main points you should take from this post and to stop the shadowy lurker of crisis from attacking, is that social media is an essential tool and should be used to its full potential. As it is public, your fans and followers should have the right to make their negative opinions known. This then gives you an outlet to show that you listen to your clients and address any crisis that occurs.
Follow your customers directly so that you can contact them personally on Twitter. Where Facebook fan pages are concerned you are allowed to share a personal profile that the customer can send a message too. Be open and consistent with your message when communicating with your audience, whether in the middle of a crisis or not as this creates trust and strengthens your brand.
The more honest and visible you are to your audience, the easier your crisis will be to solve!
