All brands from all over the world are subject of mishaps. Almost all of us use social media to communicate with friends, family, and companies. It’s part of our life now – brands and companies are close at hand. One simple click may do so many good things, as well as bad

The problem for many brands is now how fast social media turn small problems into a real crisis. The good news is that social media listing is an excellent solution for social media managers. It can help like nothing else.

How can using social media listening and analysis help you overcome the crisis? Or keep your brand far away from awkward situations?

WHAT DOES CRISIS MEAN FOR YOUR BRAND?

It can be anything that shows your brand it negatively in public. But a social media crisis isn’t strictly mass poisoning or an explosion in a factory or cutting off electricity for 24 hours hotel.

I would rather say that it’s usually

– an unsatisfied client

– an unhappy former employee

– an interface bug

– a mistake

– out of stock during a Christmas promotion

– impolite behavior

etc.

You should define what can bring real problems, and what is just an issue easy to resolve. Think about potential situations and group them.

Make a plan using four stages of a crisis:

SPARK – FIRE -SPREAD – SOOT

And remember! Crises can happen to absolutely everyone.

What to do then? Crisis Management best practices are 5A:

1/ Confess

People buy or use services from you since they trust that it will be good, something they desire or just what you promised it to be. But if you do something wrong – Just confess it. There is no one and no brand that makes any mistakes. And nobody expects you always to be be right, unmistaken or perfect. It’s more than sure that your clients will forgive you. People care as much as you care about them. The same simple rule applies to customers.

Do not lie or say somebody else is at fault!  Do not stay mute. Because your reputation might get hurt on it.

2/ Contrition

It’s hard when you know that it wasn’t your fault. That someone else made a mistake obviously not you. But what people see is just label of your brand. Not personal situations.

At the end of the day, most of your clients will be glad that you apologize.

Use social media listening to say sorry to every single person who was a victim of the situation.

3/ Counteract

Did you know, that probably around 75% of social media crises can be avoided?

One needs proper preparations: controlling the communication (online listening), a strategy (Q&A), supportive client service (SentiOne React) and (what’s really important) consequences.

Of course, it’s easier to prepare good communication, when you have lots of time. Without pressure. The more you have done before a potential crisis (I mean plan), the faster you going to implement it when a crisis is ongoing.

4/ Correct

It’s more than obvious that if you do wrong, you should fix it, I mean repair the mistake. There is no point in confessing and saying you’re sorry if you’re not planning to correct it.

5/ Compensate

Well, precisely it doesn’t mean that the gift has to be material or expensive. Letter or gift never hurt anybody. You may also give back the compensation for those who really need it – make some charity gift. It’s good to check first what your audience talks about. You can do it by using SentiOne…and do your best after that.

But you cannot afford to ignore social media crisis!

The worst thing a brand can do is ignore the crisis. Tools like ours give an opportunity to be always informed about negative mentions via email or push note on your phone. Set up real-time alerts – Keep your finger on the pulse! You will know first about all issues online. This is why you should regularly use a social media listening tool – it is so important for your company, especially when you launch new products or service.

Well at the end of the day, social media listening is cheaper than managing storms.