Social media affects your business in so many ways. Information spreads at lightning speed to a vast network of people. With this comes an increase in the opportunity for negative content to be spread online with a distinctive lack of control over the material.
The amount of social media PR disasters shows that most of the damage to business occurs not from the actual negative comments but from the mishandling of the negative comments by business.
This is why a risk management plan to handle such situations is so important. Surprisingly a vast majority of businesses don’t have one. A social media policy is important, however, this predominantly covers your employees. What happens with negative comments from third parties?
Here are some steps that business can take on board:
Recognise Increased Speed
Acknowledge that information is spread quickly and to many people. The response time needs to be immediate. Having a plan in place means you are able to respond quickly and efficiently once a crisis hits. If you need to plan how to respond once a crisis hits, it is already too late.
Be Transparent
It is important to be up front about a crisis right from the beginning. Social media audiences are harsh and they ridicule attempts by organisations who use traditional PR language. Stick with the facts and communicate these without hesitation. Remember there will always be individuals who will criticise regardless of what the facts are.
Create a Listening Post
Monitor your social media platforms and the conversation that is occurring. What are people saying in real time? This allows you to identify the emerging issues and recognise potential problems before they become a full scale crisis. Yes, it is time consuming; however, it might save your business a lot of negative publicity.
Working together as a team is also a must. This ensues everyone is on the same page and when a crisis does arise team work is vital to ensure that the situation is handled effectively.
Does your business have a social media risk management plan?
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….
Tags: Negative Comments on Social Media • Social Media Policy • Social Media PR Disasters • Social Media Risk Management Plan • Social Media Risks
Does your Business have a Social Media Risk Management Plan?
Social media affects your business in so many ways. Information spreads at lightning speed to a vast network of people. With this comes an increase in the opportunity for negative content to be spread online with a distinctive lack of control over the material.
The amount of social media PR disasters shows that most of the damage to business occurs not from the actual negative comments but from the mishandling of the negative comments by business.
This is why a risk management plan to handle such situations is so important. Surprisingly a vast majority of businesses don’t have one. A social media policy is important, however, this predominantly covers your employees. What happens with negative comments from third parties?
Here are some steps that business can take on board:
Recognise Increased Speed
Acknowledge that information is spread quickly and to many people. The response time needs to be immediate. Having a plan in place means you are able to respond quickly and efficiently once a crisis hits. If you need to plan how to respond once a crisis hits, it is already too late.
Be Transparent
It is important to be up front about a crisis right from the beginning. Social media audiences are harsh and they ridicule attempts by organisations who use traditional PR language. Stick with the facts and communicate these without hesitation. Remember there will always be individuals who will criticise regardless of what the facts are.
Create a Listening Post
Monitor your social media platforms and the conversation that is occurring. What are people saying in real time? This allows you to identify the emerging issues and recognise potential problems before they become a full scale crisis. Yes, it is time consuming; however, it might save your business a lot of negative publicity.
Working together as a team is also a must. This ensues everyone is on the same page and when a crisis does arise team work is vital to ensure that the situation is handled effectively.
Does your business have a social media risk management plan?
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to ‘tweet’ or ‘repost’ this article or leave your comments….
Tags: Negative Comments on Social Media • Social Media Policy • Social Media PR Disasters • Social Media Risk Management Plan • Social Media Risks