People are now using social media for lots of things, but more often this channel is being used to express an opinion on a brand or organisation. This involves unmonitored conversations about the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of a company.

In this article I will be focusing on the ‘ugly’ and how important ‘Crisis Management’ is to protect a brand or organisation from negative sentiment.

I will also look at 3 recent cases of when things go wrong and how the brand reacted, whether that being in a positive or negative way.

Social Media Crisis Management

Crisis management sees people discussing, debating, and complaining about your brand online. As with all conversations, online or offline, some will be factually inaccurate and others will be from people whom have had a bad experience with a brand. These are all types of discussions that should be responded to in the correct manner.

Whilst every crisis is undoubtedly different, and there is no simple set of rules about how to use social media in these situations, a number of observations can be made by looking at how people have successfully or badly managed crises in the past few months.

Case Study 1 – Toyota still does not get Social Media

As I am sure you will know, Toyota is undergoing the largest recall in its history. At the same time it is trying to come to grips with its social media crisis management plan, which with all good intentions, initially fell flat.

Toyota has however done some things right, for example a fundamental rule of crisis management is to never to hide from or avoid uncomfortable questions. To its credit after an extended period of dodging questions initially, Toyota is now confronting the issues head on via engines such as Digg.com and Twitter.com.

Still, though, Toyotas overall social outreach has been poor, which is unacceptable, particularly for its customers and shareholders. Its website, for example, is still saying what a great brand it is and only 3% of the website real estate is devoted to the recall.

The brand also failed to build up an online fan base before the crisis struck. A Facebook fan page or an active Twitter presence would have been just some key areas to develop. As many brands have learnt, when a crisis unfolds for a brand, the first people to turn to are its customers, fans, friends, followers, enthusiasts, and it’s even critics. These groups of people don’t magically appear overnight. They have to be built, earned and nurtured over time.

Case Study 2 – Paperchase plagerism allegation goes Twitter mad

Last month, an independent artist called HiddenEloise, claimed that stationary company Paperchase plagiarised one of her drawings. She posted this on popular micro blogging service Twitter.com and within hours it went viral. There was a huge amount of interest in this allegation and people began to re-tweet the story all over the place.

In terms of crisis management, Paperchase did not fare so well. The brand had very little social media presence to begin with and was slow to re-act to the onslaught.

It later came out that it was an agency that provided the drawings, and therefore the blame was directed away from Paperchase. The damage however had already been done via social media.

Case Study 3 – Eurostar breakdown highlights the need for crisis management planning

There was a massive amount of social media activity when the Eurostar trains broke down back in December 2009. This clearly demonstrated the need for travel companies to have a crisis management plan in place.

A total of 5 Eurostar trains broke down just days before Christmas due to freezing weather conditions, leaving hundreds of customers stranded overnight. The incident caused a massive stir on Twitter and Facebook, with some passengers even Tweeting updates from the trains.

The reality is that you cannot control what and how something is said about your brand therefore companies must be ready for a range of events.

Summary

At the end of the day, social media has changed the way we deal with crisis management. The speed at which full-blown crises can erupt through social media is something most companies have never seen before and we must learn from mistakes made by others.

Social media can be a dangerous place for all businesses and brands, so please be careful, or get a professional digital agency to manage your social media presence.