Social media has developed a strong influence on customers as well as on search engines. That may be a bit scary to many business owners who aren’t confident in their social networking abilities. However, social media can become a strong ally during a PR crisis. Here are four steps you can take in your social networks to mitigate the damage and improve your business’ brand and image for the public.
Step 1 – Give Your Side of the Story
Use social media to tell your side of the story in an unflattering situation. However, don’t use it to give an angry reply or bad comment about the attacker. Instead, stand back from the situation and decide what you want the public to know. Then write an article or blog post with your message and share it through your networks. You won’t be limited on what you can say or what others will read like with traditional media methods.
Step 2 – Be Aware
Know when you have issues before they become full crises. For instance, monitoring your company’s name online will alert you to a complaint from a customer as soon as it is placed on the internet. If they post about it on Facebook or send a tweet complaining about your customer service or one of your products, you can take action to resolve the issue immediately.
Step 3 – Respond Where the Communication is Happening
If people are talking about your product or company on a forum, join in and answer your critics. If they are posting on Facebook or Twitter, respond on the same networks. It’s not as effective to make your comments somewhere other than where your critics are talking. Otherwise, you miss many of those who are hearing the negative information. The one exception is by creating an article or blog post on your own site or offering to guest post on another popular site where your customers visit. But you should still make sure you link it to the other places where your company’s name is being mentioned.
Step 4 – Admit Mistakes
You can’t hide behind the anonymity of the internet anymore. If you have made a mistake or wronged someone, you would do better to admit it to your critics. Being transparent will do more to win people over to you than just sitting back and not responding. Thanks to social media, everything is brought out into the open.
You must also realize that just admitting a mistake is not enough if you can do something to rectify it. Making an apology even if it is public will garner little favor with people if you don’t rectify the situation as much as possible. It will be obvious to them that you are only trying to protect your reputation and that your customers are not your primary concern. However, if you work hard to make things right, not only will you be likely to win back the disgruntled customer, but you may win more fans through the situation.
Social media can help you rectify a bad situation and repair your reputation if you know how to use it. Don’t be afraid of social networks the next time you face a PR crisis; use them to your advantage.
Spencer Frandsen is a digital marketing professional writing on behalf of CCG, a Los Angeles digital agency
