SOCIAL MEDIA THE DARK SIDE - Part 3
Posted by Elias Vamvakas on Thu, Dec 02, 2010
Eliminating Social Media Threats
Contrary to general opinion, Social Media Threats can be eliminated!
As a minimum they can be mitigated or minimized.
The extent of damage a particular incident will cause, is determined by 3 factors:
1- The comprehensiveness of the company’s prevention measures
2- The level of analysis and expertise available to deal with the incident
3- The company’s ability to act quickly and decisively
BrandProtect has developed a formula for dealing with Social Media issues that will minimize, and in most instances, eliminate Social Media and other reputation threats.
The process begins with the recognition that threats can be eliminated using one of the following 4 Action Strategies
1- Turn the threat into an Opportunity
2- Respond to minimize or neutralize the impact
3- Remove the threat
4- Bury the threat
We have developed the I5 process as a systematic tool to help make quick decisions. The entire Emergency Response Team, including external advisors, lead by the “CRO” (Chief Reputation Officer), should go through the I5 process as soon as a major threat has been identified.
The process requires the Team answering the following 5 questions in detail:
- What are the facts associated with the situation?
- What internal issues/factors are controllable by us?
- What external issues/factors are not controllable by us?
- Identify risk scenarios. What is the worst thing that could happen to us? What is the best thing that could happen to us?
- Choosing an “Action Strategy” from above. Identify actions that are needed to mitigate or stop the worst thing that could happen, and formulate a plan to try to achieve the best thing that could happen.
Examples of how “Action Strategies” have been used successfully to eliminate or mitigate Social Media Threats.
1. Turning a threat into an Opportunity:
Domino’s Pizza was severely criticized for the poor taste of their pizza and the fact that their crust tasted like cardboard. Rather than trying to fight the negative media, they chose to embrace it and use the negative comments as a rallying point to rejuvenate their brand and their company. They launched a very successful social media campaign that literally changed the company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH5R56jILag
2. Respond to minimize or neutralize the threat:
Getting your side of the story out is a natural response to online threats: assuming you have something to say. This is a very good strategy. Making sure that the response is appropriate, respectful and honest is key. A critical element to neutralizing a threat is making sure that the response has had the same amount of traction as the actual threat. You need to know all the sites that the initial threat was posted on, and make sure that the response is easily found and available in all of the corresponding social media sites.
3. Remove the threat:
This is the most common approach employed for comments, blogs and websites that are inaccurate, offensive, or use a company’s brand and intellectual property inappropriately.
This can be done by legal means or by asking the person who posted the offensive material to remove it. All legitimate social media sites have a dispute resolution process that is appropriate and fair for inappropriate content.
We have found that in most cases (80%+), a simple letter properly drafted and sent to the right person is all that is needed to remove offensive material.
Only inappropriate threats will be removed in this way. Opinions that are founded on fact will not be easily deterred. Mitch Joel was recently quoted saying, “You can’t stop people from telling other people that your product sucks, if it does. Make your product not suck first!”
4. If you can’t eliminate it, than bury it:
No one reads page 17 of a Google search. There are multiple strategies that can be employed to move offending data to the back of the bus.
By leveraging organic and paid for search engine optimization techniques, you can ensure that the message you want to be heard cuts through.
Through understanding Social Media, its potential risks and your options in responding to these, organizations can indeed prepare, prevent and even eliminate their potentially devastating effects!
Missed Part 1 or 2 of this blog? ->
“Social Media The Dark Side - Part 1″
"Social Media The Dark Side - Part 2"