Over the past year we have seen the dark underbelly of online social opportunity, as corporations like Go Daddy and Nestle have had to fight for their lives with full blown crisis in the social arena. Thankfully, these situations are still extreme examples, but they reinforce the importance of a well thought out intervention process and response plan. After all, all it takes is one comment from a community member to turn the conversation.
If you organization does not have a well thought out plan, you should advocate for one. So what are some of the things to think about, when it comes to a response plan?
Be proactive: Don’t wait for a situation to occur before you think about your response strategy.
Wrap that Achilles heel! Make sure you know your own vulnerability. Identify some of the issues or events that could generate negative posts and write responses that illustrate how you intend to address these situations if they arise. Share your ideas, and get input or approval within the organization as needed, so you will have these approved, prewritten responses available and ready to go.
Establish Criteria for Intervention: Many times, the best response is no response at all! When a community self-polices itself, it is truly a beautiful thing! Sometimes one comment from a community member in your defense can quelch the uprising and restore peace to the village. But if that doesn’t happen, know your hot points that will indicate when it is time to post a response or a re-establishing positioning statement.
Develop a Contact List: Weekends often seem to be prime time for social media issues. Make sure you have identified who you need to contact in your organization, if you require extra support or guidance, and how to best reach them during off hours.
Avoid hand-to-hand combat: Keep in mind that heated discussion means that people are passionate. Passion means that they care and are invested - isn’t that usually the goal? Make sure to keep your emotions in check, and do not fall into debating points with individual community members. As the voice of the community, or the face of your organization it is important to rise above the static and your position as diplomatically as possible.
Know when to call in reinforcement: If a negative conversation is starting to snowball, ask yourself if you need to alert senior management or get your organizations Corporate Communications team involved.
Keep Your Ears Open: Of course, listening is one of the most important things that you can do. Monitoring for emerging community sentiments, as well as keeping your finger on the pulse of your issues and industry. What are other people saying about you?
Do you feel that your organization has equipped you with a clear, well thought out response plan? Got any other suggestions or experiences to share?
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