BRAND CRISIS MANAGEMENT ONLINE FOR BUSINESS
With more communications channels and speeds quicker than ever, a crisis can be online for your company as soon as it has occurred. This now means that PR agencies, media advisors and online reputation management companies need to be constantly vigilant about what the news and media are saying as well as across all other social media platforms to monitor comments, reviews and online chatter. This can be a full time job, but there is software out there that will alert you when your company or business has been mentioned – staying on top of this is great way to manage your brand online, and reolve any negative comments early.
BRAND CRISIS IS INSTANT
It is amazing to think that by one simple mindless tweet, blog, article, review or comment, a brands image can be tarnished within minutes.
Obviously, people are now aware that they should not believe everything they read online, but it does actually plant a seed of doubt in the consumers mind about the brand, product or service.
Saying this, if the online brand manager is monitoring all comments they can be there to counter act most, if not all content that is counter productive to the brand. This is a 24 hour, 7 days a week job and companies,in the digital age must be prepared to add this as part of their marketing budgets.
For companies that are doing the right thing and are providing a great product with exceptional service then they really have nothing to fear. But for businesses and companies that are offering less than average service with faulty or damaged goods, then this is the time that they need to take a long hard look at the internet and see how quickly the word can get out about them.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A BRAND CRISIS ONLINE.
Dont' Panic. You must take immediate action and do what ever is necessary to negate the bad online publicity.
If you are unsure where to go, then try giving us a call here at Hopping Mad Designs. We can negate any bad online press you have had and drive it well away from the publics eye.
HOPPING MAD DESIGNS CAN HELP WITH YOUR BRAND MANAGEMENT ONLINE
We can help with managing any bad press your receive online and we do it for many brands and businesses throughout Sydney & Australia. A point to note here that reaction time should be anywhere from between 12-24 hours. Longer than that and the damage can compound. One needs to contain this and do it fast.
CALL US NOW ON 02 9360 8514
Be open, honest and transparent. If you have done nothing wrong, then the online world will forgive you, ( perhaps you may even make some positive mileage out of this), and there is nothing to really worry about.
Users will know that the content has been generated by a competitor or malicious ex employee etc. But, if what has been said is in fact true, in some cases it might be a good idea to admit the wrong doing, apologise, show the steps you are taking to rectify the situation, and move on.
If you are passionate and sincere in your response then you will be forgiven. Look at the airline industry for example. Anything goes wrong they are there online, answering the publics questions and trying to negate any bad PR that has been written about them. You can even see this with major hotel chains, who are quick to answer their critics and explain any stuff ups, bad meals or bad service. It is in their interest to be proactive to protect their brand online in any crisis.
Build engagement fast with your clients and the public
If and when the crisis does hit, it will be less of a headache if you have systems and protocols in place for engaging with your customers. If you do not, and you are reading this blog, then you should start very quickly by registering a Facebook page, Twitter and Google + account. You clients will be on these pages and you can interact with them quickly.
A great place to also talk about your brands crisis is your blog page. Users can be redirected here from anywhere online and it is on this blog that you really address all of these issues that are circulation about your brand.
Also, think of social media as your friend. never be afraid of it and try to embrace this new medium as a powerful communication mouth piece. One thing to take note of here and that is you do not want to be responding to hundreds of complaints on these social media platforms.
Get a professionally written article and place it on your blog and get users to go there for an explaination. On the other hand, if you have been engaging your customers frequently online and are savvy about how to handle these crisis issues then you can put some of those fires out very quickly. If not, then you might want to consider using a social media optimisation company to help you out of this crisis.
Why Hopping Mad Designs to help you out in this brand crisis management?
With over 18 years as a Web, SEO and social media marketing studio we feel that we have the experience and thorough understanding of the very latest search techniques, know how, as well as the most up to date social media tools in our arsenal which will allow you to handle any brand crisis in a calm and effective manner.
We are able to monitor the largest social media sites and track everything that is said about your brand online. Plus if we see that something negative has been said we are able to respond quickly, efficiently with care and respect for your brand. We ensure that this does not happen again, by managing all the current issues and implementing a proactive and well thought out brand reputation management campaign so as to protect your brand from future negative or malicious publicity.
Take out a brand insurance policy and speak with us today here at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514