In a recent Harvard Business Review article “Reputation Warfare", Leslie Gaines-Ross described various corporate strategies for countering online assaults. Given the often anonymous, easily accessible and rapidly disbursable nature of these attacks, every one of them has the potential to become a crisis, grabbing headlines and spreading instantaneously to millions across Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks.
How well a business manages such events not only prevents against unwarranted damage to its reputation, but also adds value in its own right. A company that handles itself online says much about its ability to execute in this modern age and helps define how a company is perceived.
Having in place an effective digital defense plan is thus crucial. Four essentials when building such a plan are:
1. Beware, the Clock Ticks
Company response times to a media crisis used to be measurable in days—72, 48, or at the very least, 36 hours.
This is no longer the case.
Today’s 24/7 news cycles are only 60 minutes. Companies must now respond immediately to an emerging issue or crisis.
To be nimble requires preparation. A company should be ready at a moment’s notice to issue an online corporate statement, press release, video message, social media mention, e-mail or tweet. They should be set to launch a microsite or dark site that can be activated in the event of a crisis. Failure to be prepared undermines credibility and surrenders the playing field to adversaries.
A company often learns of a problem when a detractor first raises it online. Having the first word has a marked advantage, since any delay in responding allows criticism to spread virally at a geometric rate. The longer such criticism spirals out of control and goes unanswered, the more truthful it appears and the more defensive a response seems. Even inaccurate rumors left unchallenged can be highly problematic.
When erroneous tweets first circulated that a Qantas A380 flight crashed off the coast of Indonesia last fall, the lack of an immediate corrective response from the airline fanned the flames of confusion. Approximately 12 hours later, Qantas officially confirmed that the airline was safe, but not quickly enough to avoid its reputation being bruised.
This is not to say that in the rush to comment, a company should sacrifice accuracy or the facts. Truth and accuracy remain paramount. But it does mean that a company must be able to determine truth and accuracy at a much faster rate than was required in the past.
2. Monitor Carefully: Nothing Is Too Small to Ignore
There was a time when a single antagonist or disgruntled employee was an annoyance that was easily ignored unless he or she drew the attention of traditional media. Now, that individual armed with no more than a computer or cellphone can play havoc with a corporate reputation, whether intended or not.
Last year a volunteer at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore innocently posted a photo of his meal on Facebook. The picture of a skimpy meal created such a furor that an online petition demanding an apology from the Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports was launched and an I HATE YOG Facebook page erected.
Had a digital defense plan been in place to monitor early warning signs online, such an uproar may have been nipped in the bud. A response could have been put in place if the negative reaction had been observed at its earliest stages. YOG could have set up automatic online alerts or issued social media guidelines for all athletes and “other accredited persons” as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently did for the London 2012 Games.
Nowadays, the most inconspicuous event must be taken seriously and evaluated for negative consequences.
3. Plug the Leaks
The world of social media is not easy to police. Information is readily available and disseminating it is just as easy and there is the possibility that a site will be hacked.
Companies need to inform their employees on the principles of digital security. Social-media guidelines and policies need to be established that convey how long to keep documents, what is permissible to share online and how to safeguard information.
The leaking of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s internal memo referring to a “burning platform” circled by a “blazing fire” of competitors is yet another example of how many companies today are little more than informational sieves.
Violations of corporate confidentially need not even be intentional. In a Weber Shandwick survey, 87% of global executives admitted to having erroneously sent or received at least one private email, text or tweet. Companies are often one keystroke away from disaster. The time to engage in digital security is now.
4. Don’t Always Turn the Other Cheek
Increasingly, leading companies are displaying corporate moxie by using many of the same social-media tactics as their opponents. Depending on a brand’s personality, and only if done truthfully and ethically, fighting fire with fire with social media can be a very promising way to counter negativity.
Consider for example Taco Bell‘s response when the quality of its beef was challenged in a lawsuit that was ultimately withdrawn voluntarily by the plaintiff’s attorneys. In what is now a textbook digital response strategy, Taco Bell, a Yum! Brands company, promptly posted a YouTube video—“Of Course We Use Real Beef”—featuring its president Greg Creed extolling the high beef content of its seasoned mixture.
The video, which has had over 247,000 views appeared on the company website, Facebook and other social-networking sites. Taco Bell also initiated a search engine visibility campaign to optimize search results, sponsored online ads and bought select key words related to its product.
Remembering these simple rules of thumb can go a long way to determining your online reputation, and in turn, your success. Get in touch with us here at NetGains and we will be more than happy to help you develop strategies to hep you get the most of of your online resources.
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