How to Manage a Social Media Crisis explains how you can put a social media crisis management in place for your brand. Using real examples of why major brands got it wrong, this guide will explain just what you need to do to protect your brand's reputation on social media. Download the full whitepaper at www.stickyeyes.com/intelligence

1. v
How to manage
a social media
crisis.
HeatherHealy
MarketingCommunications Director
Stickyeyes
MichaelHewitt
ContentMarketingManager
Stickyeyes

2. A social media crisis
can overwhelm your
brand.

3. You need to act
quickly, and restore
normality.

4. Because if you don’t,
it can cost your
brand dearly.

5. of global consumers have
stopped doing business with a
brand due to poor customer
service on social media.
66%
Source:Accenture

6. of consumers expect a
response on social media
in less than two hours.
50%
Source:Hubspot

7. So you need to have
a plan in place...

8. To make sure that you
know what a social
media crisis is...

9. To identify who is
responsible for taking
control of it...

10. To ensure that you
know how to respond
to it...

11. And to prevent one
happening again (or
in the first place).

12. But “crisis” is a strong
word, so how do you
define a social media
crisis?
!*$@
£%*#

13. It will usually meet
three conditions...

14. One: It will be a change
from the norm.

15. Two: There will be a
lack of control.

16. Three: It will have a
material impact on the
business.

17. When you experience a
social media crisis, you
need to go through
four stages...

18. Prevention: Identify the
risks, solve the ones you
can, manage the ones you
can’t.

19. Preparation: Have a plan
in place, ensure people
are aware, spell out the
procedure.

20. Response: Understand
the issue, respond
quickly, be human, don’t
make the problem worse.

21. Recovery: Monitor
reaction, return the brand
to normality, learn the
lessons.

22. So why do so many
brands get it so wrong?

23. 1: They don’t assess
the risk of their
campaign.

24. MasterCard tried to
force journalists to
tweet their promotion,
but the journalists
didn’t play ball. It was
all very embarrassing.
#PricelessSurprises

25. 2: They turn up when
they’re not welcome.

26. DHL tried to send
well-wishes to Jules
Bianchi, but
soliciting likes and
shares is not the
way to do it.
#ForzaJules

27. 3: They don’t always
understand the
context of their post.

28. American Apparel
wanted to celebrate
thanksgiving with
fireworks. They
mistakenly used a
photo of the
Challenger disaster.
#BlameditOnTheIntern

29. 4: They don’t
acknowledge and
address the problem.

30. When a lewd image was
posted to US Airways’
Twitter account, they
silenced their account.
Customer tweets went
unanswered for more
than 24 hours. #silence

31. 5: They don’t take
control of the situation

32. HMV was making huge
redundancies in its
marketing team. That
same marketing team
was in charge of the
Twitter account.
#ChangeThePassword

33. 6: They don’t recognise
and embrace their
brand’s flaws 10 10 9

34. When a complaint about
crisp packets was aimed
at Ruffles, they
acknowledged it and
responded brilliantly.
They defused the
complaint and turned it
into a positive. #HotAir

35. 7: They aren’t
human

36. When a negative image
about Greggs appeared
on Google, it wasn’t a
press release and angry
lawyers that saved the
day. It was humour,
honesty and free donuts.
#FixGreggs

37. 8: They don’t respond
quickly enough

38. When an Applebees
waitress was fired, it
caused a Twitter furore.
The brand took too
long to respond, and
even took to replying to
Facebook posts at
3:00am. #NoPlanning

39. 9: They don’t know
when to shut up

40. When McDonalds was
caught up in a meat
sourcing scandal in
China, their response
was swift, effective to
the point. Nothing more
needed to be said.
#Effective

41. So how should you
respond if a social
crisis unfolds?

42. Have your plan, and make
sure that everybody, from
the boardroom to the call
centre, knows what it is.

43. Be aware of the threats to
your brand. Monitor
discussion across the
web, not just your own
channels.

44. Assess the severity of the
problem. Over-reacting
can be just as dangerous
as under-reacting.

45. Be human. Humans can be
humorous, empathetic,
attentive, insightful and above
all, forgiven.
A carefully scripted statement
is rarely any of these things.

46. Download the full guide:
stickyeyes.com/intelligence

47. Want to learn
more about social
media crisis
management?
Download the full whitepaper at
www.stickyeyes.com/intelligence
Our expert digital and social media
consultants can help your brand to
appraise, develop and deploy your
social media crisis management
plan.
We can assess the risks to your
brand, create a crisis management
strategy and develop procedures
to respond effectively and
minimise damage to your brand.
Get in touch at:
hello@stickyeyes.com
+44 (0)113 391 2929
www.stickyeyes.com