I’ve just come back from a client consultation. Great brand, growing business, terrific press relations. Just one problem: the community they represent mistrusts them. Viscerally so. Is it because they are simply the biggest player in this field? Is it because they are perceived as too “markety?” Or due to the fact that they’ve made mistakes in the past and operate in a world where the margin for error is slim?
It doesn’t matter! The fact is they have a problem and they know it.
We talked about how social media can begin to alleviate this problem. I told them to forget their critics for right now (I used slightly more flowery language to get my point across) and to go direct to the community. Social media allows a brand to do this. This firm has a great service, is staffed by wonderful people, has an honest mission and at the end of the day does good things.
So instead of trying to change the minds of their critics, I advised them to go around them. Don’t disrespect the criticism, don’t pretend its not there. Acknowledge it, and deal with it publicly. Open up the conversation. Start telling the story of the brand directly to your customers and clients. Use the openness and targeting inherent in social tools like Twitter and Facebook to bypass the critics. Let the people decide. They are the only ones that matter and if you provide great service and great content, then eventually your customers and future customers will share that. They’ll talk about it. They’ll become your own little brand ambassadors.
The critics don’t stand a chance. They’ll eventually have to confront the fact that there is a groundswell of support and that if they continue to carp from the sidelines, it will look like they are out of touch. In point of fact, they will be out of touch.
Social media might be the best tool that businesses have to manage a crisis, whether its a product recall, a bad review, or even just the critique of a few influential community members. It is such a perfect tool because you it allows you, when properly wielded, the ability to do two things:
1. Go directly to your customers (current and potential) with your business and brand and let them be the decision makers. This bypasses the critical voices, neutralizing them and giving the brand time to rebuild and reinvigorate.
2. Brings the criticism into the forefront. If a social media strategy is one properly, it means the brand is finally willing to say we are unafraid of our criticism. Because it WILL show up. For every positive blog post, or tweet, for every testimonial video posted on YouTube, there will be a reaction. But as long as the brand or business is conducting its marketing in the open, for all to see, in an authentic and earnestly engaged way, the critics don’t stand a chance. Social media marketing allows for this. It allows for brands to confront their critics out in the open, instead of in the hushed tones and whisperings that so much of community.
Every crisis is an opportunity. Social media brings this aphorism to a truly spectacular level.
Flickr image courtesy of Daquella manera
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This is my favorite post of yours so far…by far. To me it's like a couple guys at a bar talking trash to each other about who women find more desirable. You can argue all you want, and end up angry and alone, or you can just approach and ask for yourself. If you fail, at least you fail quick and you move on and have more conversations.
Don't mean to derail a great post with another stupid bar analogy, but I think it partially rings true. Your deeper point, however, is that this is all about taking accountability for your story, and wearing it. Be honest with yourself and transparent with your customers and eventually – assuming your product is worthwhile – you win more than you lose.
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