Social media can cause reputation problems – however by having a range of procedures in place you can prevent such an issue from occurring. Read on to learn more.
How to Prevent and Deal with A Social Media Crisis
To ensure that your staff are on the same page when dealing with social media, set clear guidelines, rules and actions. Having a social media policy is very important as it can help you reduce the risk of an employee endangering your reputation. Here are tips from Igniyte to help you prevent a reputation crisis caused by social media:
Set Out Clear Guidelines
These guidelines should say how employees should interact with any connection they have made through work and how they should talk about your company. However, while doing this, remember that the accounts of your employees are and will always be personal. Avoid bombarding your employees with rigorous rules. Tell your employees to comply with the guidelines whenever they use social media. Doing so will help you protect your company’s online reputation.
Circulate and Monitor the Rules
The guidelines you set out will only be useful if they are adhered to. As such, it is good to make sure that all your employees know the rules and any changes. You can do this by circulating the rules on a regular basis. Circulating the rules will encourage employees to escalate the online activity of an employee whose online activity has contravened the rules. It is also a good idea for your company to have resources to monitor your employee’s online activity.
This will help you prevent the standards from slipping. However, avoid overdoing this. You should also not worry about small issues. Google alerts can help you know what people online are saying about your company. So, consider setting up Google alerts to help you. You can also have a list of all your employees on social media to help you monitor the online activity of your employees on a regular basis.
Respond Appropriately in A Timely Manner
If you realize that there is something that could endanger your reputation, respond to it appropriately in the shortest time possible. Responding appropriately on time has helped many organizations solve the problem and even helped turn a negative situation into a positive one. For instance, DKNY responded to criticism on Facebook by donating money to a charity. Another brand, O2 was able to defuse a situation on Twitter by responding positively.