With the increasing dominance of social media and the growing number of companies experiencing bad publicity because of that dominance, organizations may wish to consider the establishment of a counter-twitterism unit. It can be literal or figurative but the idea is to identify someone or some people to monitor the social media footprint of the organization, establish a level of preparedness should issues arise that require a response, and, most importantly, make the response quickly and appropriately. Just acknowledging that concerns have been heard may be enough to calm the situation.
If smoke becomes embers and embers become flames, why aren’t companies being more conscious about what people are saying and doing on blogs, social networks and twitter and proactively responding to escalating issues? Many organizations seem paralyzed by fear and an inability to determine a plan of action.
Time can be taken to investigate the issue and possible resolutions but tell people that they have been heard and that the matter is under investigation rather than saying nothing at all. Silence will just act like gasoline on the fire and even if the problem is based on a misunderstanding, it won’t matter because perception will become reality while the organization remains silent with its internal investigation underway.
Frankly, there are only three simple steps necessary for companies to incorporate in order to address concerns being raised and escalated:
- Acknowledge the issue so that people know they have been heard
- Tell them what you are going to do
- Do it
As simple as those steps might be, it is amazing how many companies fail to do them.
There have been a number of recent examples where organizations fell victim to online activities that escalated. Domino’s Pizza and the viral YouTube Video by some franchise managers, the system error that caused problems for search results regarding gay and lesbian themed books on Amazon, Tim Horton’s run-in with the Providence Daily Dose Blog coverage of a family oriented event that was anti-gay and the fall out on Encyclopedia Dramatica regarding Nissan Canada’s contest involving their car, the Cube.
To some, these examples may not have warranted the level of escalation that occurred but that’s not the point. The point is that people raised the issues high enough and loud enough to catch the attention of other online and mainstream media channels and responses by companies varied from prompt and understanding to far too late and indifferent.
There are many more examples of situations like these and plenty of opportunity to learn from them. Also, organizations don’t seem to realize what an opportunity this is. They now have the opportunity to insert themselves into conversations that were happening anyway but now, with the arrival of social media, they can participate in and possibly influence the outcome of those conversations.
I am reminded of a quote by Sean Connery’s character in The Untouchables - “What are you prepared to do?” Are you prepared to proactively engaged in two-way conversations with uncertainty about the outcome? If you are then you are ready for social media. If you aren’t then perhaps you need to reflect more on the idea of a counter-twitterism unit. The blog’s in your court.
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