As proved in my previous blog post: the use of social media
can be highly beneficial for the company’s revenue. However, using social media
can also introduce many threats and risks to a company i.e. through brand-damaging
customer comments on the company website or through other social channels.
The customers are, however, not the only potential threat
against the company. Both internal and external stakeholders also possess the
power of creating negative publicity or even legal risks against the company
- Confidential information can by mistake or intentionally be published
- Infringement of the company trade mark, if a company has not insured its company name on all social media websites
- Statements made on the company social media websites could potentially damage the reputation of the company
- Malware attack – specifically through social media
Having a social media policy has, hence, become inevitable
in many modern companies whether the company itself decides to engage in social
media or not. The purpose of the social media policy is to inform and instruct its
employees in what is acceptable social media behaviour, both in and out of the
office, according to the specific organization.
A McD story
Even though an organization has spent much time and effort developing
a social media policy there is, however, still no guarantee that an apparently innocent
post on a social media website, trying to reinforce the company brand, will not
backfire and create severe damage to the company reputation. This is exactly
what happened for the fast food restaurant giant McDonald’s.
So last week we learnt how McDonald’s awesome social media campaign
resulted in a huge increase in revenue. This week is opposite dedicated to
highlighting how McDonald’s also suddenly experienced the dark side of engaging
in social media. The video below describes how McDonald’s tried to use Twitter
to promote a sincere and positive reputation of the company by focusing on the pride
of the hard working staff through their everyday stories. In order to do so
McDonald’s introduced the hashtag “#McDStories”.
From the video clip it is obvious how McDonald’s attempt to
create a positive wipe by using a specific hashtag backfired and turned in to
what in Twitter language is called a “Bashtag”.
How can the companies deal with the risks?
Even with a sound social media policy and with the best
marketing staff McDonalds would not have been able to predict that the followers
at twitter would react the way they did - turning the good intensions into a public
mocking campaign.
The big question now is: How should the company react when
the damage has already been done? One true answer to this question is not
easily found. Some ideas has however, started to emerge in order to support the companies in mitigating the potential threats through social media.
To sum up companies should:
- Be very careful how you select a post or a hashtag and avoid sensitive topics.
- Be prepared (have the resources) to answer criticism openly
- Have a backup plan if your post or tweed turns in to a negative campaign against your organization
As every organisation, and thereby its engage on the social
media scene, is unique a clear set of guidelines or roadmap do not exist. The organisations can, however, only prepare themselves
for potential adversity from both internal and external sources. This being
said, I still believe that with some “common sense” the benefits of engaging in
social media strongly uphold the risks. Hopefully the success stories will
continue to exceed the social media horror stories ultimatly inviting more
companies to join the game.
