Brand Crisis Management

Crisis management of a brand in a social media context means dealing with a 'brand perception crisis. ' Events that negatively affect a brand's reputation can happen at any time and can spread like wildfire across social media platforms. Sometimes, it's hard to predict what might go viral; a brand might try to head off a situation by posting something socially conscious but could end up getting 100x the amount of social media (SM) engagement that would have resulted had the brand merely kept quiet—hopefully with some sort of employee- or consumer-facing goodie that calms any sort of institutional unrest.

Actually managing a brand's perception in times of crisis is difficult, but there are obvious steps to take to mitigate as much reputational damage as possible. A good starting point is monitoring SM and internet forums for any mentions of the brand. If they're going up significantly, there's a good chance something negative is in the pipeline.

Responsiveness is the name of the game here, since a lot of the SM audience can seem like they're brandishing pitchforks and torches à la Frankenstein's monster. Of course, a brand is always free to make itself look good through advertising, PR, social media influencers, etc. Still, it's hard to convince folks that a brand really cares when people inside or associated with it seem not to give a good goddamn.

Handling a brand perception crisis in a timely manner while ensuring that the message of the brand's caring and concern pierces through layers of dazed social media users is truly an art and a practice.