4460 Blog 3: Social Media Crises

For today’s blog, I’d like to continue the theme begun by posting on ConAgra’s mistake last week. ConAgra didn’t understand its audience or the people it was trying to reach, and since all of those people were bloggers, ConAgra’s blunder soon gained viral status. In this digital age, companies are practically required to have a social media presence, the more prolific the better. It’s important for companies to be able to respond quickly and efficiently when faced with a crisis through social media. But a new study from Altimeter group has discovered that most companies are woefully underprepared for social media crises.

Many companies are still learning to adapt to social media, where reputations can be made or unmade at the click of a mouse. Companies who are good at responding to social media crises are encouraging their employees to continue to blog or tweet about their employer. They are also educating their employees on social media standards and which outlet serves best to get the message across. The report’s lead writer has constructed a pyramid similar to Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs that helps companies prioritize social media usage and crises.

Every company needs to learn to adapt in today’s world, and a quick response is a large part of that. If ConAgra had had a social media crisis team (or had educated their employees in social media crisis response), the problem could have been lessened significantly. As it is, it looks like they don’t care enough to make any mention of the problem, while anger against them flies back and forth at the speed of light. A company cannot possibly expect to keep up if it doesn’t utilize the same tools as the Internet age.

The study surveyed over 144 companies to collect its information. It is both surprising and unsurprising that these companies are so underprepared. Many of them are still learning in this new social media world, but bigger companies should have social media crisis teams ready to go at a moment’s notice. The report also stresses the importance of analytics. A company needs to be able to understand its customers instead of just responding when a crisis occurs. Analytics tools help companies be able to prevent a crisis before it even happens.

ConAgra could have had a much smaller disaster on their hands if they had only known how to handle a social media crisis. Understanding how to respond to a social media crisis can often be the best weapon in a company’s arsenal, and it is sad that it doesn’t get used more. Companies like Zappos and Apple are popular in part because they understand their customers and how their customers think, and they manage to provide excellent customer service both on and offscreen. Many companies should make social media a priority and attempt to adapt to the ever increasing Internet world. Those companies that won’t change will be left behind, and they won’t be remembered fondly.