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Social media is a terrific way to connect with your audience but it can also pose problems and expose vulnerabilities with trolls and others wanting to do your business harm. It’s a difficult thing to navigate when someone says something disparaging about your company or a PR nightmare is created. But this article will give you a few ideas on how to regain control and avoid painful problems getting worse.

If you’re old enough, you might remember the corporate PR nightmare involving Subway’s success story, and former poster boy, Jared Fogle. When you affiliate your brand with a common face, you run the risk that Subway did. Unlike a character in a movie, Jared was/is a real person with real problems. His problems became Subway’s problems and it was a very embarrassing time for them.

However, if you’re reading this and are unfamiliar with the story and the ensuing PR nightmare, you should be relieved to know that companies can come back from things like this. If you don’t know about Jared, that’s proof that people do forget and the world moves on.

Even if your businesses doesn’t have the ad budget of Subway, you can still run into issues on social media that require some delicate handling. Assuming the issue you are handling doesn’t involve jail time, here are some suggestions on weathering a social media storm. 

Assess the Seriousness of the Issue and Act Accordingly 

Humor is never the answer in serious social media firestorms, but if it’s a lesser debacle than something illegal, ethical issues, highly emotional topics, or environmental ones, try a little humor to defray the fallout. 

About ten years ago, the American Red Cross’ social media person mistook its Twitter account for a personal one (on Hootsuite, it’s easy to do) and posted about finding beers and “gettngslizzerd.”

Embarrassing, yes. Life ending, no.

The Red Cross deleted the tweet within an hour, forgoing apologies for humor and posted:

We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we confiscated the keys.”

Perfect response to a silly mistake. Obviously, a weightier manner would require a more serious response.

Address Bad Reviews Publicly and Privately 

We’ve all seen bad reviews answered by managers with a chip on their shoulder. It doesn’t paint a good view of the business, even if they’re in the right. If someone gives your business a less than stellar review, apologize publicly for not exceeding their expectations. Then offer to take the conversation offline. This way you are seen publicly as addressing their concerns, and listening, but you’re not throwing mud at one another on a public site.  

Keep in mind the customer is always right and keying it into a social media post, blog post, or email is the same as writing a letter. You’re one copy and paste away from seeing your comment/response in print. Choose your words wisely.    

Respond Quickly 

Generally the larger the company is, the longer it takes to respond because of the sign-offs involved. Social media happens 24/7 at the speed of light. If you don’t address a concern within a few hours, things escalate quickly.  

If you’re looking into it, respond with that. At least the poster (and anyone else interested) knows you are aware of the concern. “Looking into it” provides you a few more hours of time, not days, unless it is a VERY complex issue.  

Stay in contact online, and post updates. While you’re doing so, you may want to stop your auto/scheduled posts. Otherwise, you may make a very important issue seem trivial.   

Do Not Delete 

This is a point of contention among social media strategists, to delete or not to delete. Getting back to the Red Cross example that happened a decade ago, the post was only up for about an hour and then deleted. Ten years later, it took twenty seconds to type a search into Google and find a copy of it, even though it only lived live for an hour.

Deleting is an exercise in futility. It’s already out there. Often deleting only inflames the other side and makes them feel like you don’t want to address the issue. With the Red Cross it was an embarrassing tweet so no one jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon, but if your issue is more serious, deleting can cause accusations of having something to hide. You end up giving the other side something else to talk about. 

When hiding the post is an option (available on some social media platforms), that’s a better choice because the poster will still see it but others won’t.

Whether you delete your own posts or not is a judgement call, but you should have a very good reason (such as criminal charges, cyber bullying, or offensive language) before you delete a comment that has been posted to your page by someone else. Nothing fuels a fire quite the same way as someone who feels like they’re not being heard. Ever watch a child who doesn’t think they have their mom’s attention? If not, it doesn’t usually end with said tot going off quietly to read a book.  

Delete and ignore someone at your own (or your business’) peril. For anyone who needs proof as to why removing a social media comment is a bad idea, ask Smucker’s. 

Take Precautions and Set Expectations 

While you can’t prevent every social media issue, you can avoid some of them. Making sure your employees understand that they represent your business at all times on social media is important because social media creates a record. It’s more lasting than a mere conversation with a friend. A chamber of commerce employee in Florida learned this lesson the hard way when he complained on Twitter about the wait and service at a local (member) restaurant. While he thought nothing of using his personal account to air his grievance, he created an impression and started a “conversation” that reflected poorly on the chamber. Make sure your employees understand that their personal accounts are not personal if they are identified as your employee. Don’t wait for something like this to happen before you have the conversation.

Social media gives everyone a bullhorn and people are more apt to broadcast negative experiences than they are positive ones. As the saying goes, a satisfied customer will tell their friend; an unsatisfied one will tell the world. Do your best to exceed customer expectations and address issues quickly as they appear on social media. Letting them fester makes you look worse than guilty. It makes you look unresponsive, which is akin to not caring.  

A company that doesn’t care is not one most people want to do business with.