The document discusses triggers of corporate crises. It finds that 54% of crises are triggered by organizations' customers due to negative customer experiences. 33% of crises are triggered by the organizations themselves through official marketing or employees' behavior. The remaining 13% are triggered by opposing stakeholders like NGOs. Common causes of crises include negative customer feedback, ethical/legal violations, and security breaches. The document provides tips for managing social media crises by acknowledging issues, establishing an information hub, offering spaces for customer reaction, documenting responses, and maintaining an authentic brand voice.

4. 54% of crises are triggered
by
THE ORGANIZATION’S
CUSTOMERS
• The clear majority of
crises stems from the
organization’s
customers. As the most
important stakeholder,
they account for over
half of the crises.
33% of crises triggered
by
THE ORGANIZATION
ITSELF
•A large amount of crises
turn out to be triggered by
organizations themselves.
This is counting official
marketing initiatives, as well
as individual employee
behavior, which reflects back
on the employer brand.
13% of crises are triggered
by
OPPOSING
STAKEHOLDERS
•Opposing stakeholders
account for 13% of corporate
crises. Such situations are
often caused deliberately
and initiated by NGOs.

5. 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Negative customer experiences
Violations of ethical guidelines
Inappropriate content
Rogue employees
Failure to respond quickly
Violation of legal guidelines
Security breach
Inappropriate response
Community censopship
Lack of fact checking
29%
25%
11%
11%
7%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
This means
that one
out of four
crises is
caused by
poor
customer
feedback.

7. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
2-Dec 3-Dec 4-Dec 5-Dec 6-Dec 7-Dec
50% 51%
56%
52%
40%
32%32% 31%
27% 28%
25% 26%
18% 18% 17%
20%
35%
42%
Brand X - Sentiment Analysis (2 Dec’12 – 7 Dec'12)
Positive
Neutral
Negative

8. A typical cycle:
Phase 0: Negative Customer Experience
Phase 1: Customer Vents online
Phase 2: Poor or no brand response
Phase 3: Customer + Friends attack brand

9. Set your
threshold
for “crisis
mode” & set
guidelines
Acknowledge
the situation
Establish an
information hub
Offer a safe space
for reaction
Document your
response
Be Authentic

10. Set your threshold for “crisis mode”
& set guidelines:
•Have pre-set guidelines on whether to first respond to a
user/users or to broadcast a public message. Depending on the
situation at hand each have advantages/disadvantages.
•Guidelines for tone & articulation should also be documented
within your crisis communication plan.
•It is also vital to elect a “spokesperson”, it is also preferable to
nominate different spokespersons for different issues –
dependent on the size of your organization

11. Acknowledge the situation:
•Given the instantaneous nature of social media, organizations
sometimes don’t have the luxury of collecting all the desired
information before issuing an initial response.
•Best practice dictates that its best not to immediately admit
fault, since that could provoke legal action, but to at least publicly
recognize that company experts are gathering information.
•Ensure that preliminary responses are ready based on different
scenarios, platforms, product/ service and language.

12. Managing a social media crisis
OPTIONAL / IF POSSIBLE
•ACTIVATE YOUR BRAND ADVOCATES

13. Managing a social media crisis
Establish an information hub:
•Use your official company blog or website to post "crisis FAQ“
•The hub serves two purposes; Publishing everything you know
about a crisis helps customers and members of the press quickly
gather details about the situation. However, the hub serves the
more important goal of defusing social media conversations.
•When you've disclosed what you know, there's less reason for
people to ask questions about the issue on Facebook or Twitter.

14. Managing a social media crisis
Offer a safe space for reaction:
•The people affected by your crisis, customers, community
members, or even employees, may still want to vent their
frustrations - TRY TO MOVE IT OFFLINE.
•Opening up a bulletin board or comments section on your site
lets people fulfill those desires without calling more attention to
your issue on their primary social media streams.

15. Managing a social media crisis
Document your response:
•If your company actually caused the crisis in question, your
customers may demand more than just a blanket assurance that
you'll do better next time. Showcase how you'll change your
business to prevent future problems.
- For example, Domino's implemented a "pizza tracker" system
after employees depicted improper food handling techniques
online. Now, customers know exactly which employees touched
their food, and when.

16. Managing a social media crisis
Be Authentic:
•When a crisis isn't your fault, use a consistent brand voice to
ensure that your response doesn't appear defensive.
- For example, The social media team at Citi defused social media
issues by posting full videos of incidents that were edited for
dramatic impact. Let the facts speak for themselves, while
assuring your customers that you remain committed to your
brand's ideals.

17. CASE STUDIES

18. Carrefour
Carrefour Saudi is known to be one of the preferred hypermarkets there, it has a good market share, enjoys
a reputation for high quality & low prices.
1. On the 6th of Ramadan/August, while a Saudi family was shopping from the vegetables section in Carrefour,
the man found some rotten “cucumbers” packaged under Carrefour’s brand, and FLIPPED!
2. A Carrefour employee came and aggressively took the
package from his hand while screaming at him, then the
situation escalated and the man lost his temper asking
for the package back.
3. A shopper captured all of this on his mobile camera and
uploaded the same on Youtube. The video clip had
approximately 350,000 views in 3 days!!
4. The video has a total of 462, 433 views till date.
5. User reactions on social media: a boycott Carrefour
page was created within hours. Regional influencers
tweeted links to the YouTube video.

19. Company’s strategy: a press release across all
popular mediums claiming that these incidents
were tailored by individuals who were trying to
damage reputation of the Brand.
Carrefour

20. THANK YOU
www.social-eyez.com
elnemr@social-eyez.com