The document discusses how social media can attack brands and provides lessons on managing social media crises. It notes that brands must have a clear social media strategy and crisis plan before engaging with social media. When a crisis occurs, brands should classify criticisms, address genuine concerns positively, and ignore brand haters. Moderators must represent the brand well and stay positive, rather than insulting customers. Overall, the key is having an experienced social media team and strategy to deal with issues before they arise on social media.

1. What to do when
social media
attacks your brand
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2. One of a company’s most valuable
assets is its brand equity – that
emotional connection that people
have with an organization’s
product/service that makes you
want to continually respond to
overtures from them...

3. While some businesses are not
oblivious of the obvious influence
varied social media platforms are
having on the growth or decline of their
brands, it not unusual to see blogs,
topics of forums, social networking
sites and other forms of social media
firing an attack on a
brand/product/service.

4. However, with the rapid influence
of internet communities and the
explosion of social media in
particular, more challenges are
being thrown at reputation
managers and businesses alike

5. Consider the case of
British Petroleum (B.P.)
It took me a long time to get
the British Petroleum logo –
but thanks to Wikipedia

6. What happened?
BP, British Petroleum is one of the
major oil companies in the world
and are presently known only for
their Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

7. Greenpeace orchestrated an
online attack when in frustration, it
challenged the public (alongside
www.logomyway.com) to design a
new BP logo to suit their “dirty
business.” The competition
garnered over 2,000 entries with
damaging designs – the effects
can never be wiped
off the web.

10. While that may be extreme, the
simple case of mis-managing
your Facebook page after
creation can also aggregate
brand haters to your brand.
Most big brands have followed the
fad of social media without
covering their backs or
considering the pitfalls of joining
the online brand conversation.

11. Consider the case of Nestle when
people began to complain on its
Facebook page that the company
needed to stop the use of non-
renewable palm oil in their production.
The problem started when the
moderator became simply intolerant
of inciting comments.

14. While it was within the purview of
the Nestlé moderator to monitor and
moderate comments, it should have
been in the back of the moderator’s
mind to remember he represents the
brand image of the company and not
to begin to insult its customers and
fans.
But it is really difficult when people
started commenting and posting
with altered version of Nestlé's logo

15. This underscores the point that even
big corporations, Nestlé in this case,
have absolutely no idea what to do
when a crisis flares up on their
Facebook page or any other social
media platform. This isn't about legal
rights.
It's about strategy, which clearly Nestlé
did not have.

16. What lessons
can we learn
here:

17. Before you jump into social
Media
When opening your brand to
social media, you relinquish
ownership of the brand, so
before the case ever comes up
you need to be sure if your
agency has a community
management expertise to avert
or mitigate a social media
crisis? Have a set of best
practices been established?
Think again.

18. 1. Have a clear
social media
strategy

19. Going online has gone far
beyond the era of just
developing a beautiful
website.

20. The evolving demand for online
media marketing and social media
engagement requires clear
policies, guidelines and
experienced staff that will involve
employees in every aspect of your
business operations – Human
Resource, Customer Service,
Branding and Marketing.

21. It also involves profiling your
target audience before pouring
resources into Facebook.
Several PR tools will be useful in
this regard. Don’t be busy
spending money on ads if your
audience is busy in traffic or
with their phones.

22. Be prepared

23. Dealing with social media attacks
also requires a robust crisis plan.
Brand haters exist but unlike the
past, a coordinated attack can easily
be organized against a brand.
But with no plan laid out, how could
the moderator know how to handle
such a delicate and heated
situation?

24. Consider the Boycott British Airways
campaign organized by the Nigerian
Village Square and Respect Nigeria
Coalition when officials of the UK
Police forcefully ejected Ayodeji
Omotade and about 136 other
Nigerians from a Lagos bound flight
from the UK.
Thousands of online signatures were
collated which later saw British
Airways apologizing for its
misbehavior.

25. Classify mud-slings
and don’t fight dirty

26. Ok the deed is done and you have a
crisis in your hands, what do you do?
The next step is not to have a hurried
response to your online audience.
The next step is to determine the type
of response necessary.

27. œ Inaccurate accusations about
your product and services
œ Genuine but misplaced
concerns
Reply with
thanks!

28. œ Some are just plain brand haters,
if you reply, you may draw more
attention to the comment
œ Some are really bitter and have
first hand experiences ( address
them personal and carry the on
resolutions privately)
Just ignore and
hold your peace

29. Here are some common suggestions
you should have at the back of your
mind if you are a moderator of a social
media portal ( forum, page, anything)

30. œ Get personal
œ Don’t ever insult your fans
œ If you MUST delete posts. You need
to be smart and fast about it
œ Don’t respond until you have
something positive to say
œ There are some comments you just
need to overlook

31. œ If you feel like fighting back, do
nothing
œ It doesn’t matter the kind of
crisis, one rule is critical - stay
positive.
œ Being bitter and negative about
comments is the easiest way to
expose your brand to bashing
œ When people make useful
suggestions, thank them even
if you don’t agree

32. Finally, in going social, always
remember a Facebook page
isn’t a Social Media Strategy.

33. every move counts