KEEP CALM AND DEAL WITH
IT A GUIDE TO HANDLING NEGATIVE COMMENTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA SIMON KEMP • WE ARE SOCIAL • SES SINGAPORE • DECEMBER 2013 We Are Social @eskimon • 1

SIMON KEMP @eskimon We Are
Social @eskimon • 2

We Are Social @eskimon •
3

LONDON NEW YORK PARIS MUNICH
MILAN SINGAPORE SÃO PAULO We Are Social SYDNEY @eskimon • 4

We Are Social @eskimon •
5

</SALES PITCH> We Are Social
@eskimon • 6

@$#&! A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
TO HANDLING NEGATIVE COMMENTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA We Are Social @eskimon • 7

CELEBRATING POSITIVE MENTIONS IS ALSO
IMPORTANT, BUT THAT’S ANOTHER TOPIC We Are Social @eskimon • 8

RULE #1: IF YOU’RE GOING
TO BE ON SOCIAL, YOU NEED TO BE SOCIAL We Are Social @eskimon • 9

THAT MEANS YOU’RE GOING TO
NEED TO INTERACT WITH YOUR AUDIENCES We Are Social @eskimon • 10

HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT PLEASE ALL
OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME We Are Social @eskimon • 11

…AND IF IT CAN GO
WRONG, IT PROBABLY WILL GO WRONG We Are Social @eskimon • 12

AVOIDING SOCIAL MEDIA DOES NOT
MEAN YOU AVOID NEGATIVE COMMENTS, THOUGH We Are Social @eskimon • 13

…AND IGNORING NEGATIVE COMMENTS CAN
HAVE A NEGATIVE BUSINESS IMPACT We Are Social @eskimon • 14

89% OF US HAVE STOPPED
DOING BUSINESS WITH A BRAND DUE TO POOR SERVICE We Are Social • Source: Oracle @eskimon • 15

“ 50% OF CONSUMERS EXPECT
A RESPONSE TO A QUESTION WITHIN ONE WEEK, OR THEY STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH THEM ALTOGETHER. We Are Social • Source: Kiss Metrics @eskimon • 16

THIS YEAR, QUESTIONS ASKED ON
BRAND PAGES HAVE INCREASED BY 85% We Are Social • Source: SocialBakers @eskimon • 17

BUT CAREFUL MANAGEMENT OF NEGATIVE
COMMENTS CAN ACTUALLY ADD VALUE We Are Social @eskimon • 18

IT’S 7 TIMES CHEAPER TO
KEEP AN EXISTING CUSTOMER THAN IT IS TO WIN A NEW ONE We Are Social • Source: Bain & Company @eskimon • 19

RESPONDING PAYS DIVIDENDS 71% OF
CONSUMERS WHO DO RECEIVE A RESPONSE GO ON TO RECOMMEND THE BRAND We Are Social • Source: NM Incite VS 19% OF CONSUMERS WHO DO NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE GO ON TO RECOMMEND THE BRAND @eskimon • 20

“ WHEN COMPANIES RESPOND TO
CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUESTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA, THOSE CUSTOMERS SPEND 20% - 40% MORE WITH THE COMPANY. We Are Social • Source: Bain & Company @eskimon • 21

40% OF UNRESOLVED SOCIAL COMPLAINTS
RESULT IN COSTLY CALL CENTRE CALLS We Are Social • Source: ClickFox @eskimon • 22

BEST BUY’S ‘TWELPFORCE’ BENEFITS 20%
$5M DROP IN COMPLAINTS THROUGH BETTER AND FASTER SERVICE IN ADDED VALUE THROUGH IMPROVED BRAND INFLUENCE AND COST SAVINGS We Are Social • Source: Best Buy / Lithium @eskimon • 23

SO HOW CAN YOU MANAGE
NEGATIVE COMMENTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA? We Are Social @eskimon • 24

ONE RULE TO RULE THEM
ALL… We Are Social @eskimon • 25

FAILING TO PREPARE IS PREPARING
TO #FAIL We Are Social @eskimon • 26

PLAN AHEAD – DON’T WAIT
UNTIL SOMETHING GOES WRONG We Are Social • ‘Binoculars’ icon: The World We Live In, from The Noun Project @eskimon • 27

START TODAY BY DEFINING YOUR
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES (P&P) We Are Social @eskimon • 28

IDENTIFY WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR DEALING WITH ISSUES IN ADVANCE We Are Social • ‘Community’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 29

CREATE A LIST OF EMERGENCY
CONTACTS IN LEGAL, PR AND CORP COMMS TEAMS We Are Social • ‘Community’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 30

EDUCATE ALL RELEVANT PEOPLE ON
YOUR P&P, AND REHEARSE A FEW SCENARIOS We Are Social • ‘Training’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 31

MAKE SURE EVERYONE CAN FIND
THE P&P EASILY IN THE EVENT OF A CRISIS We Are Social @eskimon • 32

? BUT WHAT SHOULD YOUR
P&P DEFINE? We Are Social @eskimon • 33

FIRSTLY, IT SHOULD SET THE
HOUSE RULES FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITIES We Are Social @eskimon • 34

THINGS TO INCLUDE IN COMMUNITY
RULES 1 2 DEFINITION OF ‘TROLL’ ACTIVITY AND HOW YOU’LL MANAGE IT 3 HANDLING PROMOTION OF COMPETITORS OR SOLICITATION 4 USE OF PROFANITY OR HATE LANGUAGE (SEXISM, RACISM, ETC.) 5 CRIMINAL ACTIVITY (E.G. FRAUD, LIBEL, HARASSMENT, COPYRIGHT) 6 INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT (E.G. PORNOGRAPHY OR VIOLENCE) 7 SPAM, LINK BAITING, OR PROPAGATION OF VIRUSES OR MALWARE 8 RULES FOR YOUR STAFF, ESPECIALLY AROUND CONFIDENTIALITY 9 MANAGING EXPECTATIONS AROUND RESPONSE TIMES 10 We Are Social LEGAL OR MORAL RESTRICTIONS (E.G. AGE LIMITS) CONTACT DETAILS TO REDIRECT SERIOUS OR PRIVATE ISSUES @eskimon • 35

SENSE CHECK WHETHER RULES OR
THEIR DEFINITION COULD CREATE OTHER ISSUES We Are Social @eskimon • 36

@$#&! NEXT, DEFINE YOUR
APPROACH TO DEALING WITH NEGATIVE INCIDENTS We Are Social @eskimon • 37

WE ARE SOCIAL’S ‘3AS’ APPROACH
ALERT ASSESS ACT IDENTIFY ISSUES AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, IDEALLY BEFORE THEY ESCALATE DETERMINE THE SEVERITY OF EACH ISSUE, AND INVOLVE RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS MANAGE EACH ISSUE AS EFFICIENTLY AND EFFECTIVELY AS POSSIBLE We Are Social • ‘Radar’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 38

ALERT We Are Social @eskimon
• 39

FIRST, DECIDE HOW YOU’LL MONITOR
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR RELEVANT MENTIONS We Are Social @eskimon • 40

SELECT THE RIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA
LISTENING TOOL FOR YOUR NEEDS We Are Social • ‘Radar’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 41

TOOLS FOR EVERY BUDGET ENTRY
LEVEL INTERMEDIATE ADVANCED READING THROUGH POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES AND SETTING UP GOOGLE ALERTS USING FREE OR LOW-COST TOOLS TO AUTO-IDENTIFY SPECIFIC BRAND MENTIONS INVESTING IN PROFESSIONAL TOOLS TO AUTO-IDENTIFY AND TRACK MENTIONS We Are Social @eskimon • 42

WHAT SHOULD YOU LISTEN FOR?
DIRECT RELATED SPECIFIC BRAND OR PRODUCT NAME MENTIONS We Are Social SECONDARY OTHER BRANDRELEVANT MENTIONS (E.G. CEO’S NAME) MENTIONS OF OTHER IMPORTANT ELEMENTS (E.G. COMPETITORS) @eskimon • 43

IDENTIFY WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR LISTENING AND MONITORING ACTIVITIES We Are Social • ‘Community’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 44

WHERE SHOULD YOU LISTEN? OWNED
CONVERSATIONS PEOPLE HAVE WITH YOU IN CHANNELS YOU OWN OR CONTROL We Are Social • ‘Head’ icon: The Noun Project & ORGANIC CONVERSATIONS PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT YOU IN CHANNELS YOU DO NOT OWN OR CONTROL @eskimon • 45

WHEN SHOULD YOU LISTEN? AUTOMATED
AT INTERVALS SET UP AUTO-ALERTS THAT TRIGGER AN ACTION WHEN SOMETHING IMPORTANT HAPPENS TASK A PERSON TO CHECK MENTIONS AT REGULAR INTERVALS TO IDENTIFY THE NEED FOR ACTION We Are Social • ‘Radar’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 46

ASSESS We Are Social @eskimon
• 47

CAPTURE RELEVANT ACTIVITY AS SOON
AS YOU SEE IT IN CASE SOMETHING CHANGES We Are Social @eskimon • 48

! DETERMINE THE SEVERITY
OF THE INCIDENT We Are Social @eskimon • 49

A SIMPLE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK NO
INCIDENT (HANDLE AS NORMAL COMMUNITY ACTIVITY) IGNORE (‘TROLL’ ACTIVITY – DOES NOT MERIT A RESPONSE) DELETE (ACTIVITY THAT CONTRAVENES GROUND RULES ONLY) ACKNOWLEDGE (RESOLUTION NOT REQUIRED OR NOT POSSIBLE) RESOLVE DIRECTLY ESCALATION REQUIRED EMERGENCY (CALL THE CEO) We Are Social @eskimon • 50

DOES THE ISSUE NEED A
RESOLUTION, OR JUST AN EMPATHETIC RESPONSE? We Are Social @eskimon • 51

WATCH OUT FOR WILDFIRES –
ISSUES THAT OTHER PEOPLE FUEL AND SHARE We Are Social @eskimon • 52

NEVER FEED THE TROLLS We
Are Social @eskimon • 53

BEWARE OF LEGAL AND REGULATORY
REQUIREMENTS AND RESTRICTIONS We Are Social • ‘Legal’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 54

ASSIGN OR ESCALATE ANY ISSUES
WHERE NECESSARY (AS PER YOUR P&P) We Are Social @eskimon • 55

CONSIDER ETHICAL ISSUES (E.G. SHOULD
AN ALCOHOL BRAND REPLY TO MINORS?) We Are Social @eskimon • 56

LOG INCIDENTS FOR LATER REFERENCE,
AND TO IDENTIFY TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES We Are Social @eskimon • 57

ACT We Are Social @eskimon
• 58

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING, TAKE
A DEEP BREATH AND COUNT TO TEN We Are Social @eskimon • 59

HOW YOU HANDLE THE ISSUE
IS OFTEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE ISSUE ITSELF We Are Social @eskimon • 60

GREAT RESPONSE GUIDELINES BE TIMELY:
RESPOND QUICKLY BUT CAREFULLY BE ATTENTIVE: THINK AND ACT LIKE A 5-STAR CONCIERGE BE EMPATHETIC: SHOW PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT HELPING BE INSIGHTFUL: IDENTIFY THE REAL ISSUE – CAUSE vs. SYMPTOMS MANAGE EXPECTATIONS: ON TIMING AND POTENTIAL OUTCOMES WORK WITH DIFFERENT TEAMS TO DELIVER A RESOLUTION COMMUNICATE IN WAYS THAT HELP OTHER PEOPLE TOO BE AUTHENTIC: REINFORCE THE BRAND, BUT ACT LIKE A HUMAN We Are Social @eskimon • 61

DON’T OVERREACT, AND NEVER LOSE
YOUR TEMPER We Are Social @eskimon • 62

USE PERSONALITY AND HUMOUR WHERE
POSSIBLE, BUT BE CAREFUL AND SENSITIVE We Are Social @eskimon • 63

89% OF CUSTOMERS ARE ‘MORE
SATISFIED’ WHEN THEY GET A QUICK RESPONSE We Are Social • Source: Synthetix @eskimon • 64

“QUICK”? We Are Social @eskimon
• 65

DON’T DELAY YOUR INITIAL RESPONSE
32% 42% OF CONSUMERS EXPECT A RESPONSE WITHIN 30 MINUTES OF CONSUMERS EXPECT A RESPONSE WITHIN ONE HOUR We Are Social • Source: Social Habit @eskimon • 66

BUT THERE’S A SUBTLE DISTINCTION
RESPONSE LETTING PEOPLE KNOW THAT YOU’VE SEEN THEIR POST AND THAT YOU’RE FOLLOWING UP We Are Social VS RESOLUTION ADDRESSING THE UNDERLYING ISSUES AND DELIVERING SOME FORM OF ACTUAL RESOLUTION @eskimon • 67

START WITH A SIMPLE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TO SHOW PEOPLE YOU’RE WORKING ON IT We Are Social @eskimon • 68

LET PEOPLE KNOW THAT THEIR
FEEDBACK IS GENUINELY IMPORTANT TO THE BRAND We Are Social @eskimon • 69

PEOPLE WHO TAKE THE TIME
TO COMPLAIN LIKELY CARE ABOUT MAKING A DIFFERENCE We Are Social @eskimon • 70

IDENTIFY HOW LONG A RESOLUTION
WILL TAKE, AND SET PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS We Are Social @eskimon • 71

IT’S OFTEN WISE TO CRAFT
BEST PRACTICE RESPONSES TO COMMON ISSUES UPFRONT We Are Social @eskimon • 72

ASIDE: IF IT’S A ‘COMMON
ISSUE’, IT’S BETTER TO FIX THE ISSUE’S CAUSE We Are Social @eskimon • 73

IF NECESSARY, POST AN APPROPRIATE,
PUBLIC, PERSONALISED HOLDING MESSAGE We Are Social @eskimon • 74

…BUT AVOID ‘STOCK’ RESPONSES THAT
LACK EMPATHY AND IRRITATE PEOPLE We Are Social @eskimon • 75

TREAT EVERYONE WITH THE CARE
AND ATTENTION OF A 5-STAR HOTEL CONCIERGE We Are Social • Icon adapted from ‘Community’, The Noun Project @eskimon • 76

WHERE POSSIBLE, TAKE THE RESOLUTION
CONVERSATION SOMEWHERE PRIVATE We Are Social • ‘Padlock’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 77

THIS IS TO ENSURE YOU
DELIVER THE BEST SERVICE, NOT SO YOU CAN HIDE THINGS We Are Social @eskimon • 78

GATHER ALL OF THE FACTS,
AND MAKE GENTLE CORRECTIONS WHERE NECESSARY We Are Social @eskimon • 79

HOWEVER, REMEMBER THAT EMOTIONS AREN’T
RATIONAL, SO EMPATHY IS CRITICAL We Are Social @eskimon • 80

SORRY APOLOGISE WHENEVER THE
BRAND IS AT FAULT, BUT BEWARE OF LEGAL IMPLICATIONS We Are Social @eskimon • 81

TRACK PROGRESS TOWARDS RESOLUTION AND
KEEP ALL INVOLVED PARTIES UPDATED We Are Social @eskimon • 82

IDENTIFY HOW, WHERE AND WHEN
YOU’LL COMMUNICATE THE EVENTUAL RESOLUTION We Are Social @eskimon • 83

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT! We
Are Social • ‘Head’ and ‘Gears’ icons: The Noun Project @eskimon • 84

COULD THE RESPONSE BE MISINTERPRETED,
OR EVEN MAKE THE SITUATION WORSE? We Are Social @eskimon • 85

IT’S WISE TO GET A
SECOND OPINION BEFORE REPLYING TO SENSITIVE ISSUES We Are Social • ‘Head’ and ‘Gears’ icons: The Noun Project @eskimon • 86

MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF YOUR RESPONSE We Are Social • ‘Legal’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 87

ENSURE YOUR RESPONSES REINFORCE YOUR
BRAND’S VALUES AND POSITIONING We Are Social @eskimon • 88

WHEREVER RELEVANT, POST A PUBLIC
FOLLOW-UP TO THE ORIGINAL MENTION TOO We Are Social @eskimon • 89

KEEP MONITORING FOR FURTHER FEEDBACK
OR AN EVOLUTION TO THE ISSUE We Are Social • ‘Head’ icon: The Noun Project @eskimon • 90

WORK WITH INTERNAL TEAMS TO
ADDRESS THE CAUSE(S) OF THE UNDERLYING ISSUE(S) We Are Social @eskimon • 91

GETTING STARTED TODAY We Are
Social @eskimon • 92

3AS: SET-UP CHECKLIST ¨ ¨
¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ We Are Social 1. DEFINE YOUR COMMUNITY ‘HOUSE RULES’ 2. SELECT THE RIGHT LISTENING TOOL(S) FOR YOUR NEEDS 3. IDENTIFY THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING 4. IDENTIFY AND ENGAGE YOUR EMERGENCY CONTACTS 5. AGREE WHAT YOU SHOULD MONITOR FOR 6. DETERMINE WHICH CHANNELS TO MONITOR 7. SPECIFY YOUR MONITORING SCHEDULE (AUTOMATED OR HUMAN) 8. UNDERSTAND LEGAL, REGULATORY AND ETHICAL REQUIREMENTS 9. CREATE YOUR INCIDENT SEVERITY FRAMEWORK / CLASSIFICATION 10. DEFINE YOUR INCIDENT LOGGING PROCESS AND PROTOCOLS 11. SET BENCHMARK RESPONSE TIMES 12. RECOMMEND RESPONSE APPROACH BY SOCIAL PLATFORM 13. DEFINE BRAND VOICE AND TONALITY FOR RESPONSES 14. IDENTIFY COMMON ISSUES AND DEFINE BEST PRACTICE RESPONSES 15. IDENTIFY THE RELEVANT PRIVATE FORUM FOR HANDLING ISSUES 16. DEVISE FEEDBACK LOOP TO HELP REMEDY UNDERLYING CAUSES @eskimon • 93

WE ARE SOCIAL IS A
GLOBAL CONVERSATION AGENCY. WE HELP BRANDS TO LISTEN TO, UNDERSTAND, AND ENGAGE IN CONVERSATIONS IN SOCIAL MEDIA. WE’RE ALREADY HELPING MANY OF THE WORLD’S TOP BRANDS, INCLUDING ADIDAS, UNILEVER, DIAGEO, NESTLÉ, HEINZ, AND LVMH. IF YOU’D LIKE TO CHAT ABOUT US HELPING YOU TOO, CALL US ON +65 6423 1051, OR EMAIL US AT SAYHELLO@WEARESOCIAL.SG. FIND OUT MORE AT WEARESOCIAL.SG We Are Social @eskimon • 94

SIMON KEMP, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WE
ARE SOCIAL @ESKIMON SAYHELLO@WEARESOCIAL.SG +65 6423 1051 HTTP://WEARESOCIAL.SG We Are Social @eskimon • 95