First, despite the ever-changing environment, the basic rules for crisis communication have not changed. The crisis should be handled quickly, accurately, professionally and with care. However, social media has taken the communication plan to a new level by speeding up the process, in addition to adding honesty, sincerity …show more content…
Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr), where they constantly provide their stakeholders about current situations and developments as well as creating an open environment for dialogue, allowing for stakeholders to share their thoughts and come with inquiries to the companies. So when a crisis strikes, people will recognize these corporate pages as the place to get in contact with or get the information they need.
By engaging and contributing to the conversation, it allows for the company to take leadership of what is being said about it, in addition to making it easier to correct misinformation that may arise. Nonetheless, it should never be forgotten that social media is a democracy and companies should never attempt to control the information flow; that will only make the company appear dishonest and secretive. Our point is that people will talk about you either way, so why not make sure to be a part of the …show more content…
Without a social media presence in place, the company will find it much more difficult to go in and interfere the conversation when things go wrong. This was particularly true for Domino’s Pizza which, although it had social media accounts in place in YouTube and Twitter, had not been using it actively and did not respond fast enough to the crisis; and it made it difficult for the company to take part in the conversation with its stakeholders later on.
Third, never forget that social media is a democracy, i.e. everyone has the same rights to express their opinions. It is easier to control mainstream media than e.g. 100,000 stakeholders, but people are allowed to make negative comments about the company and its brand; it is thus the company’s job to turn the negative comments into positive ones.
Listen to what people are expressing, and use it as a source of knowledge. If you manage to provide great customer service, it can go a long way in impressing your customers and increasing their likelihood of giving you positive referrals, which brings us to our next key