There are three sources of brand Social Media attacks:
1. Dissatisfied customer(s)
2. Competition
3. Brand haters
4. From the company itself: to mock up the risk-coping mechanism in real attacks
How to solve these social media attacks and remain with your intact reputation:
1. Let the talk on social media gain some good momentum to let people state/Express their minds. This allows the Brand to learn a lot on how customers perceive it. This allows the brand to come up with much better systems, to come up with new ideas.
Interestingly, most of the time the brand will gain more prominence and many people will rush to research more about the brand under attack.
2. Get in touch with the dissatisfied customer and in case you have erred in your processes, apologize promptly. If the attack is from a blogger(s) then do not engage them as most of them will ask for a payoff. This is in fact an opportunity for you to hype what the brand stands for as you openly see who supports you out there.
This is great time to share your company tips and a few adverts from time to time. This should be through weblink, testimonials, video links. The sharing should be done sparingly though.
3. Avoid responding to all comments from public or on a string of communication, as this may fuel more personal attacks. Just pin a properly done and concise facts sheet on the issue at hand. Whatever you do, avoid social media panic by all means.
4. Have a team that monitors conversations online and keep pinning a consistent response. This team is not to wildly engage in replying to comments, all over the place. Rather, let there be a meticulous strategy on the what, who and when to expertly engage.
5. On screen shots – these can be used more to spread the damaging message further, especially through chat groups. But any serious customer will call to find out the real issue or rush to the brand’s official website to research on the company’s dealings. It is important to have some customers who love the brand in some of those forums. Such ambassadors will come in handy to clarify the truths from any malicious fallacies. These kinds of closed-group spaces are where brand haters enjoy most. They will probably post and wash their hands for example by saying “I saw this on another forum.” As earlier stated, just concentrate on responding with facts on the issue at hand, without allowing yourself to be diverted to non-issues.
In conclusion, brands are always under the risk of attack from various sources and motivations. And of course it can be from an error that may have happen through omission or commission. No brand can boast that it has never experienced some form of social media attack probably apart from relatively new startups.
For Optiven Group, we have experienced several attacks and in all of them, we have experienced both negative and positive impact. But we have always taken them as an opportunity to further strengthen our processes and enhance our products in line with a solid vision and mission.
I commit to keep sharing our brand’s experiences on such matters, since I believe such information may come in handy for upcoming brands.
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