I joined hundreds of digital professionals, content strategists, social media experts, user experience practitioners, and email marketers at the two-day Digital Summit Detroit conference.
One of my favorite talks was Andy Beal’s lunchtime keynote on reputation management. As a reputation management expert, he’s seen his share of good and bad examples of companies managing their reputation.
Beal, chief executive officer of Trackr and author of Repped: 30 Days to a Better Online Reputation, shared his insights and highlighted examples of social media gone wrong.
In addition, Beal shared examples of companies doing a good job managing their reputation and offered tips for dealing with a crisis situation.
I heard stories about a rogue tweet, poorly timed social media updates, and organizations taking a bad situation and turning it around into something amazing.
Here’s what I learned:
- There’s no difference between your personal reputation and business reputation.
Despite all the Twitter bios with “tweets are my own and don’t represent my company”, you only have one online reputation.You only have one reputation, says @andybeal. There’s no difference between personal and business reputation. #DSDET15
— Deborah Edwards-Oñoro (@redcrew) September 23, 2015
- Your behavior reflects on your business. Be on your best behavior.
If someone asked if you knew who Walter Palmer was, would you know?How about if someone asked if you knew about the dentist who killed Cecil the lion in Africa in 2015?
That was Palmer.
News of Palmer killing the prized lion in Zimbabwe went worldwide, with people using the hashtag #WalterPalmer to share their anger.
His personal big-game killing behavior negatively affected his dental business, which closed for several weeks.
Palmer returned to work at his dental practice.
Your reputation is always being judged…your company and personal reputation aren’t two separate things anymore #DSDET15
— Franco (@Franco_Detroit) September 23, 2015
- Just because you can brag about it, doesn’t mean you should.
In 2013, Emma Way tweeted about hitting a bicyclist with her automobile and knocking him off his bike.The local police discovered the tweet; a few months later Way was found guilty on two counts related to the incident.
Just because you can brag about it doesn’t mean you should @AndyBeal #DSDET15 pic.twitter.com/5faTkUnnKo
— Ryan Jones (@RyanJones) September 23, 2015
- Train your staff on how to respond to your customers.
Invest in your social customer care team.Hire credible people and provide guidelines. Share reputation goals for your organization with your employees.
Companies should share reputation goals with employees to turn them into ambassadors @andybeal #DSDET15
— Amy Messano (@AmyMessano) September 23, 2015
- Use the right account.
When an unusual tweet was posted to the American Red Cross account, the organization acted quickly to resolve the issue.The backstory: Gloria Huang planned to post the tweet to her personal account, but due to her inexperience with Hootsuite, the tweet was posted to the organization account.
The American Red Cross averted a crisis with a light-hearted tweet, Huang apologized from her personal Twitter account, and the Red Cross converted the incident into a donation opportunity.
- Know your audience.
Understand how your customer base will respond locally as well as globally. - Go where your customers go.
While you may have decided to focus on two or three channels, monitor other channels. If a customer complains on a channel you don’t use, you want to respond.Rep Roadkill: Go where your audience is. Address complaints on that forum – do not ignore! @AndyBeal #DSDET15
— Lori (@1224Lori) September 23, 2015
Tip: Take the conversation offline. Set up a unique email address for the channel (twitter_service@yourcompany.com) for handling communication. - Be careful with any automation you use.
Be aware of every item that is scheduled (where an editorial calendar comes in handy). Be restrictive. - Just because something is popular, don’t jump on it.
Notice a popular hashtag on Twitter and want to share something about it on your social media channel? Does it fit into your strategy?Think twice before acting.
- Big lies will eventually be revealed.
Be truthful, don’t embellish things.For years, NBC News anchor Brian Williams told a story about being in a helicopter in Iraq that was hit by a grenade.Not exactly the whole truth.Turns out, Williams was in a helicopter in Iraq, but not in one that was hit by a grenade.
Williams was put on a six-month leave early this year. He returned to the MSNBC network earlier this month to cover Pope Francis’s visit to the United States.
Rep Roadkill: Don’t rewrite history to put yourself somewhere you weren’t. Big lies are eventually revealed. @AndyBeal #DSDET15
— Lori (@1224Lori) September 23, 2015
We Have a Crisis, Now What?
It’s going to happen. A tweet or story on one of your social media channels that’s poorly timed, incorrectly posted, or doesn’t include the right information.
What do you do during a crisis? Beal recommends:
- Be sincere
- Be transparent
- Be consistent
Apologize and explain what caused it to happen. Demonstrate you put changes in place so it doesn’t happen again.
Q: What advice would you give #VW? #dieselgate A: Own it. Admit it. Be Sincere. Be transparent. Be consistent w follow up @AndyBeal #DSDET15
— Lori (@1224Lori) September 23, 2015
If having a reputation crisis you need to be sincere, transparent and consistent in your messaging – @AndyBeal #DSDET15
— Mike McClure (@mikekmcclure) September 23, 2015
Win back customers by accepting your fault!!! They will tell 20 others @AndyBeal #DSDET15
— Jas Sidhu (@Jas_MonteCarlo) September 23, 2015
