Effective strategies for repairing damaged organizational image on social media

Social Media

What is social media

Why is it important to business

Why is it associated with reputational risk

The immediacy of social media can be effective in handling reputation risk, when a company gets in front of an issue, but to do this effectively requires understanding the nature of social media communication

Critical Background

Define social media

Discuss its role in business

Outline the defining characteristics of social media

How do these characteristics contribute to reputational risk

Business executives fear reputational risk

Negative feedback on social media

Pace at which social media issues unfold

It is recommended to deal with reputational issues proactively

Public relations

How PR departments dealt with crises in the past

Differences between social media and traditional media

The company cannot respond with old school PR techniques

Social media requires new techniques

A new approach is required

How to use social media to manage reputation risk is not entirely known

Reputation is part of a complex narrative web

Social media cannot be entirely controlled

Reputations are seldom destroyed in the short run, and risk cannot be eliminated quickly either

Companies need to guide the conversation instead of trying to control it

Conclusion

Restate key concepts and thesis

Introduction

Social media is an essential communications platform, and every business today operates on multiple social media platforms. Yet, there is tremendous risk associated with social media. First, social media is immediate and fluid. This means that interactions with customers are in real time, so situations good and bad can develop rapidly. Second, everything on social media is a matter of public record. While a company has the ability to delete a post or tweet, there will always be a record or screenshot of that post or tweet somewhere. Compounding the problem is that it too many cases companies leave their social media accounts to people who are not properly trained in social media etiquette. Inexperienced young interns lack tact and understanding of the gravity of social media communications, while there have been too many examples of senior managers who are utterly clueless about the damage their actions on social media can cause. There are also situations were social media is not at the root of the risk issue, but is a platform by which news of the issue spreads rapidly, and the company loses control of the conversation quickly (Spanier, 2015). In either case, effective management of social media is required in order to control damage to reputation, and to restore the damage that occurs. The immediacy of social media can be effective in handling reputation risk, when a company gets in front of an issue, but to do this effectively requires understanding the nature of social media communication.

Critical Background

Social media can be understood as a set of software applications and interfaces that are used to communicate (Investopedia, 2015). Some of the social media applications used by business include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, beginning in earnest only around 2005. Its usage patterns and risks for business are therefore evolving, and many businesses unfortunately are behind the curve with respect to their social media knowledge and aptitude. This only serves to exacerbate the risks that companies face. Social media has a unique defining characteristics that define the risks associated with reputation. First, it is a two-way communications tool, meaning that the company has direct interaction with members of the public, and members of the public can have direct interaction with each other about the company. Second, social media works in real time, and there are records of each interaction via screenshots. Thus, everything a company does on social media is recorded for posterity. The last critical defining characteristic of social media is anonymity. This last aspect is challenging, because interactions on social media between a company and members of the public often involve anonymity on the part of the public individual, which allows them to say and do things that they otherwise might not; they are not bound by normal social conventions when on social media. The company, because its name is out there, remains bound by normal social conventions.

Analysis

Most business executives find that social media creates or heightens reputational risk. A survey by Deloitte found that 88% of executives felt that reputation risk was a key concern with their company's social media presence (Deloitte, 2015). On average, companies attribute around 25% of their market value to their reputations. Negative feedback that arrives via social media is not necessarily bad -- companies can learn about particular trends early via social media and address those complaints at an operational level -- but failure to handle complaints, or to handle them poorly, can result in damage to the company's reputation (Deloitte, 2015). Compounding the issue is the pace at which reputational issues can escalate, particularly if a company finds itself targeted by an organized campaign (Serafin, 2015). Experts therefore recommend that a company deals with reputational issues proactively, but as this is an emerging area, there remains some confusion as to what exactly this entails.

Traditionally, companies had public relations departments that would manage the company's interactions with the outside world. These departments would be staffed by trained professionals, who would carefully craft messages, and disseminate them via traditional media outlets. Even when a scandal was headline news, the news cycle was long and members of the general public were typically independent of one another, and independent again of the company. Social media changes these dynamics. People communicate with each other in real time, which allows narratives to be created more quickly and spread more quickly than was possible prior to social media. The company, moreover, cannot rely on a public relations department that works nine-to-five, because there is an expectation of immediacy with social media. Furthermore, most social media forms are not conducive to an extensive telling of a company's story. This creates significant challenges for companies in dealing with what would traditionally be known as public relations crises.