Do you have a social media crisis management plan for customer crisis or perhaps just normal customer engagement? Maybe you should check out the Gucci social crisis plan.
It is just logical that you engage with all sorts of customers. No matter how good you are, you need to have a social media response plan.
How well you deal with these customers will determine whether you are dealing with a crisis or a non-issue.
Many people like to say things like “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” or “every crisis is an opportunity,” but the truth is that there is nothing good about a crisis. They are horrible, soul-wrenching things. You do what you can to minimize the damage, but there’s no way to eliminate it completely.
The one positive thing that can be said about crises is that they eventually end. Today, the US economy is growing at a decent rate again, our financial system is well-capitalized, housing prices are rising and the Bureau of Labor recently announced that there are more people employed in America than ever before in history.
Can you remember an instance where your business was not prepared for a social media incident? As a result, what action did you take first? Please help us by sharing your story.
Social media has come a long way since then as have the strategies, tactics, methods, and power.
In reality, a successful social media marketing campaign is multi-dimensional.
Actually, it’s kind of complicated. Ask any social media marketer “How do you do social media marketing?” and you’re likely to get the “Um, where do I start?” look.
There are a lot of elements to address and minute details to cover.
Often, the most difficult stage is the initial one. You know, the one when you’re trying to gain traction and pick up momentum.
One of the benefits of social media is undoubtedly its immediacy and its timeliness.
It gives the businesses a better way to be present with their audience in almost any situation. It is all about sharing continuous information from wherever they are.
It also is an awesome means of ongoing discussions that can’t always be limited to a contained period.
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It is this very reason that social media is one of the most widely-used ways that brands connect with their audiences, particularly in times of crisis.
When hit by complications; difficulties, and perhaps even blind panic, brands need a way to cut through the confusion. They need the means to reach out to their customers.
Social media permits taking decisive responsibility for the matter at hand and laying out a clear plan of action.
So it is wise to prepare a response plan how you would respond before you receive any such comments.
Note that part of the response plan requires action before receiving negative comments from customers.
Here are the key elements of a response plan we recommend to our clients:
Gucci social crisis plan … humanize the brand
Always create a personality through laughter and having fun in the workplace.
Be able to laugh at yourself. Wear your enthusiasm and your passion at all times.
Keep your staff informed
Provide all information to your staff. Keep everyone in the loop and up to speed.
Gucci social crisis plan … build a community
Build followers of passionate defenders for your brand. Let them defend you with their views.
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Gucci social crisis plan … steer the conversation
In times of negativity, social media will often be the first place customers head.
Not just for information, but to give their insight and perhaps even bash your brand in the process.
Don’t let the conversation get out of control. Select an appropriate hashtag for the events to follow.
Use the hashtag as a symbol across all your platforms for all trustworthy, reliable and honest information surrounding the crisis.
Doing this from the very beginning will inhibit people from devising their illegitimate hashtags which can confuse customers.
It will ensure your brand is the leading, go-to source of information for everything to do with the crisis.
Gucci social crisis plan … listen and accept
Avoid censoring at all costs. Listen carefully and try to understand your customers’ viewpoints.
Fix the problem
Fix the problem if there is one. Acknowledge the issue and communicate your solution.
Timing is everything
Social media is all about timing. The timing of the social media plan.
Waste no time diving into the conversation the moment a crisis strikes, and silence should NOT be an option.
The sooner you can prove to customers that you are present and dedicated to addressing an issue; the sooner you will earn your customers’ trust.
If possible, making customers aware of a service disruption or impending blunder before it has even happened is highly advised.
This will this show transparency and garner more respect for your brand. It will also give you a chance to offer instructions to customers and allow them to make appropriate preparations.
Have a consistent response platform
It is advisable that brands limit the number of places that people feel they need to look to find dedicated information regarding a crisis.
Otherwise, information can become scattered and misinterpreted; and focus can be lost.
Choose one platform to which all of the detailed information will be posted.
Use your other platforms to direct the flow of user traffic towards your primary source.
Build a call to action
If there’s one thing that customers hate more than a service crisis, it’s being left hanging with no instruction or advice on what to do next.
It doesn’t matter that you can’t provide an explanation for the crisis just yet – people don’t like to be kept waiting.
It’s important to give explicit calls to action in your updates.
These can be as simple as directing customers towards external sources of advice.
Or they can be giving practical tips on what they could do to minimize the impact of the emergency.
Create an opportunity
Try to turn the problem into an opportunity.
Don’t neglect to spend time finding the opportunity from your adversity … it often will not jump out at you, will it?
Keep your cool
There will indeed be cases where illegitimate feeds of information will somehow seep into the airwaves. They will be giving false information or unsourced explanations surrounding the crisis.
It’s tempting to react aggressively towards these feeds by attempts to censor the information. However, it is advisable that you don’t.
Doing so could further think the integrity of your brand and lead users to think you have something to hide.