Brand reputation is the impression people have about an organization and their perception of its products, services and people. Social media provides a powerful platform for banking industries to connect with the public in an effort to improve their image and increase sales and consumer base. The growing number of people accessing social media on a daily basis has resulted in a hyper-connected online social world where it has become important for banks to maintain an online presence.
Due to people’s instantaneous access to social media and the expressive nature of online platforms, information is shared rapidly via word of mouth (WOM) in this extensive network of people. As we know bad news tends to travel faster and therefore banks face greater risk of damaging their online reputation from negative WOM. There are numerous reasons that trigger negative news regarding a particular bank, but this blog will focus on understanding the factors of social media that can cause an online crisis and some guidelines on managing it effectively.
Sudden high volume of messages on social media about a particular negative instance regarding an organization indicates that there is a social media firestorm crisis. The unique aspects of social media such as speed of communication and clustered networks have resulted in an online environment where firestorms have become common occurrences. Unlike traditional media, news goes viral within minutes or hours to millions of people across multiple social media channels. This overwhelming complexity of social media platform makes it very difficult for banks to manage this type of crisis when faced with it.
Failing to respond to the situation quickly and appropriately can lead to significant lose in consumers to competitors due to severe reputational damage and decrease in long-term business value and credibility. Banks need to monitor social media channels constantly with the aid of listening tools. This will help in recognizing negative outburst soon when they start and gives to opportunity to resolve the issue at the earliest.
It is too late to delegate responsibilities or begin to strategize in the middle of a social media crisis. Thus, it is important for banks to be prepared by clearly outlining responsibilities and procedures prior to a social media crisis. Banks should also have a well-defined social media crisis management plan in advance. It is beneficial for the social media team to prepare by forming possible worst-case scenarios and coming up with strategies to resolve them.
Considering the recommendations in Pfeffer, Zorbach, and Carley (2014), when banks become the target of a social media firestorm, they need to increase communication online and engage with its loyal customers. The spread of negativity should be diffused online by positive information about the bank. To do this, banks need to establish “fan groups” online that could save the reputation in a crisis by defending their banks.
Inappropriate responses from the company at the heart of the crisis can have the opposite effect of trying to pacify the situation. Therefore, it is essential to respond properly by keeping clam and composed while acknowledging the complex issue in a polite manner. Scheduled marketing posts should be stopped till the crisis has blown over, otherwise people will perceive that the bank is ignoring the issue. These steps will assure social media users that the bank is looking into resolving the issue and have taken it seriously.
When the crisis is over, it is vital to go back and review the incident to learn about the root cause and take preventive steps to ensure it does not repeat. Key questions like “how could we have reacted better?” or “what part of our plan didn’t work too well”… etc. should be asked when reviewing the crisis management to help identify areas of improvement in managing online firestorms in future.
For more resources on social media crisis management, check out my Storify aggregation.
Reference:
Pfeffer, J., Zorbach, T., & Carley, K. (2014). Understanding online firestorms: Negative word-of-mouth dynamics in social media networks. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(1-2), 117-128.
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