Social media can be an excellent tool for promoting your brand’s message and your company’s image. But the same factors that make social media so effective in promotion – a large audience, instant reach, and easy sharing – can also make even a minor slip-up a big problem.
From well-intentioned humor that comes across as insensitive and offensive to very private posts accidentally sent by employees, many companies have learned the hard way the ramifications of social media slip-ups. Here are some tips to prevent a social media mistake from turning into a full-on disaster.
Track your posts
In addition to paying close attention to comments and replies directly on your social media posts, there are a number of methods out there for tracking social media conversation about your brand. Take the time to set up alerts that will let you know when certain keywords are mentioned on social media sites so that you can be on top of things should any negative responses start popping up. Keywords for tracking will vary depending on your company, but a good starting point is to at least track mentions of your company’s name and any nicknames or common misspellings.
Have a training program
It’s important to set company policies on social media posts, and then have employees undergo training to make sure then understand what the policies are and why they’re in place. Your social media posts act as the voice of your company, and anything posted under your company’s name will reflect back on your brand. Even companies with highly trained social media departments have still been guilty of slip-ups. Giving employees the responsibility of posting on social media accounts with no guidelines or training is tempting fate.
Limit posting access
Many companies limit the opportunity for damage by restricting posting permissions to a very small group of employees whose job duties require the ability to post, and who have undergone training. While allowing multiple employees from different departments to post on social media accounts can add an interesting dimension with varied voices and viewpoints, it’s generally safest to still only authorize a select group of employees. If you want to allow posts from outside your marketing department, perhaps you could designate a single employee from other departments to act as spokesperson – after thorough training, of course.
Have someone on call
Social media is not limited to business hours. A tweet or Facebook post that goes out on a Friday afternoon may not wind up getting attention until Saturday morning. If nobody from your company is paying attention, it may be Monday before anyone even notices. That gives your post two whole days to cause damage – an eternity in social media. The sooner someone can jump into action, the better your chances of limiting the damage. Have someone responsible for paying attention to all conversation about your brand, even during off-hours.
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