Social media has become an integral part of every business plan. In fact, businesses that aren’t using social media platforms can expect to fail due to lacking online visibility and customer loyalty. However, using social media isn’t always blissful. One wrong Post or Tweet can ruin your brand in a matter of seconds. In the last year alone, large companies such as United Airlines and Chrysler have taken a beating because of poor social media management.
Disgruntled employees and angry customers can quickly take their thoughts to the web which can tarnish your brand for life. But a social media disaster doesn’t mean you should shut your doors for good. In fact, even those who have suffered from a disaster are still able to recover.
A few quick tips to help you recover from a social media disaster should one occur include:
1. Do Not Panic
Panicking won’t make your social media disaster go away, it won’t make your Fans love you again, and it won’t return your brand back to spotless. All panicking will do is keep you from reacting appropriately and in a timely manner. Don’t let your fear and emotions govern you. After committing a social media disaster, you must, at all costs, remain calm.
2. Accept What You Have Done
Whether you posted some choice words on Facebook or Twitter or submitted an inappropriate video to YouTube or Givit, there is no turning back after you hit post or submit. The inappropriate content you just created forever belongs to the web. Sure, you can delete your comment or post, and you should, but there is no way to completely remove it from the web. Instead, accept what you have done so that you can continue to move forward and begin the recovery process.
3. Figure Out Who You Have Offended
Don’t just start making blind apologies. A half-hearted apology will be felt by your Fans and Followers, and they will quickly reject it and probably attack you more for it. Instead, figure out exactly who you have offended and why. This will make your apologies more thoughtful and thorough, and therefore more likely to placate those you offended.
4. Start Apologizing
Once you have figured out who you have offended, you need to begin apologizing politely and profusely. This is an okay time for you to almost seem as though you are graveling because, in reality, your business’ reputation and longevity is in the hands of those you have hurt. Try to do what you can within your means to appease those you have offended, just make sure that you don’t further insult them with a shallow apology or promise of a kitschy product.
5. Be Ready to Endure the Long Road Ahead
Recovering from a social media disaster is never a quick process. As much as we would like to believe that people quickly forgive and forget, that isn’t exactly the case. In order to restore your brand, you will have to regain the trust of your customers which may take some time. After you have apologized, learn from your mistakes and continue running business as usual. It will take some time, but business should become stable once again.
A social media disaster doesn’t need to mean the end of business. In fact, several companies have been able to recover and actually profit from their social media failures. Simply take the time to act quickly and thoroughly apologize, and you should be on the way to a successful recovery.
15 Comments
We need to be careful on our words, words can destroy us especially in the business world. One single mistake and your dead.
Great advice. The important thing is not to get drawn in whilst you’re emotional. I’ve seen people literally destroy their businesses by getting drawn into protracted flame wars when they are criticised.
Amazing tips, that was really helpful and and motivational also, it happened with me too and i get panic on these kind of situation but thanks to you, it will surely gonna help me in future. Thanks for sharing.
Well, prevention would always be better than cure. So, at the least possible thing, it would be better to avoid such disaster to occur on your social media profile. The best thing to do this would be by posting social media updates by which your prospects and customers could actually find it real helpful.
Prevention will always be better. Unfortunately, preventing all disasters with social media, as we see on a regular basis, isn’t always possible.
These are great tips. We, especially us, bloggers, who dwells too often on the cyber world should know how to handle these things in case it happens.
Thanks for sharing
This post is like eye opener for every blogger and SEO, Thanks for sharing this informative post, surely it gonna help people a lot.
I have been such a situation where for a little promotional site ,I have to use my twitter account and the tweets were offended some of my followers ,
after that I have lost many Followers and have to bring down my twitter profile..
Twitter: MHH_Blog
Online reputation is very hard to get, and social media plays the most important role in establishing that reputation. So when social media goes the wrong way, it is essential to repair that damage and re-establish the online reputation. These tips are immensely helpful for doing so.
I still find it amazing at how important social media as become in the past few years. I’m glad you found these tips helpful.
Not happens much in online world, for we have time to consider what to write on our walls, but your advice would be very helpful in real world, we have to take responsibility for what we’ve done. Thank you, Paul!
It’s really important to figure out if you offended someone unintentionally. and apologizing politely can start a new friendship..
thansk for the great tips!
Not just in the online world, but even outside, one must start with taking responsibility for what went wrong. Acknowledging the mistake, taking ownership for it and apologizing is a good way to address mistakes in social media.
these are great tips, thanks for sharing.
Twitter: makemoneyinlife
I’ve just started venturing out into the area of Twitter promotion of my blog. I am somewhat apprehensive as it is all new to me and as you point out it is easy to offend (unintentionally) and the damage can be far and wide. Thanks for your helpful and encouraging post.
Ellie
Twitter: elliepowell1912