“There’s so much risk involved with social media, and I’ve seen so many other companies get slammed on their own channels, that I’ve decided to shut down my Facebook and Twitter pages and be done with it all. Now nothing bad can happen to me or my brand online!”
How great would that be (for some)! Annihilate the risk that social media and the Internet present to your company or organization by simply deciding to shut it all down and go back to traditional ways of marketing and communicating. If only it were that simple!
In fact, not only is it not that simple, but not being on social media presents even more risk than being on social media.
Let me explain.
Just because you aren’t on social doesn’t mean that your audience isn’t talking about you on social; and if people are talking about you than there are risks involved. If others can take a video and upload it to YouTube, tweet about your brand, write a blog post about an experience they had with your company, etc., than you not being on social will only make a negative situation harder once it comes to light.
Think of it:
- You won’t have a social media profile or presence
- Nobody will know where to find your communications other than your website, and not everybody will go to your website
- You will not be able to comment on Twitter, Google+, Facebook or any other platoform without an account set up for your brand
- If you set up a social account during a crisis, no one will be aware of its existence, barely anybody will be following you (besides from your employees and maybe your mom), so who will actually hear and see your communications and messages during the crisis? Not as many as are seeing the negative, that’s for sure
- You won’t be able to provide your loyal advocates with a platform to come to your defence
However, if you’re prepared with social media accounts and social media crisis management procedures before a crisis strikes, then the opposite of all of the above becomes true, PLUS you’re actually prepared in advance and know exactly what to do under any type of negative online situation.
So, when it comes to closing your social media accounts out of fear of the potential negativity, don’t do it! Focus on preparing yourself, your brand and your team instead.
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Melissa:
This is a great post that addresses a keep part of modern-day communications. People have always had conversations about your agency behind your back. Now those conversations happen online in front of thousands of people. Not being on social media is akin to putting one's head in the sand and ignoring the conversation about your agency.
It's funny, I wrote about exactly the same thing today: http://faceofthematter.com/2013/04/22/the-convers…
Keep up the great work!
Hi Jim,
Thanks for sharing your link and for the kind words of encouragement!
The Ostrich approach is even more risky today with social media and the web in general. Not being on social, in whichever way it makes most sense for your business, is no longer an option or an excuse.
Interesting post particularly when some companies are closing down their social media sites and taking everything into their own news rooms. Most recent is Australia's iconic Qantas airlines. Will be interesting to if this a continuing trend or a once off. And there is Apple who doesn't have an online, social presence.
Apple has a social presence, they just aren't active or reactive as many others choose wisely to be. However, Apple is Apple!
It's interesting indeed about Qantas, though if I recall correctly, they haven't always been the best at using their social presence to their advantage as it was… surprised if they didn't at least keep a Twitter account though…
Great post Melissa – thanks for sharing it with us.
For the very reasons you describe, I encourage all my clients to register a presence on all popular social networks (even *if* they have no immediate intention of using them all) to prevent their brand being hijacked on a platform in the unfortunate event of a public relations crisis.
That's another excellent point, Nick. Though using one's social accounts, even minimally, in order to gain some sort of a dedicated and loyal following is so invaluable when we're talking about crisis preparedness and crisis management.
Actually, we should be blaming Google. If Facebook, etc., didn’t get all of the attention they get from Google, social sites would dry up and blow away. But NO! Google gives extra points for having a presence on Facebook. Google needs to figure out first, that Facebook wants to take over the world (including Google) and second that Facebook (and the others) require that you have an account on their service in order to respond to spurious attacks.
Frankly, I tend to argue against having a big presence on social media. Put up a site, de-optimize it and monitor social media for any mention of your business. Then, if needed, you already have your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc, site to use to respond. Just don’t put up a social site up with a big billboard on it to attract the attention of your competition, disgruntled (ex)employees and Internet con artists.
I advise my clients to lay low on social media sites and use real websites to sell themselves. It’s bad enough that we have to deal with sites like Yelp who won’t take down phony negative reviews unless you advertise. We don’t need to be held up by creating a massive social media presence.