A crisis could hit your business in many different forms, damaging your reputation and credibility. It could be a faulty product sent out to the marketplace, a series of strikes as we have seen with British Airways, or, as with the Nestle saga, an NGO taking action against the way you do business.
Nestle has had a fair amount of work to do following a clever online campaign by Greenpeace which attacked the Kit Kat consumer brand and ultimately Nestle’s corporate brand, due to its connections with deforestation. The beauty – and danger – of social media is that it allows you to penetrate smaller targeted groups as well larger crowds of consumers and influencers, and it moves incredibly fast.
So, what does a business do when it is hit with such a fast moving and high impact online campaign? What you can’t do, and this example speaks for itself, is hide from it or try to block it. It is vital that you talk to your audiences – be transparent and listen to what is being said. Engagement is key and whether you simply reiterate facts, or you withdraw a product from the marketplace with an apology, you need to look at your audience, understand their needs and then use the appropriate media channels – on or off line – for responding.
Burying your head in the sand and waiting for it to all blow over is no longer a viable option.