Andy’s Answers: Early warning signs of a social media crisis
At what point does a negative blog post, an angry tweet or an inaccurate comment become a crisis that your team needs to respond to? Anyone who’s made anything has a critic — but how do you know when to jump in and respond to an issue before it gets bigger than it needs to? Here are three ideas to help separate the pointless troll comments from something that deserves a response.
What to look for:
- How influential the commenter is. Probably the biggest early indicator of a potential crisis is how influential the person raising a fuss is. The bigger the network the critic has, the faster the negativity can spread.
- How your core fans are responding. If you see that your core group of evangelists is upset about an issue, that could be an early warning that something is really wrong.
- If it spreads to another channel. Seeing an issue translate from a few comments on a blog to an increase in angry calls to the call center should be a clear signal that you’ve got a serious issue brewing.
Related posts:
Tags: andy sernovitz, customer service, social media strategy
Categories: Andy's Answers
Permalink
Posted by Twitter Trackbacks for SmartBlog On Social Media » Andy’s Answers: Early warning signs of a social media crisis [smartblogs.com] on Topsy.com on September 24th, 2009 at 5:27 am
[...] SmartBlog On Social Media » Andy’s Answers: Early warning signs of a social media crisis smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/09/24/andys-answers-early-warning-signs-of-a-social-media-crisis – view page – cached At what point does a negative blog post, an angry tweet or an inaccurate comment become a crisis that your team needs to respond to? Anyone who’s made anything has a critic — but how do you know when to jump in and respond to an issue before it gets bigger than it needs to? Here are three ideas to help separate the pointless troll comments from something that deserves a — From the page [...]
Posted by B.L. Ochman on September 25th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
It’s sometimes hard to determine a blogger’s influence, and even one with a small number of readers, if those are influencers, can start a blogstorm.
after all, it was a teenager with a pen top who started the Kryptonite firestorm that spread round the world.
I def agree companies need to pay attention if the issue is in more than one media type.
Posted by How to see PR problems coming « FCEdge Powerful Marketing Communications on September 28th, 2009 at 3:28 am
[...] How to see PR problems coming Social-media crises can be tough to spot early on, but there are early-warning indicators, Andy Sernovitz writes. You should step in whenever the “pointless troll comments” are actually coming from an influential figure, he notes. Seeing outrage from normally loyal fans or noticing the discussion spreading to other communities are also causes for alarm, he writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media [...]
Posted by RoCT…the post-InterBike edition | Base Camp Communications on September 28th, 2009 at 10:36 am
[...] Early Warning Signs of a Social Media Crisis “At what point does a negative blog post, an angry tweet or an inaccurate comment become a crisis that your team needs to respond to?” [...]
Posted by Weekend Reading on October 9th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
[...] Early Warning Signs of a Social Media Crisis: SmartBlog on Social Media gives excellent and simple criteria for how to tell when you are about to be on the receiving end of a social media crisis. [...]
Posted by Matt Arney on October 9th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
If someone criticizes any of your posts (may it be Twitter, blog or Facebook), take it with a grain of salt. A person wouldn’t bother spending time to critique you if it’s not that important. A debate can occur but then should be a healthy one. People have different views about things and as people of social media we should be open to criticism to improve ourselves and our business.
Posted by SmartBrief on: How to handle customer comments | SmartBlog On Social Media on March 8th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
[...] How to see PR problems coming Social-media crises can be tough to spot early on, but there are early-warning indicators, Andy Sernovitz writes. You should step in whenever the “pointless troll comments” are actually coming from an influential figure, he notes. Seeing outrage from normally loyal fans or noticing the discussion spreading to other communities are also causes for alarm, he writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media (9/24) [...]