Company Reputation Management With Social Media

It can happen in a flash; one of your employees posts something on social media intended for their personal page, while unintentionally logged into the company’s page. This is one of many moments where companies need to be prepared to prevent, respond, and fix mistakes.
The conversation about whether a company should or should not participate on social media is over. However, because of the fast moving (and often public) nature of social media communication, companies are in need of a strong communication strategy. This includes understanding why your company participates on a specific social network, identifying who and where your customers are online, and tailoring an action plan for when things go wrong.
Ironically, sometimes not participating on social media can be the moment when things go wrong. With our digital addictions, your customers are looking for your company to be at their fingertips at a moment’s notice. Since the consumer is forcing brands to behave like an API, it is important to start thinking about your social engagement as providing a better customer experience on their terms.

replying via social media in a timely manner

Recently, while attending ClickZ Live San Francisco, I listened to AOL Senior Director of Audience Development and Georgetown University online marketing adjunct professor Simon Heseltine present on reputation management for social media. Afterwards, I asked him to share some insights for senior leadership and how they should be managing their company’s reputation on social media.
Where should companies start preparing for a social media mistake?
Heseltine: Make sure that you have at least one social media plan in place so your employees know what they should and shouldn’t be doing. So, when they screw up—and they will, we are all human—they will have some experience with social media, and hopefully an idea of how to best address the situation.
A good example of this is DiGiorno Pizza; while the hashtag #WhyIStayed was trending (referring to victims of domestic abuse following the Ray Rice scandal), DiGiorno highjacked the hashtag and replied “#WhyIStayed you had pizza.”