Online Reputation: Tips To Navigate Disaster
When an organisation finds itself 'on the ropes', deemed culpable of having committed grave oversight and dereliction of duty in its dealings with the public, it is good crisis management practice that its leaders come forward, admit the failing, deliver a personal apology and outline the precise, systematic and often sacrificial steps underway to restore trust.
It's a nerve-wracking strategy and one I've selectively counselled to organisations in crisis situations. If well managed, it is one that can take the real sting out of an issue and put a company's reputation and commercial prosperity back on track.
Within the last month, Domino's Pizza used this recovery strategy to great effect in its very own marketing nightmare. In a scandal dubbed "Boogergate", two uniformed employees at the pizza chain posted a tawdry YouTube video of one of them rolling a cheese slice up his nostril before placing it in a customer sandwich. With other gross acts performed, it spoke to every primordial, gut-churning suspicion one might have about back-room food hygiene and dubious employee practices in low-budget, fast food environments.
Effective crisis management dictates that any company should be aware and on top of an issue, having contained media and public spread and committed to substantive remedial action, within 24 hours. By these standards, Domino's response within 48 hours was sluggish.
Having sparked in the niche GoodAsYou.org and the consumer "watchdog"-style Consumerist outlets, the video made that fateful leap across to the mainstream, appearing in NBC and The New York Times. Over 1 million people, meanwhile, had watched the YouTube posting before it was eventually 'pulled'.
Nonetheless, Domino's decision to launch its own YouTube apology by Patrick Doyle, Domino's US President, will still go down as an example of classic crisis mitigation within a non-traditional environment. Despite a stilted delivery, Doyle announced assertive action that would see the local store closed, the two employees fired and placed under police investigation and top-down reviews of the company's hiring practices. Recognising its international demographic, the company moved swiftly to Australia, where its CEO, Ron Meij, relayed strong and reassuring messages about standards in its regional outpost.
It was an astute recognition of audience demographics and mood that allowed Domino's finally to recover brand image and to achieve the highest form of reputation management: turning a seemingly insurmountable crisis into a valuable learning and social marketing opportunity.
One of the most valuable lessons in online crisis management is crisis preparedness. These are some of my top tips to help you in your online crisis and reputation management strategy:
1. Track Your Mentions
It's a nerve-wracking strategy and one I've selectively counselled to organisations in crisis situations. If well managed, it is one that can take the real sting out of an issue and put a company's reputation and commercial prosperity back on track.
Within the last month, Domino's Pizza used this recovery strategy to great effect in its very own marketing nightmare. In a scandal dubbed "Boogergate", two uniformed employees at the pizza chain posted a tawdry YouTube video of one of them rolling a cheese slice up his nostril before placing it in a customer sandwich. With other gross acts performed, it spoke to every primordial, gut-churning suspicion one might have about back-room food hygiene and dubious employee practices in low-budget, fast food environments.
Effective crisis management dictates that any company should be aware and on top of an issue, having contained media and public spread and committed to substantive remedial action, within 24 hours. By these standards, Domino's response within 48 hours was sluggish.
Having sparked in the niche GoodAsYou.org and the consumer "watchdog"-style Consumerist outlets, the video made that fateful leap across to the mainstream, appearing in NBC and The New York Times. Over 1 million people, meanwhile, had watched the YouTube posting before it was eventually 'pulled'.
Nonetheless, Domino's decision to launch its own YouTube apology by Patrick Doyle, Domino's US President, will still go down as an example of classic crisis mitigation within a non-traditional environment. Despite a stilted delivery, Doyle announced assertive action that would see the local store closed, the two employees fired and placed under police investigation and top-down reviews of the company's hiring practices. Recognising its international demographic, the company moved swiftly to Australia, where its CEO, Ron Meij, relayed strong and reassuring messages about standards in its regional outpost.
It was an astute recognition of audience demographics and mood that allowed Domino's finally to recover brand image and to achieve the highest form of reputation management: turning a seemingly insurmountable crisis into a valuable learning and social marketing opportunity.
"The Challenge that comes with the freedom of the internet is that any idiot with a camera and an internet link can do stuff like this - and ruin the reputation of a brand that's nearly 50 years old, and the reputations of 125,000 hard-working men and women across the nation and in 60 countries around the world."
- Tim McIntyre, V-P Communications, Domino's Pizza, LLC.
One of the most valuable lessons in online crisis management is crisis preparedness. These are some of my top tips to help you in your online crisis and reputation management strategy:
1. Track Your Mentions
- Company name/URL
- Employees/Key Staff
- Competitors
- Brand/Product
- Impacting Issues/News Themes
- Who is talking about you online/offline?
- Where are they talking?
- How influential/connected are they?
- IS YOUR BRAND/PRODUCT WORKING?
- Who else is impressing them?
- Which media/communities do they reference?
- Train the team/assign media responsibilities
- Prioritise outlets
- Develop online company/brand tracking toolkit
- Listen in to online 'buzz'/follow 'hashtags'
- Evaluate what's being said (impact/control)
- Define your dialogue style/persona
- Build unsolicited consumer feedback channels across all "portals"
- Evolve company/executive blogs, corporate Twitter accounts etc
- Use social media evaluation to inform corporate & marketing strategy
- Engage in value dialogue that enhances accessibility, understanding
- Avoid 'hard sell' at all costs!
- Establish crisis governance team
- Establish satellite crisis management teams
- Embed crisis alert and escalation procedures
- Clarify functional responsibilities
- Train key spokespeople (outlets/messaging)
- Generate communication toolkits/protocols
- Undertake regular scenario planning/alert tests
Labels: crisis management, Domino's Pizza, online PR, online reputation
posted by Joanna Lund
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1:42 PM
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