social media crisis management: three case studies

Copyright © 2010 Adonai Training LLP. All rights reserved.

Social Media Crisis Management

Presented By Adonai Training LLP

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Table of Contents

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Content Page

Introduction 3 - 4

British Petroleum 5 - 10

Ford Motor 11 - 18

Nestle 19 - 27

Final Words 28 - 29

About The Author 30

About Adonai Training LLP 31

Contact Us 32


Introduction

Social media has drastically changed the landscape of crisis management. With close to23% of the time spent on the internet on social networks and Google providing three-quarters of a billion search results a day, the internet is a giant public library where usershave the ease of discovering and spreading information around.

What does this mean to companies facing a crisis?It means that when information released is notcontained and acted upon quickly, it can spiral out ofcontrol. This is particularly applicable to bad news. Avideo can reach more than ten thousands of views,an article can be shared thousands of times throughFacebook and Twitter all in a matter of 24 hours.Companies simply cannot ignore social media’s abilityto aggravate a crisis and the need to harness it whenmanaging crises.

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Introduction

In this ebook, we will explore the dos-and-don’ts of social media crisis management through anin-depth analysis of three case studies, each from a different industry. We will look at how BritishPetroleum, Ford Motor Company and Nestle manage their crises and find out what we can learnfrom them. This serves as a good introduction for any member of the company – from executivesto board members, on the basics of know-how on crisis management using social media.

For each case study, we will first provide an overview of the crisis on how and why it started andspread. Then we detail the turning points of the crises and the company’s reactions. Here are keylearning points of the ebook:

1. British PetroleumBuild relationships before a crisisAssemble a social media crisis management team

2. Ford MotorsCommunicate effectivelyDelegating a ‘face’ as spokesperson

3. NestleTrain your staff for efficiencyImportance of creating a social media policy

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BRITISH PETROLEUMThe Largest Marine Oil Spill in History

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Overview

Deep Horizon oil spill crisis started from an explosion in anoffshore drilling rig that killed 11 and injured 17 of its workers.Since then, oil has been spilling out into the ocean for a fewmonths before it was finally capped. The crisis was fuelled bythe BP’s inefficiency to stop the spill and blaming other partiesfor the explosion, and made worse by its then-CEO ‘s (TonyHayward) insensitive comments about the amount of spillbeing “tiny” compared to the size of the ocean and remarkingthat he “would like his life back” from the crisis.

Social media wise, BP is not new to this concept. It owns aFacebook page, YouTube channel, Twitter account, as well as aFlickr account. However, these tools did not come in handy forBP’s crisis management as BP has failed to harness these intomanaging its crisis effectively and made it worse by buyingsearch engine ads without first tracking sentiments.

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What BP has done…

During the crisis, BP constantly update their social media tools to provide the latest informationwithout any form of engagement. However, BP’s voice in social media is drown in the voices ofdissenters. Below are the social media tools BP adopts and their fan-base numbers. For Facebookand Twitter, statistics of fan-base belonging to dissenters are also presented.

Youtube6,472 Subscribers

FacebookBP Official Page41,069 Fans

Boycott BP Page846,608 Fans

TwitterBP Official Account18,596 Followers

BPGlobalPR190,561 Followers

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Social MediaCrisis Management Analysis

What BP has done right

What BP has not done right

• Updating its social media platformsUpdates were provided on a regular basis on the status of oil spill and clean up.

•Did not build up a strong baseBP’s social media fan-base is strong but it’s dwarfed by the size of fan-bases belonging to its dissenters.

Hence, even with constant updates, these updates could not create an impact on the sentiments people have on BP. The lack of strong base also means that people are not enticed to back BP up or show BP support.

•Failure to engage with fansIn their social media platforms, there was no engagement of any kind. Comments are not replies, mentions on Twitter are not done. Such absence makes it hard for BP to build any rapport with fans.

•Did nothing to cease or respond to negative commentsInstead of replying to negative comments on what BP is doing to rectify the problem, BP tried to get Twitter to shut down dissenter’s accounts.

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Social Media Learning Point: Build relationships before crisis strikes

Social media helps build up a relationship between the two companies and customers. As aform of buffering your brand’s reputation before a crisis strikes, start forming relationshipsusing it. After all, it is easier to forgive a friend than a stranger when a mistake is made.Having a relationship also means that the company be transparent and honest to theirconsumers.

However, from insensitive remarks, the lack of engagement on the social media platforms andBP attempt to control information about the oil spill, BP has portrayed itself to be notinterested in building relationships. Not surprising, data in sentiments tracking shows anupward spike in negativeSentiments when the crisishappened.

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Social Media Learning Point: Assemble a Social Media Team

Social media is also here to provide a two-waycommunication between a company and customers.In a crisis a scale like this where lives are lost andlivelihoods are severely damaged, empathy andaccountability is expected but unfortunately notoffered by BP.

Assembling a team to man your social media platformis a very important factor in crisis management.Having a team can help with the speed of replying tocomments and aid the provision of information.Updating your social media platforms can beautomated, but engagement with people on theseplatforms can’t be automated. At a crisis this grave,you ay want to rotating shifts among your staff toensure availability of information throughout the day.

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FORD MOTOR COMPANYThe Ranger Station Saga

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Overview

In December 2008, TheRangerStation.com, a Ford Ranger fan site managed by aRanger enthusiast, came under legal fire from Ford for violating Ford’s trademark andintellectual property rights. Ford ordered, through a cease and desist letter to the siteowner, Jim Oaks, to pay $5,000 in fines and to surrender the domain name. Oaks hasbeen operating the fan site for a decade and doesn’t have the resources to pay thefines or to counter-sue Ford, hence look to the fan site members for support. Over thenext twenty-two hours, Jim’s post received 916 heated responses, most unhappy withhow a big company like Ford treats its loyal supporters with such contempt, somemocking this attempt as one Ford adopts to recover its shortfall in revenue. However,unknown to these fans, Fordsimply wanted the site to stopselling counterfeit Ford products.The fine and request for thedomain name was just a scaretactic employed to stop this sale.

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http://therangerstation.com/





What Ford has done…

This crisis was managed largely by Scott Monty, the Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager of Ford Motor, using Twitter as the main social media tool of communication. Below, on the left are the selected Tweets from Monty’s account in United States Eastern Daylight Time and on the right are some comments on what his tweet was about.

Time Tweet Explanation

1:30am @ScottMonty This is about as bad as PR gets for Ford right now! Very bad move that’s going to cause loss of sales.

Scott Monty, the Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager, received a heads-up tweet just hours after Oaks story started blazing on the internet.

7: 29am @Jtegner Thanks for letting me know. I’m looking into that this morning.

He checked his account, acknowledged the previous tweet, and subsequently started to investigate and rectify the problem.

8:32am Ford makes the front page of USA Today: Ford benefits from CEO's turn to road less travelled

Monty announced that Ford has been featured in the media after its efforts for the “Big Three Bailout Plan”.

11: 23am

@ContractorTalk I’m in discussion with our Chief Trademark Counsel about it right now. I’m none too pleased. #ford

Constant replies were also made directed to people who asked them. He also made use of hash tag to aid in information search regarding the incident.

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11: 31am

For anyone asking about the Ford fan site andlegal action: I’m in active discussions with ourlegal dept. about resolving it. Pls retweet..

Monty also provided a call-to-action to his followers tohelp spread his side of the story. A total of 19 of his 5,600 followers retweeted this message, broadcasting it toa total of 13,400 people.

12:17 pm

@Mdurwin @Voltageblog I'm finding it's amuch different story from our legaldepartment...

Monty constantly provided updates on the status of hisinvestigation, sometimes direct to the people who askedthem.

12:29 pm

@Petertdavis It means we didn't get the fullstory from the site owners. There's a deeperissue in question. #ford

1: 07pm Re the Ford fan site: I’m finding that therewas counterfeit material being sold on it.Trying to get clarity on the URL issue. #Ford

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4:03 p.m. @Psadler And the Model T only got 12horsepower with a maximum speed of20 mph.

The crisis did not dampen his ability to perform his dailyfunctions of answering queries.

4: 34pm @BrettTrout Please correct that. We’vesince remedied it.

Monty is also on the constant lookout for people who areunaware of his progress to tell them about it.

4:55 p.m. @KrisColvin We're not shutting the sitedown; we're asking that they stop sellingcounterfeit material. #ford

He also answers to questions clarifying Ford’s actions forpeople who have missed his constant updated on theinvestigations.

4: 56pm Here is Ford’s official response to the fansite cease & desist debacle. #Ford Pleaseretweet

His final tweet on the debacle while asking followers toretweet the message. 25 of his followers responded to thiscall, retweeting hismessage to 21,000 more Twitter members. The total timetaken for the crisis to start and end was a mere 22 hours and26 minutes

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What Ford has done right

What Ford has not done right

• Alert was heard earlyChecking his social media tools early provides crucial time for containment of the crisis.

• Make use of existing technologies available in social media toolsMonty made use of Twitter’s hash tags to help organize information.

• Constant updatesIt prevents any speculations that may worsen the crisis.

• Replies to questions using mentionsThis ensures that people gets the answers they wanted.

• Going to Ford’s detractorsClarifications on their wrong information prevents them from joining the witch hunt, which can grow in largenumbers quickly.

• Make use of existing networksUsing Retweets, Ford’s messages were able to reach a wider scope of people.

• Able to perform daily functionsThe company did not come to a standstill while handling the crisis. Hence preventing more complains aboutefficiency pouring in.

• Bringing attention to Ford’s media coverage Such move only bring more attention to their crisis.

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Social Media Learning Point:Listen and tell your side of the story

After the heads-up, Monty began actively sourcing for the root of the problem, twitting hisprogress and replying to his followers. Not only that, he was able to tweet about Ford’s side ofthe story, that Ford simply wanted to stop the site from selling counterfeit Ford products. Hislistening skills and prompt response certainly saved Ford from further damage and ended thecrisis in a mere 23 hours.

Always listen to what sentiments are going on with your brand online and engage them to passon your side of the story. Do make use of free listening tools available online like SocialMention,SiteMention or employ a paid service like Radian6 for a comprehensive review. Remember, neverkeep quiet. In any crisis, people want answers and accountability. Keeping

quiet leaves a gap of unknown for any stories to be filled in. This certainly

does not do good to help your situation. Do not disappear off the radar

suddenly as well. Such half-hearted engagements will only worsen the

situation.

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http://socialmention.com/

http://www.sitemention.com/

http://www.radian6.com/

http://www.radian6.com/


Social Media Learning Point:Delegate a Face to the CrisisManagement Team

To be able to be an effective communicator, you need to be a listener, researcher,and most importantly, being human. Never lose your human touch, particular incrisis management when empathy is most needed. So what can be more ‘human’than a real person to represent the crisis management team?

In Ford’s case, Scoot Monty served that purpose effectively. He became the personto go to with any questions on the crisis, and hence containing the crisis to acertain extend. Monty was also the right person for the job as he was in a positionof authority who could make things right. When facing crisis of your own, delegatea person of authority to be the face to the crisis management team. This advice isalso presented by the social media crisis management efforts by Domino’s Pizzaand British Petroleum, who both appointed their CEO as the face of the crisismanagement team.

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NESTLEFacebook Debacle

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Overview

The crisis was sparked off by Greenpeace’s report on how Nestle’s source of palm oil is damagingrainforests in Indonesia. To show their displeasure, outraged advocates decided to adopt alteredNestle’s logos as their profile pictures in Facebook. The crisis was, however, made worst andpopular by Nestle’s management of the latter issue about the logos. It posted a status on its fanpage telling people not to use such logos as their profile picture when commenting or else theircomments will be deleted. Fans retaliated citing that freedom of speech should be respectedwhich has been met with several rude and sarcastic comments from Nestle.

This action of theirs brought the attention of social media enthusiasts to pick up the story, tryingto figure out the situation, the lessons to be learned, and what should have been donedifferently. The crisis turned viral. Fortunately, the crisis went viral because of the rude replies,and not so much on the main root of the problem, which meant that the crisis would die downshortly after, which it did. Nestle responded to the palm oil issue by constantly updating itsstatement, while maintaining minimal engagement with comments on Facebook page . It thenended with an official letter to Greenpeace for future collaboration.

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http://www.facebook.com/Nestle?v=wall&story_fbid=107128462646736





What Nestle has done…

In reaction to Greenpeace’s report, Nestle posted a series of status updates on its Facebook page.On the left below shows their daily updates on the crisis while on the right details the number ofreactions, in terms of ‘likes’ and comments. The content of these comments include Nestle’ssupporters stating their support to the company and reprimanding detractors for their commentson the issue. One will realize that this crisis is still of a manageable size during this period of time.

March 1733 likes, 30 comments



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However, in this post on 19th March where Nestlestarted to be rude in replying comments, thenumber of comments jumped to a total of 243comments. The content of the comments were alsodifferent. Supporters stop stating their supportwhile many people were slamming Nestle’s publicrelations team instead of their issues withGreenpeace. The comments in this post date fromMarch to July.

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While managing the crisis Nestle created for itself on their Facebook page, daily updates werestill sent with regards to the status of their palm oil efforts. They have also set up an Q&A site forpeople to search for answers. These updates were likely to be efforts to manage the crisis thatthey have created on their Facebook page as the frequency of their updates on this debacle wasincreased for that day.



March 1924 likes,128 comments

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The crisis finally ended with a letter by Nestle. This post attracted many comments praisingNestle for their decision to support sustainable palm oil with some accusing Nestle for pretendingto be concerned.

14 April147 likes, 169 comments

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What Nestle has done right

What Nestle has not done right

• Constant updates Daily updates were made to provide accountability to the company’s actions.

•Diverting attention from the Facebook crisisNestle tried to divert people’s attention back to the palm oil issue, which was their primary crisis, by posting more updates than usual, after their post with rude replies went out of hand.

•Provided a site for people to look for answersA Q&A site was made as a one-stop shop to answer any queries consumers may have. This move may be made to direct traffic out of their Facebook page, to prevent more participation in their offending post.

•Learn from their mistake immediately Nestle stopped replying rudely to comments; in fact, they have stopped replying to much comments.

• Being rude and insulting peopleWhether online or offline, minding one’s manners is basic customer service.

• CensorshipCensorship is permissible as certain offensive comments should be deleted. However, when censorship equates to stiffening negative comments about a company, that crosses the line and creates a backlash on the company.

• Creating a crisis on top of their current oneWhen a crisis is happening, it is always advisable to tread lightly in order not to aggravate the situation.

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Social Media Learning Point:Train Your Staff on the Proper Useof Social Media

Nestle had a good start on crisis management with their Facebook fans expressing their supportfor Nestle. However, what Nestle did with replying to comments has successfully created acrisis on top their crisis, and rendered it hard for their fans to show continuous support.

Your employees manning your social media tools represent your organization and thereforehave the capability to affect your brand image. As such, organizations need to train employeesthe proper way to use and manage these tools. Having a proper social media policy will providegood guidance to your employees as well.

In Nestle’s case, the promptness in replying to comments is applaudable. However, social mediais about providing a voice to those who previous don’t have one. Hence, by disallowingdissenters to voice their concerns, you risk looking like a bully. If you must control what isspoken, basic manners should have been observed evenif copyrights issue is violated, and never insult anyone,whether supporters or protesters alike, on a public forum.Showing that you are polite and professional even to theskeptics can also help boost good publicity in return.

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Social Media Learning Point:Establish a Social Media Policy

Having a proper social media policy will provide good guidance to your employees as itprovides protocol on responding to comments on your social media platforms. This,however, is not in contradictory to the previous learning point. Authenticity should bepresented professionally when you are engaging your fans. This means that whileshowing empathy, you do not use unprofessional terms like ‘sweetie’, or ‘homie’;instead, you address people by their name.

A social media policy will also help prevent any worsening of your situation by humanerror like what Nestle has done to itself. It also ensures consistency amongst yourteam of staff manning the social media platforms, therefore portraying a unified brandimage.

Your social media policy should includes protocols on what can be said and what can’t,when can information be released and basic rules on replying to comments. You mayalso wish to include how much time is to be allocated to be spend on social mediatools.

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Last few learning points…

I hope you have a better understanding on social media’s impact on crisis management and a few tips ofhow-to when managing your crisis with social media. Here are some tips on what not to do, just to giveyou more ideas on how to handle your crisis online.

• Be silent when answers are needed

People lobbying a crisis usually wants action or answers, to keep quiet is almost suicidal. What’smore, keeping quiet leaves a gap of unknown for any stories to be filled in. This certainly does notdo good to help your situation. Do not disappear off the radar suddenly as well. Such half-heartedengagements is liken to adding oil to fire.

• Start a blaming game

There’s probably a good reason if all facts point at you. As the good old saying goes, honesty is thebest policy in crisis management so do not start a blaming game. If the public is mistaken aboutyour company, clarify yourself.

• Disallowing dissenters to voice their concerns

People dislike a cover-up in crises, even if it means to cover up dissentions. Allow people to voicetheir opinions on your social media platforms even if they do not support you. Then seek to engagethem by sharing your side of the story, or what you are working on to improve the situation.

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Critical Steps You Must Take

As we come to the end of this ebook, the following are some steps that you must takefor effective social media crisis management.

• Develop a social media crisis management strategy

• Assemble a specialized team for effective social media crisis management

• Create a system of governance on using social media and a social media policy

• Ensure that your staff are trained in social media

How Adonai Training can help youAdonai Training conducts several social media training courses to equip SME businesswith the vital skills for effective social media crisis management. Please check ourwebsite for our range of courses that will be suitable for you and your company.

As a compliment to our readers from Social Media World Forum, simple quote thepromotional code: ATSMWF2010 to enjoy a 20% discount for all courses. This discounthas no expiry date.

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About the Author

A psychology enthusiastic and social media practitioner, Elisha Tan devotes hertime to study the applications of social media and its impact on the social,economy and business arenas, as well as understanding how people behaveonline. As the Social Media Consultant at Adonai Training, Elisha has beenengaging social media as a marketing strategy to clients. Her skills are verifiable;barely two months into the job, she managed to clinch a consultancy projectwith a major governmental agency. As a hobby, Elisha maintains a blog whereshe pens down her thoughts and experiences on entrepreneurship and socialmedia.

You may drop her an email at [email protected], follow her on Twitter@elishatan or read her blog at www.elishatan.com

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About Adonai Training LLP

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social media crisis management: three case studies

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