Reputation First Aid

As with normal first aid there are three fundemenal laws which need to be adhered to at all times:

• Preserve life – your job is to preserve your brand’s reputation. Do what you can to slow the crisis BUT not stop it. A first aider is not a doctor and their functions are very different.
• Prevent further harm – do what you can to stop additional members of the community from joining the foray. More importantly, be VERY sure that whatever you do doesn’t make things worse. In many cases a situation goes from bad to terrible because of a misunderstanding of the rules and scope of engagement (take for example Nestle’s reputation bluders).
• Promote recovery – do what you can to create the systems and share the information required for rapid and full resolution.

Scenario: You happen to come across a blog post, it has a strong view of your brand and has 100 comments, with the comment count is climbing fast. What do you do?

Read the blog post (incl. comments) and assess it according to it’s accuracy, bias and potential business consequences. Once you have this worked out then either engage and perpetuate the conversation (if it’s positive and accurate) or escalate (if it’s negative).

Step 2: Escalate correctly

All too often an escalation trigger is hit but the escalation itself doesn’t contain enough information to really demonstrate the severity (or opportunity) of the situation. When escalating, a number of decisions need to be made based on the potential consequences (and your certainty thereof). If the consequences are extreme and you are confident then escalate as senior as your chain would allow (i.e. don’t get yourself into trouble). If you are less certain then escalate to a more direct manager and get their view on the situation. In any event your escalation email needs to make the situation very clear and should include a very concise subject line (ideally in a pre-agreed format) such as: “Online Reputation Crisis – [brand name] – [flash point]”. In other words: “Online Reputation Crisis – Nestle – palm oil extracts”. This must be followed by the following information in the email itself:

• Brief description of crisis (25 words or less)
• Brief description of cause (25 words or less)
• List of major role players with contact details/URLs where possible
• List of other places that this crisis is presenting itself
• List of recommendations on how to resolve crisis
• List of activities which you are going to be doing in the background. Typically these include:
  • Research into individuals and understand their sphere of influence
  • Attempt to find a way into the community
  • Monitor for changes in the ABCs
  • Monitor for additional places where the crisis may be presenting itself.

Sending the email just isn’t enough. Sure, you found the problem but if you really intend to resolve the problem you need to keep moving.

Begin by further exploring your list of influencers and draw up a table for each containing:

• Their name and primary URL
• A description of who they are – including as much psychographic and demographic information as you can find
• Their sphere of influence (i.e. technology, government etc)
• Physical area of influence (i.e. London etc)
• A short description of why they are an influencer (i.e. owner of XYZ etc)
• Known associates (i.e. who do they communicate most with – you can get this via Twitter, their blog roll etc)
• Any social graph information (i.e. Twitter followers, LinkedIn contacts etc)
• Any personal relationships (i.e. is friends with person XYZ within company or a connection via a mutual friend)
• List of all Web properties (i.e blog, company site, Twitter, LinkedIn etc)

Step 4: Lever existing relationships

You will likely find that there are some strong personal relationships which exist between your company and some influencers (either directly or through a intermediary – check Facebook and LinkedIn as a guide) then contact the intermediary and try find out more information. It’s normally worth discussing the situation with the intermediary and explaining that you are providing information to those who are able to resolve the problem. During this phrase you want to try find out:

• The strength of the relationship between the intermediary and the influencer
• Further information about the influencer (obviously being conscious to respect the relationship between the intermediary and the influencer)
• Their personal contact details (cellphone number etc)
• Try get approval to use the intermediary’s name when making contact (i.e. I got your details from XYZ who said I should contact you)

Step 5: Share finding with the team

If you still haven’t gotten a response from the person you escalated to already then send them your research and offer to assist them further.

Step 6: If you don’t get a response

In the awkward event that the person you escalated to isn’t around (and you have confirmed this) then you can either escalate to another individual within the company or recontact the intermediaries and ask for an introduction to the relevant parties. Once you have an introduction it’s then a case of contacting them and using the following script (this example is styled for a service complaint but can be modified according to your needs):

I’m phoning from company ABC. I’m sorry to contact you on your cellphone/phone etc but I was given your details by XYZ who recommended I give you a call. Do you have a moment to talk?

I just wanted to quickly touch base with you and let you know that we have seen the problems which you are encountering and are working internally to sort them out. The unfortunate thing is that I’m not really in a position to resolve your problem myself but I have spoken to our XYZ who will be dealing with it as soon as they are back in the office.

Sorry to disturb but if there is anything else which you can tell me about the situation then it would make it much easier for us to resolve it…”

Them: “Thanks for the call – I really wasn’t expecting it. My problem is XYZ…”

You: Begin a string of caring questions remembering that you are contacting them with three objectives in mind 1) let them know that they have been heard (which will normally buy you some time), 2) gain more information about the situation to feed to whoever you escalated to, 3) actually resolve the problem itself – simply giving it lip service will land you in more trouble than it’s worth. Finally, 4) to build an honest and transparent relationship so you can begin to convert them into a brand advocate etc.

NB – not all calls will go as well as this but provided you are looking to genuinely resolve the problem then very few customers will respond badly. It’s also worth noting that you absolutely must approach this as an individual who works for the company rather than the company itself. This will help you build rapport and a genuine relationship.

And… that is that. You have just performed reputation first aid and it’s now time to step aside for the communication, marketing and brand team to step in to resolve the problem.