A Seat at the Grown Ups' Table
There's been a lot in the
press lately about what not to do in the face of a social media
crisis and lessons learned from highly publicized screw-ups by
major companies like Nestle, Southwest Airlines and Toyota. And
yes, some of these incidents did hinge upon faux pas in the use of
social media. But as I read through example after example, I can't
help but think that in many of these cases, there exists some
underlying corporate practice or decision at the root cause. Social
media simply brought that problem to the surface, and when the
response is too little too late or hits a nerve with consumers, the
focus shifts away from that root cause. The spotlight is turned on
the PR/social media team, who was likely given little background to
the issue and had to react within seconds to something that could
have been brewing for years.
Word spreads like wildfire through social media channels, and as
a result of the openness of the platforms, companies are forced to
be more accountable for their actions. Because guess what - just
like Tiger and Jesse, if you're doing something shady, you WILL get
caught. But also similar to the Cheating Charlies of the world,
chances are that the getting caught part isn't the root problem,
but it's now where the focus lies.
So my plea to business owners and C-suites everywhere, is to
think about public relations implications BEFORE you get caught.
Bring your PR or Corporate Communications team to the table early
and often and for decisions that may not overtly seem like
communications problems. They will see an issue from a different
perspective and can anticipate how it might be received in the
press and in social media. In Nestlé's case, was the real issue its
snarky tone on Facebook, or was it the palm oil suppliers that
sparked the Greenpeace campaign in the first place? The operations
department is unlikely to see a supplier choice as any business of
the PR team. But when the news breaks, guess who is there to pick
up the pieces. Now I'm not saying that Nestlé's response didn't
make things worse, because it certainly did. But perhaps it could
have been avoided altogether if PR were consulted on potential
impact of using said suppliers. So offer us a seat at the grown-ups
table. I promise, we won't throw our food.