A digital crisis can damage your reputation, trust, and credibility in an instant. Whether it's a data breach, a negative review, a social media backlash, or a product failure, you need to act fast and effectively to restore your confidence and reputation. Here are some of the best ways to do that.
The first step to recover from a digital crisis is to acknowledge the problem and apologize sincerely. Don't ignore, deny, or deflect the issue, as this will only make it worse. Show empathy and accountability, and explain what happened and why. Be transparent and honest, and avoid jargon or excuses. Communicate clearly and consistently across all your digital channels, and update your audience as you resolve the situation.
To restore reputation: - Address the problem directly. - Act swiftly to show active management. - Thoroughly investigate. - If at fault, issue a sincere, public apology. - Be transparent. - Utilize various channels for consistent messaging. - Actively engage on social media, responding promptly and openly. - Demonstrate commitment to improvement. - Emphasize positive aspects to counterbalance negative perceptions, showcasing successes. - Enlist influencers for genuine endorsements to rebuild trust. - Continuously monitor online conversations, promptly addressing new concerns. - Consider compensation. - Please make sure your team is prepared for public relations. - Consider guidance from PR. Rebuilding takes time and consistency.
3 rules for digital and conventional crises: 1. Tell the truth (media training can help you speak the truth succinctly) 2. Tell the truth fast (there is no other option with digital) 3. Tell your employees first. They are always perceived as “insiders” and will be contacted for comment, opinion, etc.
A reputation is restored by actions not words. In a crisis or critical incident there are two components, the issue and the communication about it. First, fix the issue, identify why it happened, and note steps being taken to ensure it doesn't happen again (or how it will be addressed if it does). Then you communicate about it. It's a big leap in corporate communication when you can demonstrate the difference and help lead your organization down the best path to serve your stakeholders.
The only way is to show you've learnt fro the mistake, it can take time to get the credibility back but patience and integrity is the key. Own it and learn from it and apologise.
Reconocer el problema es el punto inicial para no solo restaurar la reputación de la marca sino también para de manera directa mostrar comprensión y empatía por la afectación de los usuarios que confían en el servicio. Traigo como ejemplo el correcto manejo que le dio Bancolombia a la afectación de los canales que estuvieron fuera de línea, inmediatamente se solucionó el presidente del banco Juan Carlos Mora publicó el siguiente mensaje que resumo: "Este fin de semana los canales virtuales de Bancolombia fallaron y entendiendo la confianza como la prioridad de nuestra relación tengo varios puntos para compartir: 1. Ser conscientes de la afectación, 2. Tranquilidad y compromiso con la seguridad, 3. Gratitud al equipo y los clientes."
The second step to recover from a digital crisis is to assess the impact and scope of the problem. How many people are affected? How severe is the damage? How long will it take to fix? What are the legal, financial, and reputational risks? You need to gather as much data and feedback as possible, and analyze the root causes and consequences of the crisis. Use tools like Google Alerts, social media monitoring, and customer surveys to track and measure the sentiment and response of your audience.
Constituez une équipe restreinte parmi vos collaborateurs pour pouvoir échanger rapidement les données et informations relatives à cette crise et prendre des décisions en circuit court et sécurisé. Cela a aussi le mérite de préserver le reste de l'équipe des moments de stress et de questionnement qui vont traverser votre organisation. n'oubliez pas le reste de votre équipe : cette cellule de crise doit travailler en étroite collaboration mais ne l'isolez pas hérmétiquement. Communiquez vers l'ensemble des collaborateurs en faisant montre de transparence. Expliquez qui compose cette cellule et qui la compose. Expliquez aussi que cette organisation est destinée à favoriser une résolution de crise rapide et efficace.
Assessing the impact from a digital crisis involves; Quantify Impact: Assess the crisis scale, understanding affected individuals, severity, and risks. Evaluate Legal and Financial Implications: Examine potential legal consequences and financial losses. Analyze Reputational Risks: Gauge impact on brand reputation and plan reputation management. Root Cause Analysis: Investigate crisis root causes for informed corrective actions. Utilize Monitoring Tools: Employ tools like Google Alerts and social media monitoring for real-time insights. Collect Audience Feedback: Implement customer surveys to understand perceptions and concerns...
Durante a gest?o de crise digital é muito importante acompanhar os avan?os e desdobramentos. As pessoas est?o engajando contra a empresa, relatando problemas e situa??es semelhantes ao exposto? O monitoramento é primordial para entender se a crise está esfriando ou aumentando. Se o números de relatos negativos for superior aos positivos, é preciso reavaliar a opera??o para entender por quê esse problema é t?o persistente e já criar formas de evitá-lo.
Whether you are doing this in-house or you have a monitoring agencies, you should measure the impact from daily to weekly then biweekly basis. Typical practice would be scanning all the ongoing online discussions and news clippings.
In the aftermath of a digital crisis, a critical and immediate step is the comprehensive assessment of the impact and scope of the issue. This involves a meticulous examination to ascertain the extent of the problem, evaluate its severity, estimate the duration required for resolution, and identify potential legal, financial, and repetitional risks. This process is instrumental in formulating an effective recovery strategy and ensuring a thorough understanding of the crisis dynamics.
The third step to recover from a digital crisis is to address the solution and implement corrective actions. Don't just say sorry, show how you are fixing the problem and preventing it from happening again. Provide concrete and realistic steps, timelines, and goals, and demonstrate your commitment and progress. Involve your stakeholders, partners, and customers in the solution process, and ask for their feedback and suggestions. Show that you are learning from your mistakes and improving your performance.
A proactive and transparent approach not only resolves the crisis but also rebuilds trust and credibility. Implement; Transparent Communication: Clearly communicate corrective actions and timelines. Demonstrate Commitment: Showcase concrete steps to address the issue and prevent recurrence. Involve Stakeholders: Engage stakeholders, partners, and customers in the solution process. Seek Feedback: Encourage feedback and suggestions to refine and enhance your approach. Highlight Learning: Emphasize lessons learned and improvements made for accountability.
Na minha experiência, já ficou claro que quando a empresa possui uma boa rela??o com os clientes, a recupera??o de uma crise digital acontece de forma muito mais rápida. Muitas vezes o problema se dá por conta de uma situa??o isolada, os fiéis clientes, que podemos chamar aqui de #lovers, já sabem disso e tomam a frente nas discuss?es virtuais para defender a empresa. Mas, isso n?o deve tranquilizar qualquer executivo durante uma crise. O empenho para entender a raiz do problema deve ser o mesmo. é preciso mostrar, até mesmo para os #lovers, que existe um empenho para evitar situa??es desagradáveis.
In recovering from a digital crisis, the third step is to address the solution and take corrective actions. It's not enough to apologize; you need to demonstrate how you're resolving the issue and preventing its recurrence. Outline concrete, realistic steps, timelines, and goals, showing your dedication and progress. Engage stakeholders, partners, and customers in the solution process, seeking their feedback and ideas. This approach demonstrates that you're learning from mistakes and improving. Your commitment to tangible change and openness to external input are key to restoring trust and credibility.
The fourth step to recover from a digital crisis is to amplify the positive and rebuild your reputation. Don't let the negative overshadow the positive aspects of your brand, products, and services. Highlight your strengths, values, and achievements, and share success stories and testimonials from your satisfied customers. Engage with your audience on social media, blogs, podcasts, and webinars, and offer valuable content and insights. Showcase your social responsibility and impact, and support causes and initiatives that align with your mission and vision.
To amplify the positive after a digital crisis, brands can: Emphasize Strengths: Highlight core values, achievements, and positive aspects of products/services. Leverage Customer Testimonials: Share success stories and testimonials to build credibility. Engage Actively: Utilize various platforms (social media, blogs, podcasts) to interact and share valuable content. Demonstrate Social Responsibility: Showcase commitment to social impact and support relevant causes.
Digital crisis usually creates a big Impact due to its vast reach. To recreate a strong brand presence in digital space it is important to highlight the positive aspects of the business. Such as Client testimonials, good reviews, strong digital PR, social responsibility, engaging with the audience with collab podcast, webinars and participating in event discussions to create positive impact digitally.
Divulgar as a??es positivas após uma crise é essencial para reconstruir a reputa??o. Mas, é muito importante lembrar que isso só deve ser feito ao final da gest?o de crise, quando os animos já estiverem tranquilos, ou muito perto de estarem. Caso contrário, suas a??es tendem a piorar a crise digital, podendo até mesmo extrapolar para o mundo off-line.
Après une crise, il s'agit de clore le chapitre et de projeter votre marque positivement vers l'avenir. Ne revenez pas sur les causes et les conséquences, au risque de réactiver, mais produisez des informations et contenus positifs sur vos réalisations après cette crise, expliquez quels enseignements vous en tirez, quels projets correctifs vous mettez en place ou quelles ambitions vous, votre équipe et vos clients nourrissez pour le futur. L'essentiel est d'agir en donnant de la perspective au futur de votre entreprise et de votre marque. La capacité d'une organisation à traverser les crises pour en faire des opportunités de progrès, même s'ils vous semblent petits. Votre communauté l'appréciera forcément.
The fifth step to recover from a digital crisis is to anticipate the future and prepare for potential scenarios. Don't assume that the crisis is over or that it won't happen again. Monitor the trends, changes, and opportunities in your industry and market, and adapt your strategies and tactics accordingly. Conduct regular audits and reviews of your digital assets, systems, and processes, and ensure that they are secure, compliant, and updated. Create a crisis management plan and team, and train them on how to respond effectively and efficiently to any situation.
Following a digital crisis, harness the power of social media conversations to empower leadership to make informed decisions. Keep a pulse on brand sentiment with real-time social listening, analytics and media monitoring to ensure issues don't resurface. Preserve and empower your brand's standing with ongoing reputation management to quickly address and mitigate any negativity. Identify when you brand is succeeding and look for authentic opportunities to engage in those moments.
A veces pueden parecer lugares muy civilizados, pero las empresas son cultura orales donde se aprende a través de mitos y leyendas. Después de una crisis, crea una fábula: esto es lo que pasó, así nos equivocamos, esto es lo que hicimos, y así salimos de ello. Con suerte, cuando la historia vuelva a repetirse, alguien lo recordará y conseguirá frenar el error a tiempo.
Our world has become highly uncertain, volatile, and fast-moving. So always try to anticipate crisis and unearth the "unknown, unknowns". - Instead of focusing on a crisis-management plan, organizations need to have a crisis-preparedness plan. - Business Continuity teams with business continuity plans with representation from cross-functional teams (think customer experience when selecting teams) -Source insights from media monitoring teams (PR) and Strategic Foresight teams regularly. Establish a process and framework to gather those, whom it will go to, who will act upon those - Simulation workshops every quarter to 'pressure-test' your system - Crisis communications training for company representatives.
Social listening and a crisis management plan are two essential tools I would recommend. Though I would also recommend having values/intangible tools at the ready as well. That includes transparency, truthfulness, decisiveness, and most of all empathy. You will need to utilize all of these in order to preserve the relationship your organization has spent so much time on and so many assets building with your audience. All of the tools in the world will not stop a relationship from breaking without these elements.
O planejamento de gest?o de crise é primordial para os negócios de qualquer empresa. é importante e necessário ter um plano bem desenvolvido, já com as possíveis situa??es e as pessoas que comp?em o comitê gestor de crise. E, após cada situa??o de risco de imagem é necessário rever esse planejamento, incluindo o estudo do que foi feito, quais os pontos fortes e a melhorar para uma nova possível situa??o.
The sixth step to recover from a digital crisis is to ask for feedback and evaluate your results. Don't be afraid to ask for feedback from your audience, customers, partners, and employees, and listen to their opinions and suggestions. Use metrics and indicators to measure your performance and reputation, and compare them with your goals and expectations. Identify what worked well and what didn't, and learn from your experience and outcomes. Celebrate your achievements and acknowledge your challenges, and thank your supporters and collaborators.
Neste momento, a pesquisa qualitativa com o público consumidor da marca se torna imprescindível. Em minha experiência, se a gest?o de crise foi bem construída e executada, este é o momento de avaliar os resultados (e repensar a estratégia, se necessário for).
In the sixth step of digital crisis recovery, asking for feedback and evaluating results is crucial. Engage with your audience, customers, partners, and employees, inviting their opinions and suggestions. This demonstrates openness and commitment to improvement. Utilize metrics and indicators to measure performance and reputation, comparing them against set goals and expectations. This helps in identifying successful strategies and areas needing improvement. Reflect on the experience to derive valuable lessons. Acknowledge both achievements and challenges, expressing gratitude to supporters and collaborators. This approach not only aids in current recovery but also strengthens future resilience and credibility.
If as an in-house corporation you feel challenged to do feedback inquiries or interviews, you can always reach out to third party agencies to do that for you. They maybe be more objective and unbiased.
Always do the follow-up after a crisis. If you promise to do something - do it, and then follow-up to targeted audience. Never lie and never promise something you are not able to do.
It is important to recognize that sometimes, despite our best efforts, there are situations where the best course of action is to allow time to pass. In certain cases, brands and individuals may find themselves expending a significant amount of energy in trying to immediately repair their reputation after a crisis, which can inadvertently prolong the crisis itself. Giving audiences the space and time to process and move on from the crisis can be beneficial. While time may not necessarily heal all wounds, it does provide an opportunity for people to reflect, gain perspective, and potentially shift their focus away from the crisis. This allows for a more organic and natural recovery process, rather than a rushed attempt at reputation repair.
If you actually fucked up: Never blame. Never complain. Never explain. Act with contrition. Fix it. Don't obfuscate. Don't layer half-truths. Speak with a single and consistent voice across all platforms. But what if you didn't?? What if you simply got called out for something that is standard industry practice, its not illegal or immoral, just icky. You have two options: live with it and let it blow over (while this too shall pass, it may never go away) or if you can't take the heat, change your behavior.
Never go public with half-baked apologies, or try to pin the blame elsewhere. Be forthcoming in your statement, own the issue and be clear. Even an iota of being defensive can ruin it further.
Recovering from a fracture in a brand's reputation is not impossible, but it takes time — just like repairing any broken reputation. It takes time, genuine effort, and consistent repetitions.