As you might know, I’m a tea drinker. There’s nothing better than a proper Yorkshire brew. In fact the only thing I like more than a decent cup of tea in the morning is a decent cup of tea in the afternoon, along with a slice of cake.
As far as I know, tea is a wonderful, warm beverage devoid of moral standpoints or political leanings. So colour me a biscuity-shade of surprised when I opened Twitter this week to find hundreds of thousands of
angry tweets about and directed to the Yorkshire Tea account.
It’s all based on a photograph somebody else had taken of their product in the hands of a politician. As a brand that stands firmly to their “we don’t discuss politics, we are tea” code of conduct, it’s been hard
for them to combat claims that they support the individual who took the photo, or the party they represent.
Some Twitter users have reached out to tell Yorkshire Tea that they are handling this situation incorrectly, and that they are disappointed with their support/denial of support of the individual and/or their party.
As you can see, it’s all gotten very confusing and ridiculous very quickly, and as a social media community manager, I can only imagine how stressful it has been to take care of Yorkshire Tea’s accounts this week. Although this response really made me chuckle:
Over the years there have been a number of social media storms that have caught brands out. The truth is, no matter what your content is, you can never tell what’s going to cause the next big controversy. Sometimes it can be as out of your control as a current event giving your planned hashtag a different meaning, and sometimes — as in Yorkshire Tea’s case — it might not even be something you did at all.
In light of this, here are my top tips on keeping things calm when your notifications are blowing up
Take Some Time Before Responding
Fires thrive when there’s oxygen around. Think of your crisis as a fire, and your attention is the oxygen. Every new Tweet or response you create will feed that fire, and thanks to the rapid speed at which information travels on the internet, soon it will become out of your control.
Before you react with an apology or a defence, take some time to think about why your customers or followers are unhappy. Talk to your teammates and put together a considered response that follows your corporate
guidelines. Then, once you’ve sent it, mute responses for a little while, so that the only response available is your official line.
Be Honest and Accountable
If you’ve made a mistake, hold your hands up. If you’re sorry, apologise. If you’ve done something silly, admit it. Nobody is perfect, not even a social media manager. If you’ve made a mistake, don’t try to muddle through it with a brave face. You’ll only damage your own reputation and that of the brand you’re representing.
Double check your plans to rectify the situation with your brand manager or team leader, and compose a post that shows your humility and/or the reality of the situation. After all: you are just a brand on social media, being made visible by a human being. There are limits to what you can do. Sometimes people need to be reminded of that.
Take Care Of Yourself
Being the subject of thousands of replies-worth of abuse online, even with the protective mask of a brand, takes a lot out of a person. It can be extremely upsetting, and in my experience even just a couple of
disgruntled individuals who got the wrong end of the stick can rattle your confidence for a little while.
Take some time out. Get a brew (or a hot chocolate if you’re the Yorkshire Tea manager — sorry, that’s not funny!) and a fairy cake. Go for a walk. Speak to your managers about how it’s affected you and what you think you need to do next to boost your confidence again.
And always remember — this isn’t about you. You are doing your best.
Make a Crisis Plan
The best way to nip any social media crises in the bud is to have a watertight crisis plan ready to be put into action at the earliest signs of trouble.
Work with the whole team to devise strategies That’ll help diffuse any difficult situations, and put together some posts ready to amend and use should the need arise.
Make sure you build in some community manager internet safety information and self-care techniques within the plan too. Everyone who has to deal with abuse online needs to know that there are structures in place
to keep them safe.
I hope this has helped to show you how important planning
for the unpredictable bad side of social media is. If you have any more tips, please do share them in the comments! And remember:
Until next time…