Making the Case for the Social Fire Drill
By
Neil Dougherty
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin.
The world’s largest brands spend millions on social media resources, technology and dedicated employees. And if they can’t get it done internally, they’ll retain agencies and professional services firms to help them get their social game right.
Even with all the investment, governance and highly-developed social media workflows in place, many of these brands still make critical mistakes, missteps that are quickly amplified because of the immediacy and sheer scale that social networks enable.
Social media blunders come in many shapes and sizes from the classic Chrysler F-bomb tweet in 2011 to the epic fail that was McDonald’s #McDStories hashtag, or DHL’s questionable “Like” request on a Facebook page following a horrific F-1 racing accident. There’s a long list of faux pas to support the unpredictable nature of social media.
More often than not, brands get themselves in hot water because they start conversations they simply don’t have any business participating in. But knowing a social media snafu will inevitably occur even on the tightest of ships, the logical question is how can companies prepare themselves for such an occasion?
In what’s essentially the next frontier of crisis communications management and preparedness, the social fire drill is starting to take hold. By setting up fictional scenarios that present a social media crisis to the teams of people who would be involved if the real thing occurs, community managers, PR officers and everyone in between can get a taste of what it’s like when things turn upside down. Simulations score the teams for effectiveness, speed and poise.
As Casey Newtown, a writer for the tech-meets-culture news outlet The Verge, relates from her experience in such a simulation at SXSW in March, once a social media crisis starts it can be difficult to stop. She also notes the importance of hierarchy to make the critical calls. The simulation made a believer out of her.
I spoke to my colleague Bryan Evans, our lead PR strategist with crisis communications experience, and he also concurred on the idea of preparation. “The world is eagerly awaiting your next and biggest mistake, so brands should anticipate them and be prepared to face them head on,” Evans advised. “During the height of a crisis is not the time to initiate an outreach strategy; instead, it’s a time to quickly execute on an existing blueprint that has been well thought-out and tested.”
So while the technology for this type of social fire drill is still evolving, the companies providing these services (like the one described in Newtown’s article, Polpeo) are on the right track. Brands will benefit from both off-the-rack and customized programs that can anticipate the kinds of social troubles that might pop up in their industry. It will give them a better shot at protecting their brand and managing the fall out that comes from such flare ups.
With countless examples of the best intentioned social media efforts taking unexpected turns, smart marketers should be advocating for this level of preparation and planning it into their operating budgets. This promises to be a trend worth keeping an eye on.
Neil Dougherty is the Products and Services Leader of Social Business at Trellist Marketing and Technology, a professional services firm. Neil has worked with top clients and brands at JPMorgan Chase and now at Trellist to develop social business strategies and tactical plans. He is well versed on social media management tools, and is passionate about helping businesses harness the power of social to create better customer experiences.
