‘Companies can’t look like deer in the headlights when reputation crisis strikes’

Whether it was the controversial Ford ad or the online backlash Jet Airways received due to the accidental death of a pet cat, companies are constantly battling with the dangers of facing a reputation crisis head-on that can spread like wildfire on social media before they can even blink.

With India having more family owned and run companies, a lot more is at stake to safeguard their reputations as it could tarnish their family names forever, said Leslie Gaines-Ross, Chief Reputation Strategist and Corporate Reputation Expert, Weber Shandwick.

How important has it become for companies to have proactive strategy to safeguard their online and offline reputation?

More and more companies are putting in the money and time to hire social media experts and agencies like us to constantly monitor their reputation on social and traditional media.

Online reputation management has become and important part of the communications and public relations today.

What are the key things corporates can do when faced with a crisis like loss of reputation?

As a company or a country, you have to be careful about trying to squash your opponent. Just because you are big does not mean you can use all your power.

You need to be reasonable, set high standards, negotiate and use the soft power over hard power. Responding in a speedy manner is important. Earlier companies could respond within 48 hours of the crisis hitting them, and then it got reduced to 36 hours and now one needs to respond at best within 12 hours.

Then, one needs to inform employees and empower them to help tell the organisation’s story. For instance, Toyota used that strategy during their product recalls. The fourth step requires a mindset change to realise that social media is a friend and not a threat.

Fifthly, find sympathetic third parties to serve as force multipliers.

And finally, stockpile credentials like your awards as they act as a shield and are important to defend the company. Companies show their awards on their Web site or CEOs refer to some awards or recognitions in their annual reports. There are definitely new ways to respond to crisis and one cannot just be like a “deer in the headlights”.

What key trends do you see picking up as strategies to manage reputations?

CEOs are expected to become more social through their corporate Web site or social media accounts. Internal communication will become even more critical and I think traditional media will remain as critical and, along with social media, very powerful for corporate reputation management.

Do you think we will see more reputation crisis because of social media? Are Indian companies equipped enough?

Yes, crisis situations could increase in social media. But traditional media has a very big role to play and our research tells us that a lot of crisis does not start from social media in traditional media and spreads fast through social media. Social media also aids in resolving a crisis quickly. In India, companies might not have all the strategies in place but they are taking their online reputations seriously.

Is there a different approach when it (reputation crisis) concerns an individual or a politician?

CEOs or politicians are public figures and don’t like to be made fun of. In fact, all of us are public figures. It is hard to truly understand that. For instance, I go to the airport tonight and someone takes a picture of me and puts it on social media and says I was being rude.

We have to be careful today about what we say. I think politicians today are like celebrities and criticism comes with the territory.

I think that censorship does not really work, people are smart enough to find a way around it or a new social media platform could emerge that will find a way around censorship.

Do you think an apology works every time or is it best not to react sometimes?

Companies have to be good social listeners and understand the social media space. They need to know who is talking and use good judgement.

For instance, during BP oil spill incident, a twitter account holder with @BPGlobalPR posing as an employee in the oil giant’s PR group parodied BP’s corporate response and BP did not react to it immediately or say we are going to legally take away the twitter handle.

meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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