Can Social Media Damage Your Brand?
Due to the evolution in today’s business world, social media has been initiated as one of the many necessary musts for successful business banding. As a result, web-based communities are being assessed and utilized as an effective venue for delivering a business’ branding message. These social media have proven themselves quite effective at generating and adding a personal touch to a business’ brand. However, there are serious potential threats that could develop within social media branding. Consequently, any business considering integrating this strategy into their branding approach should have a strategic crisis management strategy ready.
Web-based communities are emerging as a great place for a business to promote and establish its brand. These types of social media are quite efficient at generating a feeling of family and community. Now, any business that is considering introducing social media into their branding strategy should be aware that there may be some level of adjustment required in an effort to comply with existing community rules. The concept of social media branding may feel awkward because it does not exist on a perspective of self-interest, which is the traditional approach to the branding concept. In many of the existing social media communities, several brands coexist.
There are, however, serious potential threats to consider regarding social media and branding. The internet has developed into a major threat for many established brands, as new cyberbrands are eating away at their hard earned customer loyalty. Additionally, negative publicity could prove far more detrimental online. In print or broadcast media when an instance of negative publicity regarding a particular brand arises, it, generally, goes away in a short while. This is not the case in cyberspace. Negative publicity widely distributed on the internet is usually archived and dredged up years later and used in branding strategies by competitors.
Because of the consequential damages to a business’ established brand by potential threats on the internet, every business should make sure that an effective crisis management strategy is developed. The news media still dominates and plays a substantial role in brand management. This extends to the web, as well. Negative publicity in cyberspace has a far speedier delivery time. Note that the long-term effects of negative publicity in cyberspace will depend on several things, for instance, how a particular business reacts to the negative publicity; the actual level of trust that buyers have in a particular brand; the actual level of awareness regarding a particular brand; and the relative size of a given business.
Crisis situations are social media branding will differ based on how potential buyers perceive the issue, the business behind the issue, and how much of an impact the issue is like to have on the buyer. Current brand trust and relevant and effective reaction from the business are the best choice of weapons. Generally, if potential buyers trust a business ad the business responds responsibly to negative publicity, there is usually very little damage that is likely to happen. Hence, a quick reciprocal public relations message published online is in order.
What brands do you see that manage negative publicity with style? What would you do if someone offended your brand online? Let us know in comments below.
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