With the advancing sophistication of digital technology, by 2030, power will no longer rest on the shoulders of corporate leaders. Social media and crowdsourcing have given an all-access pass to voicing opinions on business for consumers, employees, partners, and more. With more people voicing opinions and expecting to be heard, this can put a lot of pressure on a company.
We are seeing the effects of such things in the news every day. One such example is what happened with Starbucks. After an act of racism at one of their stores went public, they were inundated with negativity and complaints. It was so bad, there were people marching in protest in the streets in front of the store.
This more than qualified as a PR nightmare exacerbated via social media. Originally, Starbucks was viewed as handling the issue poorly. More negative press arose, and the anger toward the brand grew. They then acknowledged what happened and regret in how it was handled. Starbucks formally apologized and vowed to take steps from preventing similar events in the future.
And they followed through with those steps. Starbucks closed almost 8,000 stores to conduct anti-bias training. They did this while taking a great hit to their profits for that day, but also knowing the results were worth it. They listened to their customers and public opinion, and this great company reacted accordingly.
However, it wasn’t fixed right away, and there may be some lingering distrust for the brand. The better prepared you are to prevent such a situation, or react quickly if you are unable to, the better off your organization will be.
Every company needs to be continually monitoring their digital reputation. An employee needs to be scanning the various social media sites and review sites like Yelp. This will need to be a full-time role in the future, not a side project.
Some degree of negative press is almost inevitable. Be ready for it. The first way to do that, of course, is to run your company in an ethical and customer-focused way. But also make sure you have ideas for what to do when things go wrong. A bad reaction to a PR crisis only makes the situation worse.
Pay attention to what your customers and critics are saying. Build customer intimacy by knowing that they think, want and need. Knowledge is the key to success, and data is the key to knowledge.
With your finger on the public pulse, you will naturally be aware of and sensitive to any potential issues. Pay attention to what’s trending and what people care about. Notice what your business is doing and how people are reacting to it. With anything that seems potentially negative, respond to it right away.
With everything else you need to consider, don’t forget to focus on serving your customers. They are the most important. Give them what they want, with great customer service, good quality and fair prices. If you don’t fulfill these promises to your customers, there’s no amount of PR and Marketing that will help you.
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