Social Media Governance and Failsafes to Keep Your Campaign and Image Intact
Chrysler is the latest victim of a new business problem: the infamous rogue tweet.
On Wednesday, an employee of Chrysler’s social media agency New Media Strategies mistakenly made an unflattering, profane post on a Chrysler corporate Twitter account rather than their own personal account. The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before it had been blogged and retweeted by other sources, and numerous media inquiries were made to Chrysler’s offices.
To Chrysler’s credit, a swift, honest, transparent response was issued via their blog. As reported in Advertising Age, the company also stated they would not renew NMS’ contract for the balance of 2011. It is speculated that Chrysler may turn to their current media agency, Universal McCann, which has a social unit. Also in the mix is Chrysler’s retail advertising agency Doner.
While it likely seems comforting to circle the wagons and retreat to the security blanket of agencies with whom they have existing relationships, this may still be a mistake. Advertising agencies are built to operate in the old media model, where instant communication is both alien and anathema. A company like Raidious is purpose-built to work in concert with marketing and communications teams to make, manage, monitor, moderate and measure digital communication in real-time. As this current brouhaha shows, agility based on a solid foundation of planning and protective guardrails is invaluable.
The issue of rogue tweets is often the result of the misuse or limitations of tools. Even some of today’s most sophisticated social media suites lack the ability to establish a governance chain to ensure against such errors. It’s all too easy to “push the wrong button” and turn a personal post into a nightmare scenario for a client.
Social Center, a partnership between Raidious and Spredfast, solves those problems. SocialCenter is an enterprise-class social media monitoring, engagement and measurement software tool. It provides access to all your digital media channels, allowing you to create content, engage with customers and measure the effectiveness of all your online marketing initiatives. Even in Chrysler’s case where multiple social media feeds are used for public and media facing streams, Social Center provides the ability to segregate these streams into distinct initiatives, each with their own unique voices and governance chains. Personal accounts don’t even enter into the equation, making it impossible for an employee to accidentally make a personal post to a corporate feed.
Social Center also features customized real-time monitoring for any mention anywhere on the internet of established keywords and accounts. With a quick look at the dashboard, a company or agency can get an accurate, up-to-the-second view of all relevant keywords, accounts, and mentions. This allows for an immediate response, and if necessary for instant implementation of an established crisis response plan. It is literally a failsafe tool for all social media.
In social media, the measure of success is more than just the number of followers and retweets. A major component of a social media campaign that is often overlooked–and usually misunderstood–is sentiment. A seemingly minor misstep can cause a ripple effect of negative sentiment and headaches for a marketing and communications department. Utilizing a social media monitoring and engagement team with real journalism skills, as well as a content creation tool like Social Center with a solid governance chain, is absolutely essential.
The stakes have never been higher in corporate communications. Gone are the days of a brand message taking weeks–or months–to reach the public via traditional media, going through endless rounds of revisions and vetting. Today’s messaging environment is one of immediacy. Companies must address this new reality, and be prepared to dedicate budget and human resources to mitigating the associated risks.
