Dubai: Recently, Greggs, the largest bakery chain in the UK, had their logo on Google search results hacked and replaced with an offensive tagline instead of their official one.
This is not the ideal start to one’s day when you are in charge of managing the image and values of a brand. What made this particular hack all the more intriguing was that it didn’t happen on one of their own digital properties where some blame could be attainable, but on the most popular search engine, Google.
Who picked up on it first? The web users. How did they propagate the information to the brand and social users? Via social media and more precisely, Twitter.
How did the conversation amplify so quickly? Users created a hashtag, #FixGreggs for everybody to follow the story in real-time.
‘Risk management’, ‘social engagement’ and ‘social listening’ are the three players in this story. This PR crisis demonstrates perfectly what we are explaining to our clients on an everyday basis.
Nobody can control social media and negative comments can spread like wildfire. Today, there is no excuse for a brand to be exposed and at risk for more than 15 minutes.
Brands now need full-time experts to manage their social engagement, listening and moderation to ensure their online communities are secure. At ICUC (a specialist brand of Dentsu Aegis Network) we have been managing user generated content since 2002 - before Facebook, Twitter and YouTube even existed.
Brands such as Coca-Cola and Starbucks entrust us to make sure that content generated by users is appropriate and in line with brand guidelines when it reaches the public.
Although Gregg’s would have been aware of the situation when they’re digital manager got to his desk in the morning, the logo change had already gone viral and he/she was pretty much powerless to stop it. However, the brand saw it as an opportunity to not only engage with users in real-time at a higher level, but to do it with a great sense of humour.
As demonstrated by Greggs, speed and the right tone of voice are key to great social engagement for brands, especially during times of crisis.
Customers expect brands to reply in less than 24 hours these days and only a few brands can afford a full-time social media team. So having listening services and a community management team 24x7, 365 days a year allow brands to be aware of a potential “situation” before it reaches a wider audience or ultimately the press.
This is enough time to get prepared for what should come next, a fantastic opportunity if handled correctly.
This is all the more pertinent when you take into consideration that in the Middle East today, there are over 81 million Facebook users and 5 million Twitter users. Customers are talking to each other about brands and using the public digital space to do it.
Brands now more than ever need to listen, moderate and engage with their community in order to reach the ultimate goal – turning customers into brand advocates. Social Media 2.0 has officially arrived.
The writer is business development manager at ICUC MENA.
