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Black hat social media planning

Guest blog post: Michelle Prak, Social Media Consultant, www.prakky.com.au

Follow Michelle on Twitter: @Prakky

When you work in PR, unfortunately you often have to wear your black hat.

By ‘black hat’, I refer of course to one of Dr Edward de Bono’s six thinking hats. The black hat signifies the examination of risks and dangers – those things that can possibly go wrong.

In PR, black hat thinking can be particularly useful during the brainstorming phase of crisis communications planning. I believe black hat thinking is also an essential precursor to any social media activity.

Sadly, social media today is almost synonymous with disaster – whether it’s covering news of disasters as they unfold, or whether social media is the catalyst and enabler. You think ‘social media’ today, you think about Twitter hashtag campaigns that have gone wrong, such as ‘Qantas luxury’ or ‘McDonald’s stories’. You think about brand Facebook pages inundated with customer complaints. Or the awkward client interview captured on film and broadcast on YouTube.

I don’t think this should deter us from using social media.

Just as with any medium, sometimes we’ll get it wrong. A news release won’t be picked up; a television campaign will turn audiences away; a speech may be booed.

Used well, social media is an immensely powerful tool for interacting with communities and stakeholders and shouldn’t be discounted out of fear. Indeed, if we are in tune with social media and what communities are saying about brands online, we can in fact detect and avoid issues before they become crises.

But social media provides added complications for PR practitioners. When an issue unravels online, it unravels in real time for all to see. And that includes the mainstream media, ready to provide additional coverage and analysis.

Social media isn’t the same as a television commercial or a page five article. Users can interact with your social media campaign, turn it upside down and inside out. In the best cases, they share it quickly with friends and provide you the kind of impactful results you’ve been searching for. That may meant the best media coverage you’ve ever achieved, a massive turn-out for your event, enlisting a new tranche of volunteers or donors … whatever your communication goal may be.

It may also be turning your campaign into a parody or a massive backlash you simply didn’t envisage. Your customer call centre may be overwhelmed with complaints rather than subscriptions …

That’s why it’s incredibly important to run your new social media campaign through the black hat filter. See your key message or campaign in ‘sarcasm font’. Prepare responses for the cynical. Ask your colleagues and team members for a second opinion. Ask people from different age groups and backgrounds.

It’s also vital that you have social media-savvy people on your communications team. People who have spent time on Twitter, Facebook or online forums and know the etiquette and expectations of that space. And I don’t mean people who simply have an account. They need to be active participants. They’re people who have experienced online memes and may be able to provide input into whether a campaign has potential for being embraced or laughed at.

This is sometimes the role of a ‘community manager’, a specialist who knows how to moderate online forums and care for internet communities. It’s a growing role that the PR field should be aware of. (In fact, it’s a role that’s increasingly being filled within communications agencies).

When your social media campaign goes live, monitor it closely. Listen to what people are saying, take part and respond. (Respond promptly, not 24 hours later. A lot of social media crises are attributed to slow or non-existent responses from their owners).

And remember: while social media puts power in people’s hands, it puts power in your hands too.

So don’t be afraid to answer critics. Don’t be afraid to apologise or explain. Again, this is where a good community manager is invaluable. They walk the tightrope of moderation – responding to critics, thanking fans, removing inappropriate material, continually promoting the message as opportunities arise. A good community manager has the maturity and wisdom to keep a disparate collection of people satisfied with their online interaction with your brand.

Above all, ask yourself why you’re using social media in the first place.

Do you need a social media campaign? Or is Facebook, YouTube, Twitter et al best used for something else?

It may be best used for customer service only, for B2B industry interactions, or for private stakeholder communities.

Social media offers a smorgasbord of options; don’t be tempted into tweeting for the sake of it. Your overarching business plan comes first.