In the new environment where people are increasingly using social media, crises are more damaging to brands, and crisis management has become more complex.

Warren Buffett once said a widely circulated saying: "It takes twenty years to build a good reputation and five minutes to destroy it."

In the age of social media, Buffett’s five minutes may become even shorter. What is different from the past is that now the spread radius of bad news within five minutes may not be a country, but the entire world.

The "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development" recently released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) shows that in the first half of this year, the number of Internet users in China reached 710 million, breaking the 700 million mark for the first time, of which the number of mobile Internet users reached 656 million, accounting for 92.5%.

With new media highly penetrating Chinese society, the challenges faced by enterprises have become increasingly difficult, and crises have changed from abnormal and occasional to normal and frequent occurrences. Sometimes, companies can't tell whether they are experiencing a crisis or just a minor accident. But when public opinion snowballs in new media, mainly social media, companies find that the situation is out of control, and they are at a loss as to what to do, causing irreversible damage to their own brands.

Han Hong, a senior communication and crisis public relations expert and general manager of IMIX China, described China's netizens as very powerful. There is a group of influential netizens who are like hurricanes, blowing here today and there tomorrow, and having a huge impact wherever they go. This means that in the new environment where people are increasingly using social media, crises are more damaging to brands, and crisis management becomes more complex.

“When a crisis occurs, the company’s ‘savings’ will be depleted.” Han Hong told a reporter from Business School magazine. "Savings" refers to the efforts made by the company in the past time to build a brand with a good image and reputation. Social media has increasingly contributed to the emergence of crises, and many have even become a source of crises. Especially after the rise of self-media, it has had an important impact on a corporate brand or celebrity brand in many aspects.

Escalating crisis and “pretending to be asleep” brands

As early as a few years ago, some people in the industry proposed that the "crisis 2.0 era" has arrived.

From the perspective of protest, today’s consumers are no longer weak. The uncontrollable timeliness of information disseminated on the Internet, as well as the increasing voice of netizens, have enabled them to learn how to make brands weak in the mobile Internet era. In addition to letting criticism spread like fire, they also have the most direct and effective means of resistance-abandoning the brand.

To give a typical example, Swedish furniture manufacturer IKEA recently encountered difficulties from consumers on Chinese social platforms. The trigger was a chest of drawers called Malm.IKEA recalled approximately 35.6 million pieces of furniture in the United States and Canada due to the risk of tipping over, which resulted in the death of several children in the United States and the involvement of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. As one of IKEA's "problem furniture", Malm has not been recalled in China, which has raised questions.

On the topic page of Weibo, there are 33.767 million topics and more than 5,300 discussion posts about "IKEA recalls deadly cabinets in China", not including the discussions before IKEA announced the recall. It can almost be said that before the recall, IKEA encountered widespread resistance on social networks through official reports by mainstream media.

Han Hong believes that IKEA was not proactive enough in the "fatal cabinet" incident and did not fully inform the company of the potential risks of such furniture produced by the company. No matter how good a company is, it may not be perfect in terms of publicity and education to consumers and notification of precautions. Sometimes, no matter how much money is spent on this matter, it may not be able to eliminate possible crises. However, the problems faced by IKEA are accidents that have actually occurred in the United States. They should first actively carry out safety education and publicity for Chinese consumers. The notification effect cannot be achieved through a simple form such as instructions.

The news that IKEA chests of drawers caused the deaths of children in the United States has been happening a few years ago. The most recent case reported by the media was that in February 2016, a baby in Minnesota, USA, was crushed to death by a six-drawer chest. According to information disclosed to "Business School" by relevant sources, in March and April this year, IKEA actually detected that there were maternal and infant and parenting accounts on WeChat that were forwarding tragedies that occurred abroad, but no effective measures were taken.

Until June, mainstream media intervened in the reporting of the incident, questioning that the scope of IKEA's product recall was limited to North America and not China. Public opinion also fermented on social media. When media reporters pointed out that more than 100 kinds of drawer cabinets with the risk of overturning were sold in China, IKEA still insisted in early July: "There has been no accident report from China about this product, and the product complies with China's national quality standards."

It is conceivable that these remarks triggered angry condemnation from many netizens on social networks. At that time, the impression IKEA left on Chinese consumers had been labeled as "arrogant", "willful" and "double standards". The results of an online voting survey released by the media showed that nearly 70% of netizens believed that "IKEA treats people differently and is suspected of discrimination", and 57% of netizens chose to "no longer trust IKEA-related products."

Although in the end, IKEA compromised under multiple pressures and announced an unconditional recall of the "deadly chest of drawers" in China, the matter has reached a point where the recall is not a thankless one. I am afraid that consumers are deeply impressed by its procrastination, toughness and other response measures in this incident.

“In addition to crises caused by their own product quality problems, today’s companies should also consider the threats posed by political factors and terrorism to brands.” Han Hong mentioned that it is precisely because of the development of social media that local governments haveThe geographical boundaries between regions are gradually disappearing on the Internet. When considering brand promotion, it is necessary to use a global perspective to examine whether there are potential political risks.

For example, in another typical incident this year, Lancôme's public relations team in Hong Kong collaborated with the artist Denise Ho who is suspected of "Hong Kong independence", which triggered crusade and boycott from netizens in many places. It was involved in the biggest public opinion crisis in the history of the brand, and its parent company L'Oreal was implicated, putting the entire group in dire straits. After the crisis broke out, Lancôme's subsequent remedies seemed feeble.

Companies should face crises with a mature attitude

It is undeniable that Chinese consumers are less rational and more emotional than consumers in European and American countries. The characteristics of social media, such as the large content, huge amount of information, and rapid change of public opinion, often make it difficult for companies to respond effectively at a time. However, companies have also reached a time when they have to re-examine their crisis management methods.

“Due to the endless emergence of hot topics on social networks, netizens’ interests and energy are easily diverted. To a certain extent, after one to two weeks, no matter how big a crisis is, it will become old news.” Han Hong believes that companies will be very difficult when encountering crises, but in the era of social media, it is difficult to endure Therefore, the time period may not be too long, but companies must face up to the current situation of social media as a "key town" in crisis management, and carefully handle the response and communication of the crisis. They should have well-thought-out plans and rapid responses for the work to be done before the crisis, during the crisis, and after the crisis has passed.

For example, after the Lancôme incident broke out, a very interesting phenomenon occurred on China's social network platforms: restless netizens not only left messages of accusation on Lancôme's official account, but also left messages on the official account of rival Estee Lauder to "show their loyalty."

The establishment of a brand is a long-term process, and it also involves a lot of hard work and management of the company. When encountering a negative event, from the perspective of the depth of the impact, some consumers and netizens are affected in an instant. Although they will slowly forget it later, the reputation, favorability and loyalty of the brand will be reduced. "For example, when they see this brand, they will have a bad association. When there are alternatives, consumers will abandon it intentionally or unintentionally." Han Hong said, "Competitors can easily take advantage of the opportunity to enter, and users who have already wavered in their stance can easily be pulled away."

Han Hong believes that in the face of crisis, companies should pay attention to the following issues:

1. Honesty is very important

There is no airtight wall in the world, and the truth will come out. Perfunctory and untrue are taboos when companies encounter crises, because once lies are exported, they will be overturned and the bad influence will be difficult to eliminate. If the company itself unfortunately has committed fraud or other negative behavior, then the spokesperson must respond more carefully.

A typical case is the fraud scandal encountered by the German Automobile Club (ADAC) in 2014. The German media revealed that ADAC was suspected of manipulating the results of the selection. The selection event was called the Oscars of the automobile industry. After the scandal broke out, it aroused public doubts, and the spokesperson initially denied the accusation of fraud. But soon, a series of scandals were revealed, and ADAC's reputation was tarnished. Car companies that had been proud of being on its list in the past severed ties, making ADAC a street rat. This prestigious industry brand in Europe, founded in 1903, is also experiencing the biggest crisis in its history.

There will always be crises, but they will pass quickly. Some brands can even turn crises into opportunities and regain people's trust. Once you choose to lie, you will fall into another round of criticism and resistance.

In addition, "not pretending to be asleep" in the face of crisis is also a basic quality of a brand.

2. Prevent crises from a global perspective

As mentioned above, social media has broken down the boundaries between regions. Brands with industries in different regions around the world should manage crises from a holistic, global perspective and remain quite vigilant about political factors. Especially in those connected markets, such as between Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, companies should have a unified management and mutual communication mechanism, and can even coordinate management on the entire Asia-Pacific unit. Otherwise, it is easy to encounter a crisis like Lancôme - a typical failure sample.

The ins and outs of the Lancôme incident were all played out on social media. The damage this incident caused to the L'Oréal Group and the Lancôme brand has been immeasurable. Although some executives in Hong Kong retired within 10 days of the crisis, it did not help.

The circulation of social media has made everything transparent. Culture, race, beliefs, political opinions, etc. can easily cause huge crises on social networks. To avoid these minefields, an international company must pay attention to these potential risks.

3. Manage employees’ social media well

Some negative issues in companies are revealed by employees on social media, either unintentionally or deliberately with dissatisfaction. The average company is most worried about employees leaking company trade secrets online, but fewer companies take the reputational damage caused by employees' negative comments about the company into consideration. The company should have relevant employee social behavior regulations and guidance.

4. Is the spokesperson qualified in the face of crisis?

When a crisis comes, it is the spokesperson of the company who comes out to face the public. This is a very important role, which affects the direction of the crisis to a certain extent. Sometimes, the company's brand has been weakened by the first round of crisis on the Internet, but the spokesperson's improper words will set off another round of huge noise.

For example, after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the CEO of British Petroleum (BP) actually said: "I want my life back" when facing reporters, which aroused greater dissatisfaction among the public and the media.

In the era of social media, such "speech" is very likely to become an Internet buzzword. In the context of the popularity of spoof culture,, used by people to ridicule, ridicule or even make emoticons, it will become an ugly label that companies cannot get rid of. Perhaps when we hear the phrase "very silly and naive" now, we will immediately think of the Hong Kong female star who was involved in a scandal.

In addition, in the face of a very serious crisis, the CEO must personally come forward to show sufficient sincerity. When Toyota encountered the "brake door", it was not Japan's global CEO who came forward to apologize and explain, but a spokesperson from the United States. This also made the outside world dissatisfied.

Generally speaking, when it comes to crises that may occur in the social media era, companies must first pay attention, secondly prepare, and thirdly rehearse and train, but attitude is better than everything else. Sometimes, companies have done nothing wrong and can wait and let the rumors die out. If the crisis is indeed caused by the company itself, it is not recommended to adopt a passive attitude, but should adopt an active communication attitude.