During a highly anticipated Duke vs. North Carolina college basketball game when two of the top three players in the country are completing one stage, thirty-three seconds into the biggest college basketball game of the season, the sport’s biggest star went down with a bizarre injury as Zion Williamson’s shoe ripped in half and he sprained his knee keeping him out for the rest of the game. This example shows how this incident shinned a light onto the Nike brand and how the brand took the appropriate steps to turn the situation a round.
Social Media Crisis Management ?
A social media crisis is when a sudden negative activity that can affect your brands reputation and affect your business side of things. Any single complaint or negative statement can damage the image of your brand. In the long run, your brand’s reputation will be determined by your ability to recover. In order to do this, you will need a social media crisis management plan. Planning for social media crisis management involves identifying what could possibly go wrong. The nature of the report is based on what might constitute threats to your business or brand overall, and what actions should be taken when these threats arise. I would say that it isn’t a question of when this will occur, but a question of how soon. Make sure that your social media marketing strategy includes the things you will do if that happens so you’ll be better prepared to deal with it.
Four Phases of Crisis Management
Preparedness Phase – Being prepared for a social media crisis involves understanding and identifying the potential risks and threats that your company and brand might face in the event of such a situation. Even if you fail to predict every possible scenario, you can still come up with a list of the ways and places where those threats are likely to appear. Remember to include threat types both external and internal during your preparations. In addition to employee concerns and product problems, a large range of other issues can be encountered as well. One way to discover these issues is to monitor your social media accounts. As soon as you’ve identified them, be sure to formulate actions to take so that you can respond quickly to them.
Responsiveness Phase – The speed with which a crisis situation is dealt with is essential immediately after it has occurred. As opposed to merely retorting to an individual’s comment, be sure to support your views with solid details. The importance of transparency cannot be understated. Research or describing a full response to an issue may take more time than you think. As soon as possible, acknowledge the complaint and let them know that you will investigate it further.
Reassuring Phase – Once you identify the root cause of the problem, reassure those who matter that you are aware of it and will keep them updated. You cannot simply apologize for the problem. You need to show people that you are committed to taking this issue seriously and are working hard to resolve it in an acceptable manner. Be sure to let them know what the current status is of this investigation or research. I can confidently say that if you expect the public to continue to trust you, it will be imperative for you to be trusted at all times.
Recovery Phase – The next step to follow should be the restoration of normal customer interactions after a conclusion has been reached. It is important that we remain calm in front of this crisis and that we prevent a repeat of this in the future. It is vital that we maintain the integrity of our reputation. By listening to your customers on social media, you can ascertain what you are doing right as you go along as well as what you are doing wrong. It is imperative, once a crisis has taken place, that action and follow-up are taken immediately in order for recovery to occur. There is also the issue of long-term effects associated with the recovery process.
Nike Shoe Problem
In an incident involving a Nike shoe that fell apart mid-game, Duke University’s Zion Williamson sustained a grade one right knee injury, keeping him out of the game for the rest of the game. Despite the bizarre injury suffered by the sport’s biggest star, he is the top pick in the June NBA draft in 2019. The unfortunate event took place as the game was being broadcast on national TV, and to make matters worse it took place in the early seconds of the match. The buzz spread across all social media channels and everyone was aware of it. Fans expressed their condolences on social media, paying respects to Zion for a speedy recovery, but concern also emerged regarding the fact that the shoe was made by Nike. People’s trust in the brand was affected following that incident.
Actions that Saved the Company
In the following day, the stock of the company plunged 1.8% coming to a $1.1 billion drop in market value. This is not in keeping with the company’s professionalism, especially when live sporting events dominate social media. It is Nike’s goal to provide customers with the same high-performance products as their favorite athletes. In its official statement, Nike shared its best wishes with the Williams family. Likewise, company representatives took the time to allay people’s concerns by saying that they are working on identifying the problem. They also said that they are obviously concerned and wish Zion a speedy recovery. Products from their company have the highest quality and performance. Nike said in a statement that it is working to identify the issue, even though it appears to be an isolated incident. Consequently, Nike sent an investigators team to the stadium where the incident occurred the day after it occurred. A further investigation took place at Nike’s factory in China. They reportedly submitted numerous suggestions, and the company decided to craft a unique pair of shoes for Williamson based on these suggestions. Williamson acknowledged this gesture of generosity by thanking them. Swift movement and consideration play an influential role, as you can see. A newly designed pair of shoes was created specifically for him as an expression of the company’s commitment to continuous improvement.
Teaching Social Media 