萝莉社官网

We鈥檙e in the era of online outrage, and it鈥檚 affecting brands small and large. How can marketers deal with the outrage while staying sane? 鈥�

 got her first taste of online fury in the era of the blogosphere. It was the mid-2000s, and she was handling marketing and communications for JohnsonDiversey (now Diversey Inc.). Suddenly, blog and forum posts popped up asking for people to boycott Jo鈥媓nsonDiversey and sign petitions against its wage and environmental practices. Legocki thought the angry activist posts were a small, yet curious, blip on her marketing dashboard.

A few years later, as director of social media relations at California State University East Bay, she saw more anger鈥攁 lot more. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where Twitter really became involved,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here were more technologies that allowed us to monitor our brand name and keywords, and that鈥檚 when we started to see a lot of that anger and venting.鈥�

Businesses of all sizes鈥攆rom ma-and-pa sandwich shops to Fortune 500 companies鈥攈ave felt social fury. A brand doesn鈥檛 need millions of followers to deal with angry, sometimes vindictive, customers online. 

鈥淢y experience as a practitioner drove me to want to know how to deal with it,鈥� Legocki says. 鈥淭his is not going away. In fact, it鈥檚 increasing.鈥�

As Legocki transitioned from working as a practitioner to studying for her doctorate in business administration, the anger on social media held her attention. Research on social anger against brands is thin, so she decided to do her own. Legocki spends her days monitoring 鈥渙utrage events,鈥� which she says have grown exponentially, giving her plenty of ammunition for her studies. 

In one such study, still under review, Legocki and , also of California State University, wanted to find the patterns of angry posters during outrage events. Legocki and Walker ranked 14,000 English words on an emotional scale and studied reactions to three different social media crises鈥攊n all, they examined 9,500 tweets. The researchers separated tweets by behavioral intention, emotional intensity and number of characters. 

The study found something surprising: Most social media anger is composed of retweets. People usually tweet something angry once and exit the conversation. But a small group of less vitriolic鈥攂ut more persistent鈥攑osters may be cause for concern.

According to the study, 80.9% of those who speak out against brands on social media are 鈥渉otheads,鈥� people who vent and post emotionally charged content toward brands, mostly through retweets. The other 19.1% are 鈥渞ational activists,鈥� people who write original content with low emotional intensity focused on harming and seeking remedy from brands. The rational activists may seem less explosive鈥攖hey usually aren鈥檛 cursing or telling you to die鈥攂ut Legocki says that they may deserve brands鈥� attention.

鈥淣early 84% of all consumers participating in one of three social media crises we examined posted fewer than two times, an average of 1.19 times,鈥� Legocki and Walker wrote in the research paper. 鈥淲ith only 16% of consumer activists writing original content, the quality of a post may be worth more of a brand鈥檚 time than simply the quantity of posts.鈥�

On most occasions, Legocki says that angry social media posters will retweet another angry post, adding their own brief commentary鈥攑erhaps a 鈥淲TF鈥� or an angry emoji. But marketers should pay attention when calmer online posters call for action.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going to let it go,鈥� Legocki says. 鈥淭heir language is not inflammatory. It鈥檚 very well-thought out, it鈥檚 low emotion and very rational. As a practitioner, I know that I tend to overlook them because it鈥檚 not high-arousal, it鈥檚 not inflammatory.鈥�

Crisis Management: Kimberly Legocki Disrupting Business Presentation in 2014

鈥嬧赌�

Some Fury Strengthens Brands 

Outrage events often have negative outcomes.  stepped down after a series of public gaffes. United Airlines lost the trust of many customers鈥攁nd took a momentary-but-gigantic stock hit鈥攚hen a video of police and United employees forcibly dragging a passenger off a flight was posted to social media. 

But are all online outrage events equally bad for brands? Not necessarily, says .

Scholz, assistant professor of marketing at California Polytechnic State University, says that some brands can use outrage events to their advantage. While brands should respond to and apologize for mistakes, harmful products and mistreatment of customers, Scholz believes some outrage events鈥� 鈥渇irestorms,鈥� he calls them鈥攃an strengthen a brand鈥檚 position and bond with its customers. 

. Protein World, a U.K.-based supplement brand, created a gigantic advertisement featuring a photo of a lean, bikini-clad woman with a caption asking, 鈥淎re you beach body ready?鈥� Many critics accused the company of; the company disagreed, saying that it was empowering people to be healthy. But the company didn鈥檛 just leave it there鈥攊t stirred the pot on social media, tweeting that 鈥淲e are a nation of sympathizers for fatties鈥� and calling its critics 鈥渓azy and weak.鈥濃��

Usually, this kind of vitriol from a brand would mean a fast apology, but Scholz says that it was part of the company reframing the criticism in its favor. Protein World鈥檚 brand voice has been bombastic, but it has also been supportive of healthy eating habits, motivational for those who exercise and empowering for followers trying to get healthy. The controversy fit Protein World鈥檚 brand. 

鈥淚t provided an opportunity for Protein World to say that we are strong in this crisis, and that resonated with the customer,鈥� Scholz says. Although online outrage events may feel routine, they鈥檙e still a new phenomenon. Nobody has figured out a perfect way to respond to them or stop them, nor have researchers figured out what effect they can have on brands. But Legocki and Scholz agree that most marketers are not prepared for the moment when these events happen to them. They offer this advice based on their studies.

Monitor Your Keywords

Brands should monitor keyword notifications for words like 鈥渂oycott鈥� and 鈥済reed鈥� plus the brand name, Legocki says. These words are calling cards of the more-effective, longer-lasting rational activists.

Not every mention will lead to action, she says, but if petitions start popping up, that鈥檚 a sign for brands to address their critics. At this point, rational activists are looking for brands to make changes, and they likely won鈥檛 let it go until those changes are made. 

Stay Calm

The first thing marketers should do during an outrage event is step away from the screen and stay calm, Legocki says. Don鈥檛 get caught up in the arousal and colorful language of the hotheads. Staying calm may be hard. It鈥檚 not every day that most marketers look at their social dashboard and see 500 people furiously tweeting at them, but Legocki says that calmness will help marketers figure out their next steps without falling into the hotheads鈥� trap. 

鈥淚f it鈥檚 just a lot of retweets, chances are that it鈥檚 the kind of people who are looking to vent, the hotheads,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to retweet 1.2 times, and that鈥檚 it. They鈥檙e out of there.鈥�

In the heat of an outrage event, marketers spend much of their time responding to these hotheads, Legocki says, but she believes these high-arousal users are simply looking for the comradery of fellow hotheads. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not looking for much from the company beyond maybe the obligatory apology,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he best thing for the practitioner is just to apologize and move on.鈥�

Use Outrage to Grow

Brands should always avoid being nasty, Scholz says, but brands that want to use outrage to their advantage should find a balance between infuriating their critics and keeping their brand voice. Wendy鈥檚 has seemingly perfected this balance on Twitter. The company, with nearly 3 million followers, regularly makes fun of followers and competitors. It once responded to an error-filled tweet from McDonald鈥檚 with 鈥淲hen the tweets are as broken as the ice cream machine.鈥�

For outrage to benefit a brand, Scholz says that companies must understand their customers, their critics and the potential firestorm they鈥檙e facing. 

鈥淚 think there are a couple of steps you want to follow: First you want to ask yourself how right your critics are. Do they have a point?鈥� he says. If they do, it may be better to acknowledge their point, apologize and move on. 鈥淭he next question you have to ask is to what extent the crisis or controversy fits your brand.鈥�

If the crisis or controversy doesn鈥檛 fit the brand, he says that it鈥檚 best to leave it alone.

Reassess Your Approach

No matter how marketers respond to social outrage, they should always be willing to change their tactics. 

Protein World went too deep into the firestorm, Scholz says. At one point, the company鈥檚 CEO sent tweets鈥攏ow deleted鈥攃hallenging the mental health of critics and comparing some to beached whales. Scholz says that the company lost its moral high ground in a flash. 鈥淭he very thing they were criticized for, they were then guilty of,鈥� Scholz says. The company has since taken a lighter tone with critics on social media, he says. 

Companies should also be willing to change because there鈥檚 simply no right way to respond to outraged social media users. Legocki has spoken with peers and practitioners and read advice from experts; every answer they give seems to suggest something different. Do nothing? Issue a press release? Stir the pot to make people angrier? Apologize? No one knows the right way to deal with social outrage. For now, it鈥檚 situational.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the reasons I chose to study this,鈥� Legocki says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all dealing with it in small ways, and it catches us by surprise.鈥�