Crisis Management: An Opportunity For Your Brand To Shine

With the rising health trend in the last couple of years, increasing numbers of consumers have started looking for new ways of getting and staying healthy.

Gradually, people have incorporated in their lifestyles healthier foods, more exercise and less excesses, whilst the desire to eat locally sourced food has increased. But what do people put a premium on? Quality or taste?

A while ago, taste used to be the most common decision-maker when making a food purchase, but things have slowly started to change and now we pay a greater deal of attention to nutritional values, ingredients and production methods.

This shift in consumer behaviour has also had an impact on food and beverage companies. After being faced with criticism from health advocates, they had to make a change and improve the quality of their products.

To make this possible, social media is now acting as the core platform for unhappy customers, preoccupied by food regulations or labelling laws to express their concerns and complaints.

Businesses that actively monitor online conversation are better prepared to react swiftly to these rising threats.

Better prepared in which way? (you might ask) – What is the key factor that can make the difference between a PR disaster and a brilliantly dealt-with crisis?

The key ingredient is definitely speed of reaction and a clear, honest, transparent answer.

Turning online complaints into a boosted online reputation and some positive publicity has never been easier, actually. The four key things you need to bear in mind though, when dealing with crisis management are:

• Monitor online chatter around your brand (and industry)
• Provide quick, constructive responses to questions, requests or complaints
• Always have a clear message and approach issues with a friendly attitude
• Most importantly, show you care!

A great example of a company that has flourished during the health trend and exemplified its social media prowess in the way it handled a crisis is Chobani.

What happened?

In 2013, Chobani, an American brand initiated a recall of its yoghurt cups, as the company had received complaints over mouldy, foul-smelling yoghurts.

How did they react?

• The brand quickly acknowledged the issue on its social media accounts with a direct comment from the CEO
• They created a blog to update all of its followers on the issue and opened themselves up to negative feedback
• They dealt with the immense amount of criticism with honesty and transparency

What was the result?

Chobani is now lauded as a leader in social media strategy, continuously identifying and engaging with relevant conversations and providing excellent customer service and timely responses to any social inquiries.

If you fancy reading more about the food and beverage industry or if you’re simply curious to find out more cool insights, such as: what do Americans discuss more online, kale or bacon? Click on the big red button below and take a look…

It’s free! ;-)

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