A new day,
another brand being ‘cancelled’ — or at least that’s what it seems like. Whether it's a company being called out for expressing questionable views online or an employee misstep (resulting in a bout of bad publicity), more brands are being taken to task than ever before.
As Warren Buffet said, “
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” And if that doesn't sum up the power of social media and cancel culture, then who knows what does.
So, before we jump straight in, what does being ‘cancelled’ even mean in a business context? Well, this is when consumers boycott a brand because it doesn't align with their values and beliefs, or they simply disagree with what the company does.
As cancel culture is so intertwined with personal opinions on very public platforms — like social media, for example — brands must tread lightly when trying to recover after being cancelled, to avoid coming across as being inauthentic.
With that in mind, here are three ways to rebuild your brand image after being cancelled:
Be transparent
There is no worse reaction when you have been cancelled than to evade the crisis and hope it blows over. This is essentially throwing your brand’s reputation out the window.
With
46% of consumers stating that they found authenticity and honesty very important when they are choosing which brand to support, it is clear that your audience
wants you to be open about your faults.
When your brand has done something to upset your audience, the obvious first step is to apologise — something that is easier said than done.
When attempting to make amends, apologise sincerely and avoid sugar-coating anything. Being forthright from the jump helps to remind the consumer that there are people behind your brand, and
everybody makes mistakes after all.
Communicating transparently and empathetically is the second step in rebuilding your brand. Show your audience that you know exactly where you went wrong and how you plan to fix things (but more on that later).
Listen to your audience
A
social media monitoring tool is your secret weapon when trying to understand the sentiment surrounding your brand on social media. This is something that should be top of mind when your brand comes under fire.
Using this tool will give you access to solutions like keyword tracking, which allows you to monitor mentions of your business to determine how users perceive your brand.
Auto-sentiment technologies take things a step further as they give you insight into the sentiment surrounding brand mentions. You’ll be able to see whether the conversations surrounding your brand are positive, negative or neutral. This is useful because it will help you determine where you stand with your consumer base and what their expectations are.
Additionally, these tools can help you to stay on top of a crisis before it spreads to a point of no return.
Stay on top of brand mentions and follow up with clientele that holds negative sentiment towards your business to avoid the situation growing sour. This also shows your audience that
their opinions and input matters to
you.
Make reparations
These days, consumers want brands that not only provide an excellent service but stand for something meaningful as well.
If you were unfortunate enough to slip up in the public eye, you are going to have to show your consumers
exactly how you plan on making up for it.
This is a gesture of good faith and shows your clientele that you care what they think — enough to earn back their forgiveness.
For example, if multiple customers take to social media complaining about a faulty product, it could cause quite the stir and majorly damage your image. To remedy this situation, you can recall the product and offer incentives (coupons, discount codes) to the disgruntled customers to get back in their good graces.
Although, earning your consumer base's trust back is not as easy as giving stuff away for free. Rather, you have to actively work at
repairing this relationship and
rebuilding loyalty over time.
You can do this by making long-term changes to your business that empower the consumer. This means listening to your audience and taking their feedback into account to create a more holistic and inclusive brand.
What steps should a brand take to rebuild its reputation after a slip-up? Let us know in the comments section below.
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*Image courtesy of Vecteezy