Social media trolling: How PR is facing this new & constant challenge

Today we are living in world where everything happens on the internet. The super and easy access of digital has given the netizens to troll with hashtag # for the smallest of the incident and send it viral across all social media platforms. Recently in Bengaluru an incident happened with a Dominos outlet where mops and toilet brushes were seen hanging directly above the dough begin readied to bake the pizzas. This horrific images from the food franchise which is supposed to deliver clean and fresh pizzas where very angry and trolled over twitter. Such trolls will really send the franchisee into a tizzy and they may be blacklisted by pizza lovers and will stop ordering from that outlet. This can also have a ripple effect with the other outlets as serious doubts will be cast on how the hygiene process and guidelines are followed.

With the wide freedom of expression through social media today every individual will sharing their uncensored opinions of any incident that is glaring and will affect one’s life, health or wellbeing. Brands in various are always on the receiving and end when they get trolled by the social media audiences. While social media is permitting brands to reach a larger audience with a very close engagement but there is also a risk of getting trolled if something goes wrong in the market place.

While today most PR agencies and their teams embracesocial media in a big way but the challenges are still there to douse the fire when something negative flares up in social media. Different agencies follow different steps and process to manage the trolls. But the best way to avoid getting trolled is to be fully prepared and set up a process with the team that manages the brand handles on how they will deal with trolls or unhappy customers before any such situation arises. The process that is put in place has to be in agreement with team at the client’s end. Based on the learnings from the client and the agency side a robust plan can be detailed out on the plan of action in the event of a troll happens. The plans have to be chartered out based on what could happen in the future and possible scenarios need to be planned to fight the crisis.

In today’s day in age when digital hostility and twitter quarrels are common the trolls from the netizens need to be responded carefully. Sharing his perspective Kunal Kishore, Founder Director, Value360 Communications, said while responding to the troll, care has to be taken to ensure that it does not any further tarnish or damage the reputation of the company. Many of the people who swear by the online transactions and e-commerce and who understands as to how the online business operates are not the people who usually troll and criticise. Social media is the best platform for many to intentionally criticise, create conflict and may keep endlessly keep arguing to bring some brand down without adequate reasons. One need to track and monitor such community who love ranting on the social media. This is where you need online experts who with their knowledge, experience and training will be able to tackle it in the right manner without causing a major damage to the brand.

He further remarked that in today’s hyper-connected world, a unique voice is given to every business stakeholder across different channels. However, this voice may also lead to unwanted attention – or trolling – which can be motivated or unintentional or, in some case, just general outrage due to a mismatch of ideologies. Against this backdrop, leaders must have ears on the ground at all times to stay updated on general brands sentiment to ensure that the brand does not fact the impact of trolling. In case an instance of outrage and trolling does occur, there are a few steps to follow.

The first rule of the game is to pick your battles. Not every incident deserves or warrants your attention. You must have a mechanism or method to analyse the situation and weed out the instances that will simply blow over so you can focus on instances that are gaining momentum. For this, brands can use global licensed tools that gauge ongoing brand sentiment in the market and analyse the authority or social media equity of these trolls.

Next, you must carry out sensibility check on any campaign before it goes live. This is becoming more critical in today’s world where the public is sensitive to brand rhetoric. Take corrective measures in a manner which reflects honesty throughout in case of a misstep. Your genuine effort in correcting and clarifying the situation is the best bet to move forward with your reputation intact.

According to Kartik Srinivasan, Brand Consultant and Social media commentator, one of the most important functions PR agencies perform is reputation management. In these days of social media troll storms, PR agencies are all the more crucial for reputation management. In fact, PR agencies are almost like insurance for corporate reputation management. 

Whenever a brand is being trolled or mentioned in negative tones online, it is the social media command center (usually a PR agency's domain, though many large companies have an in-house set-up in terms of the hardware and software which is manned either by company employees or by people from their PR agency) that identifies any live trends for or against the brand.

If the negative trend is going viral too fast, the company may need to remove any offending material (like an ad, the way Zomato did recently for the ad featuring Hrithik) in the shortest possible time so that they can avoid a cascading negative effect.

But these decisions need to be taken only on the basis of sustained and persistent social media monitoring. And PR agencies are best equipped to handle this function. Because it is not just monitoring, but also advising the client on an appropriate course of action, and also back that up with appropriate articulation of what needs to be said, advise on whom within the organization that needs to be say it, and keep a check on the change of sentiment.While a digital agency can do the monitoring, PR agencies are better equipped with the entire process and planning because this is something they have done in the past too, when social media was not the dominant media vehicle.

Echoing her views Pooja Trehan, AVP, Communications & Public Policy, Sugar Box Networks, said that today, brands are getting trolled for two reasons - either they are genuinely insensitive or unknowingly mess up (on the messaging).Picking on the second instance, first. Unknowingly or have been ignorant, about what could cause a crisis:

- in this situation, the teams have been incompetent to stay clued on to basics like social listening or not bothered to track what is troubling audiences, eventually causing outbursts. This has to be pre-empted, no doubt about it. As communication professionals this can't be left on fate cards to turn up. And this is possible. Professionals have to stay aligned with developments

- within the organisation as well the turning of wheels in the external environment (simple, yeah maybe, but the truth).

- genuinely been insensitive. Now this is a tricky one. At times teams feel that the issue at hand is not such a concern. Or should definitely be contributed to, so that the brand could stay alive in the trending conversations. Sometimes, it works for the brand to be proactive and at other times it could be a bad choice, because one hasn't calculated the probability of the situation spiralling (mostly negatively).

She pointed out that in both the cases, the choice is simple, or could be simple. Evaluate how any online messaging or campaign is relevant for the brand - in the long run. Anything that's seasonal or like dipping your toe in the #Trending section, has its bucket of repercussions. Either you brace yourself for impact or tread carefully. Also, one can't ignore the fact that the digital world comes with an army of so-called trollers, we just have to get smarter to manage or ignore them. As long as your brand's messaging in focused and doesn't harm any sentiments, in the long run these few negative ripples won't matter. And shouldn't matter.