SINGAPORE – An employee posts an offensive Facebook comment. Confidential information is leaked on social media. A disgruntled customer slams your brand online. Your social media campaign backfires. Any of these situations can happen to your organisation. No business is spared from the risks of social media. It does not matter whether your brand is inactive on social media. As long as customers are on social, your corporate reputation will always be at stake.
Charlie Pownall, an Independent Communications Consultant, explains the new risks social media poses for corporate reputation. “The internet and social media are driving profound changes in the way that customers and stakeholders experience and view companies. For the first time, organisations of all sizes can be publicly held to account and punished not just by investors or journalists but by the man in the street. With social media now viewed as a top business risk, how organisations are seen to manage and respond to the broad range of challenges and threats in social media has a major impact on their reputations.”
Unfortunately, many corporations have failed to successfully manage a social media crisis. Common pitfalls include deleting negative comments, a slow or even no response. Or worst, a defensive and unapologetic response. How then should companies mitigate the risks of social media? Pownall shares his thoughts, “Today’s real-time environment puts an onus on smart planning, joined-up thinking and quick, sound judgement at the customer and stakeholder coal-faces. Teams in the social media firing line – communications, marketing, customer service, corporate affairs, legal, risk – must appreciate the issues in the round and understand how online reputation threats can be assessed, mitigated, managed and evaluated.”
To equip communications professionals with critical skills and strategies to safeguard their company’s reputation, Pacific Conferences has organised a 2-day practical workshop on “Social Media Risk & Reputation Management”, to be held in Singapore on 26-27 May 2014, and in Hong Kong on 29-30 May 2014. Through case studies and hands-on exercises, master how to assess social media vulnerabilities for your company, acquire techniques to mitigate strategic, operational and behavioural reputation risks, and gain insightful knowledge on how to plan, respond and recover from crises using social media.
The workshop is led by Charlie Pownall, former Managing Director of Asia-Pacific at Burson-Marsteller, acknowledged as an online reputation management expert with over 20 years experience. Charlie writes extensively on marketing and communications for publications and has authored white papers and reports on reputation management. His Corporate Reputation In the Digital Age white paper was awarded at WPP’s prestigious annual Atticus Awards for original published thinking in marketing services.
Workshop Details
Title: Social Media Risk & Reputation Management
Date & Venue:
26 – 27 May 2014, Sheraton Towers, Singapore
29 – 30 May 2014, Regal Hongkong Hotel, Hong Kong
Organiser: Pacific Conferences
Contact Person: Ms Elicia Foo
Tel: (65) 6592 7355
Email: elicia@conferences.com.sg
The full programme can also be found online at the Pacific Conferences website.
