For brands in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry, being prepared in the event of a product recall is a must. Not having a plan makes it easy to be caught off-guard in a difficult and potentially brand-damaging situation. Product recalls do not discriminate based on whether a brand is just starting out or more established, and when a product recall is issued, the public reaction can be swift. In the age of social media, information travels faster and reaches further – once this information is out in the social space, it takes on a life all its own.

We can take a look at the recent E.coli outbreak in Europe as an example. While social media helped consumers to stay informed on what was happening and allowed scientists to exchange valuable information, which was a huge asset, the speed at which news spread also fuelled rumours that turned out to be less than accurate. Making sure customers are receiving information that is both correct and timely is one of the reasons why online awareness in a product recall situation is so important.

As a brand, identifying possible scenarios beforehand and establishing how you will listen to and engage in conversations with your customers will allow you to handle the situation as confidently and effectively as possible.

Word Travels Fast
When it comes to consumer safety, speed is of the essence, and online communication plays a large role in informing consumers of product recalls. Many government agencies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, have multiple Twitter accounts and also offer email alerts and RSS updates.

Information shared via social media can get picked up and amplified quickly, and before you know it, you might have several hundred mentions. Whether positive or negative, these mentions have an impact on your brand reputation and should be addressed. Even if you aren’t currently engaging with your customers over social media when it comes to product recalls, you can still gain insight by listening to the ways they are talking about, and to, your brand. For instance, if you see that a number of your customers are unsure how to check if the product they purchased is included under the recall, you might want to re-evaluate your current method for communicating this information.

Ready, Set, Listen
To monitor conversations about your brand related specifically to product recalls, be sure to include the appropriate keywords in your topic profile, including terms like “recall” and “recalled” in association with your brand and/or product. To make sure you can easily isolate posts relevant to product recalls from the rest of the conversations, a separate keyword group is a great solution.

Once your recall keyword group is built out, you can easily open a separate stack in the Engagement Console to monitor posts in real time and close it when it is no longer needed.

Another option is to search for recall mentions within the Engagement Console itself by using the Keyword Filter. This approach will work best if your topic profile is already set to pull all mentions of your brand. If you want to search for multiple keywords from within the Engagement Console (i.e. “recall” and “recalled”), you will need to open multiple stacks.

You might also want to focus on certain media types, depending on which posts require the fastest response. For example, if you decide that micromedia mentions need to be responded to in the shortest amount of time, you can designate a stack in the Engagement Console specifically for micromedia. However you choose to manage mentions, having a strategy in place beforehand will make things run a lot smoother.

Develop a Game Plan
If you have decided that you want to engage with your customers, you will need to establish the when and how and define the responsibilities of each of your team members. Consider questions such as: “What is our time frame for responding? Are there any situations where a response is not needed? If it is an issue that falls outside our department, who will we refer it to?”

Be sure to outline how you will tag, classify, prioritize and assign posts within the Engagement Console. Having your workflow set up ahead of time will ensure every team member is informed and on the same page when it comes time to jump in and start engaging.

To see how we answered the above questions when it came to our own brand, take a look at the Radian6 playbook.

Placing Yourself Ahead of the Conversation
You might decide that you are going to take a proactive approach to product recalls for your brand. Whether it’s an announcement on your website or blog, a Facebook post, or Tweet, you can place yourself one step ahead of the conversation. While it is ultimately up to you, letting your customers know about the situation firsthand rather than them relying on other sources reinforces that you are there to respond to any of their questions or concerns.

Make Your Website a Go-To Resource
Consider having a section on your website where you can post announcements, links, FAQ’s, and contact information regarding product recall, and include links in your tweets or posts to direct customers to your website. Not only is this a great resource for customers seeking out information, but it will help ensure that the information your team members provide via social media is as accurate and consistent as possible.
Publix Super Market has a special section on their website dedicated to product recalls and food safety. The page includes tips on safe food handling, a Q&A section, and links to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other government agencies.

Now that we’ve touched on a few points to consider when building a social media strategy around product recalls, we want to hear from you. Do you feel that social media monitoring and engagement when it comes to product recalls should be a priority all the time or does it depend on the situation? Do you expect brands to be proactive about online communications when it comes to product recalls? Are there any challenges associated with product recalls and social media that you would like us to address in a future post?
For additional insight, check out How Businesses Can Survive a Product Recall Using Social Media by Patrick Kerley.