"You're Worse than the Nazis!"

Every brand needs to be ready to meet with criticism online. It's part of what makes the internet great and annoying at the same time.

The web is democracy personified. Everyone gets a voice, regardless of education, socioeconomic status or intelligence.

Understanding Internet Democracy

4Chan's /b/ board spawned a race to the bottom in terms of offending, sickening and desensitizing an entire generation of internet users to the point that nothing even remotely offends them. (Except for Scientology.)

Some people are just going to hate you. The rationality behind such hatred isn't relevant, but the way in which you deal with it as a brand is.

Play by Their Rules

The rules of the boardroom don't apply to the internet. If anything? Prison rules are a better fit. After all, think about all the innovative crowd dynamics and content that has emerged. (The title of this post is an allusion to "Godwin's Law")

Adapt your responses to be appropriate to the forum, blog or situation that you are in. The only difference between offline and online? The responses and vitriol will be  much more spirited due to the level of anonymity that is accorded via a mouse and keyboard.

Don't expect the other side to play fair. Just maintain your level of professionalism and decorum and you will be fine.

Scale Your Response

Ever seen the head of Coca-Cola posting on a random message board to dispute erroneous claims? Of course not. It's for the same reason that we haven't leveled Baghdad with a Nuclear attack: scale.

However, would it be appropriate for an employee with an understanding of basic community engagement to speak to the erroneous claims? Absolutely. Coca-Cola has implemented this exact kind of policy because of it's logic and simplicity.

Know When to Move On

Sometimes the risk/reward is out of proportion. So pick up your ball and leave if you don't want to play, just don't be sour about it. The internet has a memory of about five minutes (tops?). Most beefs are forgotten by the next week.

Don't keep going back to the battlefield and trying to win. The internet is ruled by absolutes. It isn't very likely that you will succeed, even through compromise.

Learn

Not every community on the internet is a veritable Mos Eisley. Learn, listen and engage with a variety of different communities. If you can get past the sheer ridiculousness/offensiveness of places like 4chan, you'll actually learn a lot about group dynamics, interaction and reacting to crises. You can then take those hard learned lessons and apply them directly to more "rational" groups of people.

I love the /btards though. They make life more interesting.

Photo Credit: anonymous9000

tagged as brand strength, brand terrorism, building community, scaled responses, thick skin in marketing