One of the most debated topics regarding social media marketing is risk. Fear of reputation disasters and even of simple comments still withholds many businesses to use social media.
While Gartner estimates not responding via social channels can lead up to a 15% increase in churn rate for existing customers and ignoring social media is not an option anymore, many organizations remain wary.
It’s always good to be prepared and know what potential risks you might be facing, but it shouldn’t be an excuse not to get started. Nevertheless, make sure you have a social media risk management process in place.
According to a report by Altimeter Group, social media risk management is in fact an imperative.
The gap between perceived social media risk and proper social media training
Two-thirds of companies say social media is a significant or critical risk to their brand reputation, according to the report. Although such a high percentage of respondents see social media as an important risk, 60% of companies either never train their employees about their social media policies or only do so upon hiring.
Obviously, there are other risks as well, for instance, from a security perspective.
The main social media risks respondents see, according to Altimeter are:
- Damage to brand reputation.
- Releasing confidential information.
- Legal, regulatory and compliance violations.
- Identity theft or hijacking.
