• Be prepared. More than three-quarters of  social media crises could have been diminished or averted if companies had invested their resources internally and strategically. Of the advanced companies identified by Altimeter, 13 of the 18 have a clearly defined crisis plan with clear roles, responsibilities and action steps.  But they found that 56% of all companies had no clearly defined plan (that’s when the paralysis sets in).
• Companies need social media policies. These policies guide employees on how to participate in the social universe.  Left unguided, employees are uncertain or oblivious how to participate online and probably do so and go off the guard rails. Reputational risk is heightened, not lessened, when no social media policy is in place. In their survey, 83% of all companies they surveyed had a formal policy in place but among the more advanced ones, all 18 or 100% did. Interestingly, 8% had a policy specifically prohibiting employees from engaging on behalf of their companies. While I have traveled around the world, I have seen this to be true but it does not seem to deter most people and in fact, most definitely increases anonymity online. 
• Ongoing education is critical to managing online crises well. I found this section of the report very helpful because there is so much more that companies can do.  An example was given of a company that has a certification program with over 60 online courses.  Companies could certainly do better at social media training, whether it be brown bag lunches, speaker series, internal newsletters, etc.
• Create a scalable hub and spoke system to lead the social media strategy. The more advanced companies have a center of excellence at the hub with oversight for strategy, governance, training and education, measurement and vendor identification.  The centralized hub works closely with the cross-functional and cross-business unit support teams (the spokes) to support the overarching strategy and common policies. The hub is usually operated through marketing and/or corporate communications. This corporate social media team typically consists of 11 people. 

Indeed, Brandseye, an online reputation management service (“reputation” is the new catchword for companies once called marketers, PRs and media managers)....

An investigation by PRWeek found that a total of 42 changes to various Wikipedia pages were made from the same London IP address between April 2009 and June 2011. In most cases, negative or controversial details were erased from the entries. On other occasions, positive information was added.

• Be prepared. More than three-quarters of  social media crises could have been diminished or averted if companies had invested their resources internally and strategically. Of the advanced companies identified by Altimeter, 13 of the 18 have a clearly defined crisis plan with clear roles, responsibilities and action steps.  But they found that 56% of all companies had no clearly defined plan (that’s when the paralysis sets in).
• Companies need social media policies. These policies guide employees on how to participate in the social universe.  Left unguided, employees are uncertain or oblivious how to participate online and probably do so and go off the guard rails. Reputational risk is heightened, not lessened, when no social media policy is in place. In their survey, 83% of all companies they surveyed had a formal policy in place but among the more advanced ones, all 18 or 100% did. Interestingly, 8% had a policy specifically prohibiting employees from engaging on behalf of their companies. While I have traveled around the world, I have seen this to be true but it does not seem to deter most people and in fact, most definitely increases anonymity online. 
• Ongoing education is critical to managing online crises well. I found this section of the report very helpful because there is so much more that companies can do.  An example was given of a company that has a certification program with over 60 online courses.  Companies could certainly do better at social media training, whether it be brown bag lunches, speaker series, internal newsletters, etc.
• Create a scalable hub and spoke system to lead the social media strategy. The more advanced companies have a center of excellence at the hub with oversight for strategy, governance, training and education, measurement and vendor identification.  The centralized hub works closely with the cross-functional and cross-business unit support teams (the spokes) to support the overarching strategy and common policies. The hub is usually operated through marketing and/or corporate communications. This corporate social media team typically consists of 11 people.