There are many people, be it individuals or corporate brand managers that are hesitant to use a full social media marketing strategy due to the possibility that there will be a negative backlash from their customers or clients.

Immediately I pose them the question; “If there is something negative to say, wouldn’t you want to be there to correct it?”

Either way in our era of consumer journalism and advocacy, we have to cope with the fact that we as the consumer, customer, or client have the power to promote or demote something that has a worthy negative attribute.

So as a company or brand, our thought should be to enter using Social Media marketing as a way to listen, communicate, engage, and monitor the conversation. When a nightmare does occur, having at least somewhat of a Social footprint we  can react accordingly.

Being hesitant will only bring more chaos when the nightmare does happen.

I especially like the Mashable.com  – How to Survive the Social Media Revolt blog post where the author speaks of these following steps to approach a Social Media what I call “nightmare”:

1. Communicate Even If You Have Nothing to Say
2. Be Forthright
3. Make It Clear That You’re Listening
4. Acknowledge Your Mistakes
5. Promise to Learn and Improve – Then Deliver

How have you approached a Social Media Nightmare?