media update’s Darren Gilbert rounded up their top tips for brands that find themselves dragged into a fake news story.

1. Set up a task team to deal with any fake news

Brands need to treat the possibility of fake news as they would any crisis communications plan. This is according to Sue Parker-Smith, managing director at Catalyst Communications.

“Set up a task team to plan for possible scenarios and put in place a well-defined action plan,” she says. “Go through potential crises from Twitter storms to malicious fake news to labour or environmental issues appearing about your company on published media sites.”

Janine Lloyd, CEO of PR Expert, agrees, adding that while scenarios are all good and well, there is also the need for the task team to determine that the fake news is, in fact, fake. “They should resist the temptation to assume the news is fake and make sure they have all the facts before responding.”

“Once they have assessed the facts and found the news to be fake, they need to determine what the impact would be to their brand and respond accordingly,” adds Lloyd. “Some fake news is so obviously fake that making a big deal about it could give it more prominence, in this case, the brand could issue a small statement and post it in channels online.”

While it’s difficult to anticipate your brand becoming a target of fake news, a well-documented plan, along with a response team, will go a long way to minimising any potential damage, says Parker-Smith.

2. Give the public as much information as possible

In order to fight fake news, you first need to know that it’s out there. Once you do, it’s about acting as quickly as possible to counteract it, says Lara de Stadler, a media specialist at Reputation Matters.

“If you ignore it, you can get to a point where the majority of people who hear the fake news will believe that it’s true, and, when you come out with a statement a few days later stating the truth, it could be too late,” she says.

Instead, as a brand, you need to reduce the time between hearing the fake news and responding to it. This includes providing the public with as much relevant information as possible across your website and social media channels.

“Obviously, you can’t give away trade secrets or confidential information,” says De Stadler, “but be sure that whatever fake news is out there, you are able to combat it to the best of your ability. If someone is still not happy with your explanation, you can take the step to have someone at the top contacting them personally.”

In short, if you are empathetic towards the public, they will be empathetic towards your brand, says De Stadler.

3. Empower your staff members

Besides informing the public and your stakeholders of any fake news, it is just as important to tell your staff to keep them aware of what is going on. This is also to guard against any unnecessary rumours.

“Empower your staff members,” says Wendy Masters, owner of The Phoenix Partnership. “They know the truth. If you have developed a supportive company culture where your employees espouse your brand values, talk to them honestly.”

“Provide your team with the facts that you will be communicating in your corporate statement,” she continues. “Ask them to report the article as fake news if they feel comfortable doing so in their personal capacity, and give them permission to use their personal social media accounts to communicate the true facts.”

“Honest rebuttals from your employees can be even more effective than a company statement at a time like this,” ends Masters.

4. Prepare something to say, even if you don’t want to

“It is possible that you may want to treat the fake news with the contempt it deserves and ignore it,” says Parker-Smith. “You may have trolls on the Internet posting fake news just to get a reaction out of you and ferment dissent.”

However, even if you don’t want to respond to the fake news, it is still a good idea to prepare something.

“If you choose to stay silent, you must still, at least, prepare and disseminate an internal explanation to your employees and stakeholders telling them what has happened and why you are choosing not to comment,” continues Parker-Smith.

De Stadler agrees, saying, “Make sure that you are addressing the issue and that you are getting the correct message out there. Don’t hide away from the fake news and hope and pray that it will go away.”

If the issue does begin to gain traction amongst your stakeholders, it will be that much easier to counteract it. After all, this is about regaining the trust of the public and your customers.

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It’s not just fake news that is a problem for brands but also fake adverts. Read more in our article, How fakes adverts on social media are hurting South African brands and consumers.