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As Cracker Barrel continues to deal with the backlash against its (now mostly walked-back) modern rebranding that rocked social media for weeks, new data has come to light. According to research obtained by the Wall Street Journal from PeakMetrics, 44.5% of X posts about Cracker Barrel on Aug. 20 (when the new logo began to go viral), were posted by “bots or likely bots,” rising to 49% at the peak of the controversy.
That is a much higher share of automated posts than usual, the metrics company said, noting that controversial discussions on social media usually garner about 20% to 30% of bot-authored posts. This means that nearly half of the online outrage against Cracker Barrel’s simplified logo and remodeled stores was manufactured.
“The decisions Cracker Barrel made amid this social noise felt like they were driven by a desire to quickly extinguish the conversation rather than get their arms around what was really happening,” Maria Harrison, president and CEO of digital marketing agency, Bullseye Strategy, said. “Bots essentially lit the match. They created fake widespread anger, which then triggered real people to pile on and amplify the outrage far beyond what a typical logo change would typically provoke. Other brands have survived backlash over logo changes, and Cracker Barrel could have too if they took the time to understand the data.”
She added that even before rolling out a rebrand, a company should be aware through internal communications if it might spark a backlash. If that’s the case, they should have a “crisis response framework” in place for a measured plan instead of hurried flailing.
The crisis response, Harrison said, should include steps like checking first-party data to see how real customers are responding (not just bots and social media pilers-on). Operators can also use third-party tools to verify whether online chatter is real or manufactured, she said. There are also clues to spot social media outrage inauthenticity, like repetitive posts and hashtags, and the noise only showing up in one channel (in this case, on X).
“Predictive testing, proactive communication to their customers, and contextual data all could have mitigated this crisis,” Harrison said. “If early warning signs were detected, Cracker Barrel could have made quiet decisions about how to proceed, and if they decided to proceed nationally, they could have gotten ahead of any discontent that may have been legitimate and not bot-driven.”
finance.yahoo.com
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