In spite of the old “sticks and stones” idiom, words can do a lot of damage to brands online. One angry Facebook post or tweet can escalate rapidly into a social media storm, leaving a permanent stain on a business’s image. Which is why keyword analysis can prove to be a crucial tool for online reputation management. Tracking which keywords and expressions are being used in conversations about a brand can be crucial to spotting the first moments of a crisis, before it has time to snowball.

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Samsung is back in the headlines yet again today after they announced that they would be stopping the production of the Galaxy Note 7. The tech giant’s PR nightmare has gone from bad to worse since it first began back in August, when customers first started to experience problems with the smartphones overheating.

Visibrain looked into how social media reacted to some of the worst moments of the crisis.

Would you be able to spot the first signs of a looming crisis in your data? Brands are increasingly turning to the use of monitoring tools to pick up on any budding PR issues before they have time to escalate - but with the hundreds of millions of news stories, blog articles, social media posts, photos and videos being published every day, the warning signs of a crisis are often difficult to detect amongst all the noise.

Visibrain has come up with a comprehensive guide explaining how - and where - to spot the first moments of a crisis in your monitoring data.

Southern Rail found themselves in the middle of yet another social media firestorm on Monday with the launch of #SouthernBackOnTrack. In an attempt to use outside pressure to put an end to ongoing strikes, the campaign encouraged commuters to tell the RMT Union how they felt about the disruptions on Twitter.