Social Media Crisis Management

A social media crisis can be impossible to manage if no one at your company has experience in this area. Information can spread today more quickly than ever, so a social media crisis can get out of hand before you even understand the problem. It’s important that you react quickly to such a situation, or better yet, are wholly prepared for such an event.

If you need to manage a social media crisis, Tucker/Hall has the experience to help. Please feel free to contact Darren Richards at 813-228-0652 or via email at drichards@tuckerhall.com.

Below are some high-level recommendations for navigating a social media crisis:

Identify When Something Is an Actual Crisis

The purpose of social media is to engage your customers in a conversation. Sometimes those conversations can get heated, and that’s okay. However, if it escalates beyond a reasonable discussion, you might be dealing with a crisis. Some indicators may include:

• Information on your social media receives responses contrary to your intent. If your followers don’t understand your intent on a certain promotion, or you receive an escalation of questions or accusations, you’re likely close to being in a social media crisis. The miscommunication should be addressed immediately.
• You notice a significant drop-off or increase in social media growth and engagement that calls your communications into question. A crisis could look like a sharp increase in any social media metric, be it followers or retweets related to your company. While this change from the norm could be positive, it requires attention if the increase is driven by negative media or “hate shares.”
• You see material business impacts, including loss of revenue in the wake of a particular social media campaign.

Have a Communication Tree

When a social media crisis occurs, it happens so quickly that it’s easy to lose control if an executive or key person is unaware of the situation. Have a plan ahead of time for how information will spread within your network. A lack of knowledge about the situation will never ease a crisis by itself, but it opens the door to additional miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Put Out the Fire

During your response to a social media crisis, work to determine the source of the problem. If you can cut off the problem at the source, you’ll lower the risk of escalation.

When addressing anyone affected by the crisis, no matter how big or small the audience, consider an apology. People are generally more likely to forgive and forget when you show remorse.

Create a Channel Where People Can Vent Their Frustrations

People want to feel like their concern is seen or heard, and will use any means to achieve this. By creating a channel for people to vent that falls under your control, you can learn important information that can help you improve.