Social media is a critical tool for crisis management. It
allows brands to respond quickly to a problem that affects their customers in a
meaningful way, and it can help you identify and mitigate a crisis before it
occurs.
A crisis is when a customer problem or issue escalates into
something that negatively impacts the brand and its reputation. This could mean
that the brand receives a lot of negative attention from people on social
media, or it could be something that is out of the control of the company
itself.
While social media can be used for crisis management, it is
important to keep in mind that it is not an automatic solution. Instead, it is
an opportunity to evaluate how your company handles crisis situations and how
to improve your strategy.
First, identify and understand the risks that you may face
in a crisis. This can include anything from external events to employee
dissatisfaction to product issues. Next, formulate a plan to prepare your
company for these threats and ensure you have the resources needed to deal with
them should they occur.
If you are a smaller company, implementing a social media
monitoring solution can be a great way to catch the earliest signs of a
potential crisis before it has a chance to snowball. These tools can help you
track engagement spikes, keyword mentions, brand sentiment and other important
conversations that are relevant to the crisis at hand.
Once you have a good idea of the risks that you may face, it
is time to develop an effective crisis communications plan. This includes
drafting messages for your crisis team and establishing guidelines to follow
during a social media crisis.
The key is to develop a crisis response plan that will be
flexible and adaptable in case of any changes or unforeseen circumstances. For
example, if a crisis is caused by an employee mistake or misunderstanding, it’s
important to know how to handle this as soon as possible so that the company
can correct the mistake and prevent further damage to its brand.
Creating a hashtag that is specific to the crisis can be
another effective tool for addressing a social media crisis. For example, if
McDonald’s released the hashtag #McDStories after a child got sick because of a
Happy Meal, it created a fun campaign that went viral and was well received by
both users and other companies.
Second, a strong crisis response plan should also consider
the impact that social media may have on employees and other stakeholders
within your company. For example, if a crisis arises because a certain employee
does not follow your company's code of conduct on social media, this can have a
huge negative impact on your reputation and can cause the entire company to
lose customers and employees.
Third, a strong crisis response plan should also incorporate
training and education for your employees and other stakeholders. This is a
critical step because it ensures that everyone in your organization has the
same understanding of how they should handle a crisis and the proper protocols
to follow in the event of a crisis.
