No matter what type of business you run, sooner or later you will have to face a social media crisis. Having the right plan in place and taking action quickly will help you to evade, manage and survive a crisis. A Business?s Guide To Managing A Social Media Crisis.
After a crisis has passed, it’s important to debrief as a team and consider the lessons learned. A Business?s Guide To Managing A Social Media Crisis.
1. Respond quickly
Whether it’s from a disgruntled employee or your audience, reacting quickly to a crisis is vital.
You also want to set up templates for routine inquiries so responses can be sent quickly.
2. Build trust
Your team needs to know what to do during a social media crisis and be prepared for anything. This means having a detailed response plan, up-to-date contact information for critical employees and processes for pre-approved messaging, if needed.
3. Respond to criticism
With the right tools and plan in place, negative situations arising on social media don’t have to be detrimental. It’s possible to walk away from these types of events with increased customer loyalty and a stronger brand reputation.
4. Be transparent
Transparency is a core business value and is the foundation of any successful brand. However, it’s also a delicate subject that requires careful thought and consideration.
It’s important to remember that a mishandled crisis has the potential to impact everyone, including your target audience and employees. It can directly affect your market reputation and negatively influence revenue and profit margins.
Ensure that you have the proper guidelines in place to avoid this scenario. A good practice is to pause any scheduled posts during a crisis.
5. Respond with empathy
The best way to respond to your customers in a time of crisis is by being empathetic. This may involve apologizing and providing updates on what is being done to resolve the situation.
Ensure that your team has a clear understanding of the company’s social media policy before a crisis happens. This includes privacy guidelines, confidentiality guidelines and brand voice guidelines.
Make sure that only a small number of employees have passwords to your company’s social media accounts. This will help you to limit social media takeovers that can occur during a crisis. Additionally, it will prevent your employees from leaking confidential information or squabbling with one another on the public record.
6. Take action
Use social listening to identify potential issues before they turn into a crisis. This will help you to distinguish between grumblings and a full-blown social media backlash needs read more hear.
