The question of how to detect and manage social media crises as they unfold online bothers many companies.The simple advice is – don’t be scared but be prepared to manage a social media crisis. First and foremost, it is essential to realize that monitoring 100 percent of the internet is required if you are to avert any social media crisis.
Setting up alerts based on sensitive keywords is imperative for any company hoping to detect and manage social media crises. For brands launching new products, keeping an eye on those keywords is essential to ensuring that the launch goes smoothly.
One of the keys to successful social media crisis mitigation is pre-crisis planning. This may be called lifeguard mode – prevention is better than cure. It’s hard to deal with a crisis unless you can find one coming. You need some sort of social media listening software in your organization.
You must have a listening protocol in your organization. Learn to rightly identify what is a crisis and what is not a crisis. Somebody sending a mean tweet about your company doesn’t constitute a crisis. A crisis is much bigger than that.
Experts suggest that a social media crisis has information asymmetry. This happens when the company does not know any more than the public about what’s going on. Information asymmetry is the first sign of a social media crisis.
Social chatter about what is ongoing at your company is not a crisis. When a markedly different line of criticism occurs, that’s the second sign of a social media crisis. A social media crisis has a potentially powerful impact on the company overall.
Not all crises have the same response teams. Create different response teams for different types of social media crises. The more profound the issue, the more senior the responder.Create a crisis flowchart that specifies who in your organization should be contacted in different crisis scenarios.
Depending on the size and complexity of your organization – you may want to work with your legal department to map out some processes and pre-approved messaging. Crisis role-playing and simulated fire drills are exceptionally useful.
Here are some easy steps to successfully manage a social media crisis.
1. Acknowledge there is a crisis.
2. Fight social media fire with social media water so that things do not escalate.
3. If the problem is genuine express regret.You will, in all probability, be forgiven if you say you say sorry and mean it.
4. Create a Crisis FAQ that should include:
- Acknowledge the crisis
- Details about the occurrence
- Photos or videos, if available
- How the company detected the crisis
- Which team was alerted, when, and how
- Specific actions taken in response
- Real or potential threats
- Steps taken to prevent future occurrence