How to Handle a Social Media Crisis and Keep Your Job: 9 Tips
In social networks, time moves at a different speed. One minute and your brand has become a favorite Internet meme. Next time you will be the object of a furious online rage. Because no matter how careful and cautious you are with your content, a social media crisis can always erupt.
Thankfully, a social media crisis doesn’t have to mean the end of your brand’s reputation. In this post, we will delve into how to deal with the fallout when your good reputation goes wrong.
Spoiler: preparing for the worst-case scenario before it happens will help you survive even the trolls. Have a solid plan ready with a list of key stakeholders and responsibilities, and a clear chain of command. In this way, in the worst case scenario, you will be able to restore the reputation of your brand.
Of course, it’s even better if you can prevent a crisis before it starts, so we’ll also look at methods for identifying potential problems as they arise and how to deal with a problem early. (Note: we also have a guide to using social media for crisis and emergency management if you need help on this front.)
Your Social Media Crisis Management Crash Course Begins…Now!
A social media crisis is any activity on social platforms that can negatively impact your brand’s reputation.
To be clear, this is more than just a weird rude comment or complaint from a customer. A crisis is when your activity on social media causes a flurry of negative responses or, even worse, calls for a boycott.
In other words, a social media crisis is a major change in online conversations about your brand: an action that has generated anger, frustration, or distrust on a massive scale. Left unchecked, it can have serious long-term consequences for your brand.
Tactless or out of touch comments, such as this poorly received International Women’s Day post from Burger King.
The intention was to offer a cheeky take on this sexist phrase and celebrate the restaurant’s female chefs, but the tone on Twitter was lost and the consequences were swift.
Hypocritical posts also cause irritation. American Airlines’ rosy tweet about their new fleet decorations sparked an outcry from people who mentioned the company’s donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations.
Bad employee behavior can also trigger a crisis. Maybe someone has documented real-life mistreatment and shared it online. Or maybe an awkward support interaction was captured in a screenshot and went viral.
Another opportunity for a crisis? Product failures or customer dissatisfaction. Public reaction to Walmart’s tactless Juneteeth ice cream has flooded the brand’s mentions. This is a crisis, for sure.
Of course, in order to notice that an unusual amount of warmth is coming to you, you need to know what “normal”looks like – which is why constant social listening is so important. Studying the general conversation and measuring the public’s pulse on brand perception can give you a solid idea of what a “normal day”looks like for your brand.
All of this is to say that, as an organization, you must determine what kind of shift in sentiment you need to see before you can start thinking of an event as a potential “social media crisis.”Once the numbers reach this threshold, review the situation with the relevant people to decide whether you should implement your crisis communication plan or simply reach out through the customer service channels individually to the commenters.
When the situation changes and you find yourself subjected to mass criticism or anger, here’s how to proceed.
Answer fast
Believe it or not, ignoring a problem won’t make it go away. And the sooner you react, the better. After all, even in the best of times, more than three-quarters of consumers expect brands to respond to negative comments or concerns within 24 hours. In the midst of a crisis, it is even more important to be responsive.
Maybe it just means removing the offending post immediately, or maybe it means a sincere apology or rebuttal. Whatever the answer, the sooner the better—delaying something will give the problem more time to develop.
Burger King UK, for example, deleted the original accidentally sexist tweet and issued an apology and clarification of their intentions within hours, calming the hype pretty quickly.
Frankly, no matter how well prepared you are, the nature of the crisis means you can’t solve everything with a social media post or two. It would be a publicity stunt. But your subscribers and the public will be expecting to hear from you, and it’s important for you to recognize the problem right away. Even on holidays, you should be able to respond quickly in case of an emergency.
A few humble and informative posts will give you time to put the rest of your social media communication plan into motion. Just admit there is a problem and let people know that more information is coming soon.
Check your social media policy
Fortunately, while some of the worst social media crises start with an employee posting something inappropriate, these types of confusion are also the easiest to avoid.
Prevention starts with a clear social media policy for your company. A good one should include guidelines for proper use, set out expectations for branded accounts, and explain how employees can talk about business in their personal channels.
Dollar General has come under fire after one of its managers shared a not-so-flattering look at the company behind the scenes. Ideally, your business doesn’t encourage employees to publicly criticize you, but social media policies can help mitigate even well-intentioned messages about your brand.
@maryg_4hudson2k24_4_pres #corperateslavery #retail #dobetter #storemanagerlife #storemanagerlife
Of course, the details of your social media policy will vary depending on factors such as your industry and the size of your company. Here are some topics that all social media policies should include:
- Copyright Guide. Don’t assume employees understand how copyright works on the Internet. Provide clear instructions on how to use and credit third-party content.
- Privacy Policy. Specify how to interact with customers online and when the conversation needs to be moved to a private channel.
- Privacy Policy. Describe what business information employees are allowed (even encouraged) to share and what should be kept confidential.
- Branding recommendations. Do you maintain a formal tone? Can your social team get a little silly?
Have a crisis communication plan
If you don’t already have a social media crisis communication plan: make one! This is what you should create in good times so that you have a clear head and a practical understanding of how to respond to a social media emergency.
When the Quebec health authorities accidentally posted a link to a pornographic website instead of medical information about Covid-19, they didn’t have to think twice about how to deal with the situation.
Once this document is ready to go, you can quickly respond to any potential issue, rather than having to discuss how to proceed or wait for senior management to give their opinion.
After all, taking action as soon as possible is critical (which is why “react quickly”was our #1 recommendation for dealing with this crisis!). More than a quarter of crises spread around the world in just one hour.
Your plan should outline the exact steps that everyone will take on social media during a crisis, from top managers to the most junior employees. Include a list of those who need to be alerted at each stage of a potential social media crisis.
Your social media crisis management plan should include:
- Recommendations for determining the type and extent of the crisis.
- Roles and responsibilities for each department.
- Communication plan for internal updates.
- Up-to-date contact information for important employees.
- Approval processes for posts posted on social media.
- Any pre-approved external posts, images or information.
- Link to your social media policy.
Practice social listening to identify potential problems
As the saying goes, the best offense is a good defense. A good social listening program can help you spot an emerging social media problem long before it escalates into a crisis.
Monitoring brand mentions can give you early warning of a spike in social activity. But if you really want to keep an eye on a potential crisis on social media, you should track social sentiment.
Social Sentiment is a metric that shows how people feel about your brand. If you see a sudden change, that’s an immediate clue to start digging into your listening streams to see what people are saying about you.
When Snickers received a backlash on social media about the fanatical ad they placed in their Spanish market, they took note. The advertisement was quickly pulled from Spanish television. But if the company hadn’t followed social sentiment, it might never have realized just how offensive the ad was.
Engage (empathetically!) with commentators
You posted the original answer. You are working on more detailed messaging with an official statement or video from the CEO. But you also have to be on the front lines in this crisis… which means you need to go to the comments section or look for mentions elsewhere on the internet.
Don’t ignore vitriol. Engagement is the key to showing that you care about the public’s reaction and are listening to their concerns. But be brief, and whatever you do, don’t argue.
Instead of defending yourself or getting dragged into a lengthy confrontation, take the straight path and acknowledge your problems and frustrations. If someone demands more attention from you, try turning the conversation into a private message, email, or phone call. But no matter what messenger you are talking on… go this way.
Keep internal communication in motion
Disinformation and rumors can spread just as easily within your company as they do outside. And when there is silence at the top during a crisis, the whispers tend to go even faster and more furiously.
In other words: your crisis communication should include internal communication. It keeps everyone on the same wavelength and relieves tension and insecurity.
Be clear about your intended actions and make sure everyone in the organization knows exactly what they should (or shouldn’t) talk about the crisis on social media. Hootsuite Amplify offers an easy way to distribute pre-approved corporate messages to all employees, which they can share on their social accounts.
Protect your accounts
Weak passwords and other social media security risks can quickly expose your brand to a social media crisis. In fact, employees are more likely to cause a cybersecurity crisis than hackers.
The more people who know the passwords of your social media accounts, the greater the chance of a security breach. Don’t share passwords with various members of your team who need access to your social media accounts.
Pause scheduled posts
Even if you had a great post planned for World Donut Day, it won’t be a great one if you’re in the middle of a social crisis. It’s time to put that great content on the back burner while you’re doing the deals.
At best, an untimely scheduled post will make you look stupid. In the worst case, this can completely derail your crisis management plan. In the end, it is very important that all communications are planned, consistent and appropriate in tone. The scheduled post will be neither.
With a social media planner like Hootsuite, pausing scheduled social media content is as easy as clicking the pause symbol on your organization’s profile and then entering a reason for pausing.
Learn from experience
While social media crises can be stressful, this experience can teach your organization important lessons. After you’ve made it through the storm, be sure to take a break to take stock and examine what happened.
This is an opportunity to reflect on how your brand got into trouble and what was successful (or not!) when you dealt with the consequences.
This reflection does not have to happen alone. In fact, the more points of view, the better. This is a good time to bring the entire company together to discuss the experiences you’ve been through and share the knowledge and experience of different teams. Maybe the customer service department had some important information. Or maybe PR has some new guidelines to include in your social media plan.
This post-mortem is a good time for the social media marketers on your team to also review the crisis communication plan and update it as needed based on lessons learned.
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