Should Your Social Media Strategy Always Be Ready for a Crisis?

What is a social media crisis? Should your strategy be designed with crisis response and management in mind? Find out here.

Social media can offer modern businesses so many incredible opportunities. It can be used to reach new customers, build reputation, advertise new products, and connect with industry peers and partners.

However, for all its benefits, social media can also be a treacherous landscape. There are numerous traps and pitfalls that must be avoided at all costs, failure to do so can have catastrophic consequences for your business. Should your social media team always be prepared to handle a crisis? Read on to find out.

What Do We Mean By Social Media Crisis?

The idea of a social media crisis might seem a little strange. Essentially, a social media crisis is an event that has the potential to cause your business serious harm, whether that be reputationally, financially, legally, or a combination of them all.

The majority of social media crises are self-inflicted, where a poorly conceived social media campaign ends up causing outrage and offense, leading to severe reputational damage. Having a social media publishing system in place is essential, this will allow you a greater degree of quality control and will stop your business from becoming the next Burger King.

No matter the type, a social media crisis can be absolutely disastrous. It’s essential that your strategy is capable of reacting to an emerging crisis effectively. We’ve listed a few social media crisis management tips below. Read on to check them out.

Act Fast

Things move fast online. Before you know it, your small social media faux pas could have escalated into a full-blown crisis. It is absolutely essential that you act fast in this situation. First, you need to assess what has happened and how it has happened. Identify the cause of the issue and take immediate steps to remove and/or rectify it. Unfortunately, the damage will likely have already been done, but acting quickly can prevent things from getting worse.

Communicate

Consumers want to feel connected to brands and value communication. This applies to crisis times as well, the worst thing your business can do is to go radio silent. This will create a vacuum where speculation and rumor will be rife.

The best approach is to communicate and own up to your mistake. Issue apologies where necessary and assure your customers that this will never happen again. This will make your business seem more relatable and will go a long way to fixing the damage that has been caused.

Review Your Social Media Policy

If your business has suffered a social media crisis, this should come as a clear indication that something is wrong with your social media policy. Use such an incident as an opportunity to sit down and carefully review your policy. Identify problem areas and address these to prevent similar incidents from occurring again in the future. Ensure all present and future employees know your social media policy inside out and that everyone in your business is on the same wavelength.

Conclusion

A social media crisis can be incredibly serious, so ensure your strategy is designed with crisis response and management in mind.

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/QckxruozjRg (Unsplash)

Janeth Kent

Licenciada en Bellas Artes y programadora por pasión. Cuando tengo un rato retoco fotos, edito vídeos y diseño cosas. El resto del tiempo escribo en MA-NO WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT.