Social Media Crisis Management in 9 Steps (2024 Guide)

Social media crisis management is critical for every social media and communications professional.

Why? Because when your brand is in the middle of a crisis, every TikTok, Reel, or Tweet you post can either protect your brand’s safety or turn a one-time incident into a long-term loss of brand trust.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to manage a social media crisis, from social listening to post-crisis communication and everything in between. Plus, we spoke to Emily Flathers, Senior Marketing Manager at Alfred Coffee, to give some tried-and-true tips on how to navigate even the most treacherous social media territory.

What is social media crisis management?

Social media crisis management is a strategy used to mitigate damage from a negative message shared widely about a brand on social networks.

Think about a public explanation or apology posted by a CEO when someone surfaces a problem. That action is part of the brand’s social media crisis strategy.

Source: Kris Rasmussen

The role of social media in crisis management goes far beyond publishing a heartfelt “we’re sorry” Reel. It includes creating a comprehensive response plan, social listening for early crisis identification, and all the steps during and after to mitigate online hostility that threatens a brand’s safety.

Keep in mind that social media crisis management differs from social media crisis communication. The latter concerns how your brand responds to a crisis outside your control, like a hurricane or a global pandemic.

What qualifies as a social media crisis?

A social media crisis occurs when there’s a significant negative shift in the online conversation about your brand. This is more than just the odd rude comment or a complaint from a customer—it’s a flurry of negative responses or, worse, calls for a boycott.

A social media crisis can be sparked by something your team posts online or an offline event that gets shared across a large audience on social platforms.

Here are some online and offline events that qualify as social media crises:

• A widespread product failure, recall, or safety issue
• An insensitive or out-of-touch social media post
• Poor employee behavior
• False or misleading claims about a product or competitor

More broadly, any action that has sparked anger, disappointment, or distrust and is shared on social media is, or has the potential to become, a social media crisis.

For example, retailer Marks & Spencer was forced to explain an image it shared online. Many followers felt the red, green, and silver hats burning in a fireplace represented the Palestinian flag.

Source: Marks & Spencer

How to manage a social media crisis in 9 steps

No two social media crises will look the same. And you’ll rarely be able to predict when a wave of negative sentiment is about to crash your social media channels.

A well-documented, flexible social media crisis plan will put you in the driver’s seat when it’s time to respond.

Step 1: Assess the crisis and impact

Before committing to any public or internal communication, take a beat to define the origin, scope, and underlying emotion behind the crisis.

Start by documenting the details of the event. This will help you visualize everything that’s happened and give your team a point of reference. Think like a reporter and answer the five W’s:

• Who was involved in the initial event? Who has been involved since?
• What happened? Work like a detective and give “just the facts.”
• Where did the initial event take place? Was it on a particular social media platform or at a physical location?
• When did the event begin? Be as specific as possible since hours and minutes matter.
• Why did the crisis begin? Was it a legitimately upset customer venting on social media? Or did a marketing intern accidentally post a questionable Tweet?

Chipotle recently had to review the details of an uproar from social media users who said the chain had cut portion sizes in some of its popular dishes. Chipotle’s CEO then presented a statement via video, which was shared on TikTok.

Source: Fortune

With the five Ws answered, the next task is to check the activity and sentiment of your brand mentions on social media.

Thanks to Talkwalker by Hootsuite, you’ll have access to social listening and analytics on your Hootsuite dashboard.

Monitor for brand mentions outside of social media as well. Search for your business name and keywords relating to the event. And set up Google Alerts with those same queries.

Pro tip: Don’t forget to keep an eye out for misinformation so you can address it directly.

Finally, and most importantly, listen to your audience. Read and watch the posts and comments. Look for the negative comments and those defending you (they could help shape your response). And use the common threads and emotions to help guide your response.

Step 2: Create a crisis response team

The last thing you want during any crisis is a misalignment amongst the team tasked with handling it. Establish necessary roles in the response and assign them to team members so everyone knows their function.

The scope and impact document will help dictate who should be involved in your effective social media crisis management plan. These are some of the roles to consider:

• Point or lead: This person will sit at the center of the response. They’ll organize communications and collaborate with other team members, like content creators, to produce social media posts.
• Approvers: These are the people who will sign off on any public-facing posts. In the case of a low-level crisis, this may be the point person.
• Technical or product support: If the crisis is related to a safety issue or product failure, you’ll want a liaison with the product team who can respond quickly and provide updates.
• Legal: This person will work closely with the approvers to make sure all communications are legally compliant.

You’ll also need to confirm the method and technology you’ll use to communicate. This is where your Hootsuite team access settings and approval flows come in. Set permissions for each crisis team member so the right people have access to post, reply, and approve a message.

Step 3: Develop a response strategy

Now that your team is in place, it’s time to craft your response strategy. Kudos if you’ve included crisis management verbiage in your social media guidelines. This will form the foundation of your strategy and speed you along to the next steps.

Here’s what your response strategy should cover:

• Triage: Will you delete the offending post? Do you publish an acknowledgment post before your official response?
• Key messaging: Your official response, including the context of the crisis, how you’ll address it, and what people can expect moving forward.
• Channels: Include the social media platforms you’ll use and other channels like email and press releases.
• Training: Educate customer-facing employees (customer service, sales, etc.) who may need to field questions about the crisis.
• Incoming messages: How will you deal with emails, direct messages, and comments on social media platforms?
• Monitoring: Which platforms and media sources will you continue to monitor during and after the crisis?

Step 4: Choose the right channels for communication

As a social media manager, your chosen channel affects the message you send. This is exponentially more true when dealing with a crisis. Pick the platforms that will appropriatly reach your audience.

Google chose X (formerly Twitter) to let people know its AI image generator “missed the mark” when it depicted people of color as early American colonists.

Source: Google

Start by listing the channels that your audience spends time on. Then prioritize the ones that best match the message you’ll share.

TikTok might not be the best place to address a dangerous product malfunction, while LinkedIn is a natural platform to share an apology to investors.

Step 5: Pause scheduled posts

Even if you had an amazing post scheduled for World Donut Day, it won’t hit quite right if you’re in the thick of a social media crisis. It’s time to put that great content on the back burner while you deal with the issue.

At best, an ill-timed scheduled post will make you look goofy. At worst, it could completely derail your ability to manage the risk. After all, it’s critical for all communication to be planned, consistent, and appropriate in tone. A post you scheduled in the before times is likely none of those things.

With a social media scheduler like Hootsuite, pausing your scheduled social media content is as simple as clicking the pause symbol on your organization’s profile and entering a reason for the suspension.

Step 6: Communicate quickly and with empathy

Two things will kill your chances of managing a crisis: an insincere response and no response at all. Your initial response should balance speed with careful consideration for the situation and the people involved.

The CEO of Kitebaby learned this lesson after a video went viral saying the company denied an employee’s maternity leave request. The CEO, Ying Liu, posted an apology video which many viewers felt was too scripted and insincere. Liu posted a follow-up video offering a more personalized apology for the incident.

Source: recoveredmom1

This is where a two-stage response can be helpful. Stage one is acknowledgment. Let people know you’re aware of the existence and gravity of the event, then provide a timeline for further action.

Here’s a basic template you can tweak for your initial social media crisis response:

“We’ve just learned of [the event] on [date and time]. We’re keenly aware of the impact this may have on many of our valued customers and partners. We are reviewing all aspects of the event thoroughly so we can take meaningful steps to correct it. We’ll share a course of action on all of our social channels within 24 hours.”

Step 7: Monitor and respond to audience feedback

Congratulations on promoting a response that was timely, empathetic, and specific! It’s a big step to reclaiming the brand reputation you’ve earned.

But your initial messaging is just the beginning. You’ve also got to work the front lines of this crisis.

That means tracking sentiment as it changes through social listening tools. That way, you’ll know immediately when the tone of people’s conversations about your brand shifts, and you can tweak your message accordingly.

Luckily, every Hootsuite plan includes what you need to get started with social listening.

And as comments come in, use Hootsuite’s Inbox to collect, assign, and respond to them. That will make it easier to catch every comment and make sure the right team member is involved.

It’ll be hard, but don’t ignore the anger or disappointment. Engaging is key to showing that you care about the public’s response and are hearing their concerns. Keep it short, and whatever you do, don’t argue.

Instead of defending yourself or getting pulled into a long confrontation, take the high road and acknowledge concerns and frustrations. If someone demands more of your attention, try to move the conversation into private messaging, email, or a phone call.

Step 8. Keep your team in the loop

Misinformation and rumors can spread just as easily inside your company as they can outside. And when there’s silence from the top during a real time of crisis, the whispers tend to come fast and furious.

In other words: your crisis communication should include internal communication as well. This keeps everyone on the same page and alleviates tension and uncertainty.

Be clear about your intended actions, and make sure everyone in the organization knows exactly what they should (or should not) say about the crisis on social media.

Hootsuite Amplify offers an easy way to distribute pre-approved company messaging to all employees that they can share on their own social accounts.

Step 9: Evaluate and improve

Though social media crises can be stressful, the experience can offer your organization some powerful lessons. Once you’ve made it through the storm, debrief and examine just what happened.

It’s a chance to reflect on how your brand got into trouble and what was successful (or not!) as you dealt with the fallout.

This is a good time to open up cross-function communication. Learn from your customer service team’s experience. And show the important role of social media in crisis management with your leadership team.

Review your brand’s recent social sentiment history (it’s available through some Hootsuite plans). You can map the shifts in sentiment to the actions you took and use those results to update your crisis communication plan.

3 effective social media crisis management examples

If you do find yourself in a crisis, it’s good to know you’re not the first. Take note of how these brands effectively used social media to soften the blow of a PR crisis.

1. Be transparent like Oatly

Trying to shove a crisis under the rug might work, but most often, it’ll make everything worse. Oatly, a Swedish maker of oat-based drinks, goes the opposite direction. It addresses negative feedback and PR crises head-on.

Here’s a recent example where people called out the company for selling its oat residue to farmers as livestock feed.

Source: Bullsi

The Oatly team replied quickly, comprehensively, and transparently. There’s an open explanation of what they do with spent oat remnants, a link to learn more, and even a link to offer suggestions for future use.

Source: Oatly

It’s an impressive response, but just the beginning from the brand. In fact, it’s created an entire website dedicated to the biggest dustups they’ve faced. There are lawsuits, social media storms, and global boycotts. In each case, Oatly clearly explains the events’ origins and how they responded.

Source: Oatly

Oatly’s PR worked especially with Gen Z, who repeatedly says they value transparency over slick marketing. Younger consumers, and even social media influencers, express their respect for a brand that’s so willing to shine a light on its challenges.

Source: redflowerfactory

If you want to turn lemons into lemonade, get in front of a social media crisis with fast, transparent messaging.

2. Take ownership like Biore

Influencer marketing is a powerful strategy for a brand to connect with its audience authentically. Unfortunately, the influencer’s message sometimes misses the mark, leaving the brand’s damaged reputation as collateral damage.

That was the outcome when influencer Cecilee Max-Brown posted about her skincare routine. Max-Brown explains the importance of “getting it all out” while using the brand’s pour strip in the video.

She then says that includes getting out what’s on your mind and describes her anxiety from a school shooting that happened at her college campus.

Followers were quick to point out the insensitivity of suggesting a simple pore strip could solve mental health struggles.

Source: capt_thomas1492

Max-Brown pulled the post within a day of posting it. But the internet doesn’t forget, and the ad spread across social media quickly.

Biore could have taken the low road and thrown its influencer under the bus. Instead, it posted a public apology, taking full ownership of the misaligned message.

Source: Biore

Brands that attempt to support a cause can learn from Biore’s social media crisis. It’s perfectly acceptable, even preferred, for a brand to use its platform to spread awareness. But it needs to be done authentically, not as just another sales tool.

But if you do make a similar mistake, be like Biore and own it publicly and sincerely.

3. Offer a resolution like Luke Combs

Celebrities are often the face of million-dollar brands, but they have teams of marketers and other professionals managing the business in the background. Occasionally, those teams make a decision that results in a crisis. And the celebrity has to decide how to address it.

Singer Luke Combs stepped up in a big way when he found himself in that position. A Florida woman, he found out, had been ordered by a federal court to pay the singer $250,000 as restitution for selling unlicensed drink tumblers with his name on it.

The woman had only learned of the judgment after returning home from a hospital stay while fighting congenital heart failure.

Combs didn’t waste time addressing the issue. According to a video he posted on both TikTok and Instagram, he contacted his team and the woman within two hours of finding out about the case.

Source: Luke Combs

That Combs responded so rapidly is fantastic. But what really put this solution in the social media crisis management hall of fame is the resolution he offered.

First, he made sure the lawsuit was dropped. Then he offered the woman $11,000—double the sum that Etsy froze from her online shop. And finally, Combs invited her and her family to join him at a future concert where he could apologize in person.

The important lesson here is to make sure that whatever solution you offer has meaning. An empty social media post with no path to resolution could land you in worse shape than no reply at all.

4 tips to prepare for a social media crisis

Lets look at a few ways to level up your social media management plan. For that, we turned to Emily Flathers, Senior Marketing Manager at Alfred Coffee. As an experienced social media professional, Emily has waded through plenty of potentially spicy situations.

1. Monitor social media for early warning signs

The earlier you catch a growing social media crisis, the better your chance of mitigating the damage (or avoiding it altogether!). Flathers uses a two-pronged approach to make sure a negative molehill doesn’t turn into a full-blown crisis mountain.

The first piece of Flathers early warning system is the response to each message they publish. “At Alfred, I monitor the comments of a post within the first 30 minutes of sharing and then about once an hour thereafter for the first 24 hours,” she said.

The second step is to keep an eye on specific brand mentions across her accounts as a whole. “I search ‘Alfred Coffee’ daily on X and TikTok,” she explained. “If anything negative comes up, I know about it quickly and can nip it in the bud almost immediately.”

Flathers shares that if you see your story reshares shoot up, it’s worth taking a look to make sure it’s not something negative.

2. Secure your accounts

A crisis is the worst time for an unauthorized user to access your social media accounts. There are a few ways you can lock them up and keep your crisis management plan on track:

• Use strong passwords: Every account should have a strong password that’s updated regularly and whenever an authorized user leaves your company.
• Include two-factor authorization (2FA): Add a second factor of login authentication like an email, text message, or code generator.
• Centralize social media permissions: Use Hootsuite to control user permissions and grant your team appropriate levels of access.

You may also think about shutting down comments but Flathers believes that isn’t always the right move. “Locking down comments can be beneficial for some accounts, but I am not a fan,” she said. “In my experience, locking comments only fuels the fire.”

3. Have a social media policy in place

Prevention starts with a clear social media policy for your company. A good one should feature guidelines for appropriate use, outline expectations for branded accounts, and explain how employees can talk about the business on their personal channels.

If you don’t already have a social media crisis communication plan: make one! You should craft this when times are good so you have a clear head and practical understanding of how to react in a social-media emergency.

Flathers warns that while a plan is important to prevent future crisis communication, following it too rigidly—especially without a second opinion—could make things worse.

“You should feel comfortable pivoting,” she says. “Stay nimble. A great rule of thumb is to always bring your manager or director in for their opinion if something is starting to get spicy. You’re not on an island.”

4. Pause and put the audience first

Emily shares, above all else, “Do not rush into anything. Take a breath (no, really!), think about what you want to say.”

She suggests taking a minute to read the room and “look at what your audience is saying. What do they expect from you at this moment?”

As you assess things, Emily says to think through if you even need to respond. “Will speaking out bring more attention than if you just removed the post or comment?”

Once you’re armed with empathy, reply based on the audience’s needs, not from your feelings. “Don’t get defensive,” Emily adds. “Validate how your audience feels. Use it as a learning moment for you and your brand. And remember, this too shall pass!”

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