Social media crisis communications: 8-step response plan
When crisis strikes, social media is a key communication channel.
But whether it be an in-house emergency or a scandal in your industry, preparing well in advance is necessary to avoid a long-term loss of brand trust.
That’s why you need a social media crisis communication plan.
With actionable tips from Hootsuite’s very own social team, we’re sharing all the need-to-knows in this intuitive guide.
Key takeaways
- Social media is essential for real-time updates and combating misinformation during a crisis — but it can also amplify misinterpretations and backlash. Having a clear strategy ensures your brand communicates effectively while maintaining trust.
- Preparation is key to managing a social media crisis. Develop a robust plan that includes a social media policy, a dedicated crisis response team, and escalation procedures.
- Pre-planning enables logical, empathetic responses when emotions run high.
Is social media a good channel for crisis communications?
Social media crisis communication means using social channels to communicate to followers and the broader public during a brand crisis or local/national emergency.
During a crisis, social media can help you:
- Communicate critical updates in real-time
- Prevent the spread of misinformation by amplifying official messages
- Track online sentiment to better understand what people need from your organization
But is social media the best channel in times of crisis?
Take it from Hootsuite’s Social Marketing Team Lead, Trish Riswick, who says it “ultimately looks better for a brand to post something people can refer to if they catch wind of the news somewhere else.”
After all, “social is often the first place people go to to express their anger, fears, or sadness,” Trish adds.
Paige Schmidt, Hootsuite’s Social Engagement Coordinator, has a different take, explaining that social media can be a “double-edged sword.”
For local or national crises, like a wildfire or pandemic, Paige says “social media is great for quickly sharing important updates, like how to prepare or where to go for help. But the downside can be that misinformation spreads just as fast, and people can easily misinterpret things.”
And for brand crises, Paige says “social media’s role ultimately depends heavily on the context and severity of the crisis. Continuing to post can worsen the problem at hand or appear tone-deaf.”
The consensus? Creating a social media crisis communication strategy before disaster strikes allows you to plan with cool heads and clear eyes. That way, you and your team are in a better position to think logically about the best way to use your social media channels for good.
How to set up smart social media crisis guardrails
You know how the saying goes — better safe than sorry.
Here’s how to cover your bases to best avoid a fire, or prevent one from spreading.
Implement a social media policy
The #1 way to steer clear of a brand crisis? Implementing a social media policy.
A social media policy is an official company document that provides guidelines and requirements for your organization’s social media use. By outlining how an organization and its employees should conduct themselves online both personally and professionally, brands have a higher chance of mitigating social media risks.
Note that social media policies apply to everyone from the CEO to summer interns, so they need to be easy to understand. These documents can be part of wider social media marketing strategies, or live with onboarding materials and other company policies.
Once you have the basics down, you can align the document with your social media crisis communications plan. Consider this the “in case of emergency” section of your social media policy.
Some crisis-specific issues to consider are:
- What’s the right tone during a crisis? Does it differ from our usual social media brand voice?
- What is our policy on responding to negative comments or feedback?
- Who can speak on behalf of the brand in a crisis scenario?
- Where can employees access and share information approved by your team?
Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media policy template to quickly and easily create guidelines for your company and employees.
Outline scenarios for different types of crises
Things move fast in the first 24 hours of a crisis. You’ll be in a better position to respond rapidly if you outline common scenarios in advance.
And it all comes down to pre-planning. What possible situations could impact your community, the world, and your business? What are competitor mistakes to avoid?
Think up everything from widespread product recalls and insensitive social media posts to local disasters and mainstream political outrage. While it’s impossible to plan for all potential crises, it’s worth the time to map out anything you can think of.
Then, consider what will be most important for your followers to know in each type of crisis. For local or national crises, this might include evacuation orders, emergency contact numbers, or shelter locations.
We also recommend creating guidelines for identifying the scope of the crisis. Is it brand-specific, global, or local? Does it affect your operations? Does it affect your customers? And to what extent?
Finally, create guidelines for prioritizing inbound messages during a crisis. Prepare templates or partly developed emergency resources in advance. This leaves you in a good position to respond to simple questions through an intelligent chatbot or autoresponder, with your team addressing more complex needs.
Select a response team
Who’s in charge in a crisis situation? Document it!
Is it your existing social team? Do you need to call in extra support? Will your social content follow your regular approval process, or do you need to get more senior people involved?
Identify the people who are best suited for each of these critical roles (and outline their responsibilities):
- Creating, reviewing, and approving social posts
- Posting social updates
- Answering public and private messages and questions
- Handling customer support
- Monitoring wider online conversations and flagging important developments
- Fact-checking information and/or correcting rumors
It’s also helpful to have people responsible for:
- Strategizing for the medium-term (as well as day-to-day)
- Coordinating/communicating with other teams (this can include external stakeholders and the rest of the organization)
Go through this list regularly to ensure all contact information is correct and that everyone has the appropriate permissions for your social accounts!
Pro tip: Use a social media management tool like Hootsuite to change social media permissions and access quickly.
Go over escalation procedures
Navigating a crisis can be stressful for any social media manager — companies are expected to act quickly to resolve issues, without making things worse.
An escalation framework (or a list of procedures) is worth implementing to help guide your response.
The four stages of social media crisis communication are:
- Pre-crisis: This is when all is going well. Take time before crisis hits to develop your social media crisis communication plan.
- Crisis: This is when you are in the thick of social media crisis management. In the immediate wake of the crisis, your social media team goes into high gear to implement your emergency response plan.
- Response: You’ve had time to better understand the situation. After the initial emergency plan is put in place, you can implement your medium-to-longer-term social media strategy for dealing with ongoing issues related to the crisis.
- Post-crisis: After the crisis is over, look back at your response to evaluate how things went and what can be improved. Incorporate your learnings into a revised social media crisis communications plan. This will help you be better prepared for the next crisis (and takes you back to the pre-crisis stage).
Set up the right tools
To put it simply, the average day of a social media manager can be chaotic.
Luckily, Hootsuite has you covered with a suite of tools to help you stay in-the-know and free up time to tackle your social media crisis communication plan.
Here are just a handful of the perks you get with a Hootsuite account:
- Listening: Track what people are saying about you, your top competitors, your products — up to two keywords tracking anything at all over the last 7 days.
- Streams: Spot potential brand crises early and protect your online reputation.
- Bulk scheduling: Hootsuite’s drag-and-drop calendar simplifies the process of planning your content. Plus, a pause button to temporarily stop scheduled posts.
- Unified inbox: Access all of your social media messages in one inbox. This makes it easier to manage communication and respond promptly to inquiries or feedback.
- Analytics: Get in-depth, customizable analytics to help track the performance of your posts and make data-driven decisions.
Proofread everything
To avoid minor brand mishaps on a daily basis, Trish says social media managers should “step away from their work and give it a 360-degree look.”
“What does this post look like at all angles? Read it without any emotion. Read it but place the stress on different words. Does the message still come across positive or could someone interpret it differently?”
Trish continues: “If someone didn’t know your brand voice, tone, or imagery, what would they think of this post? Is there a sensitivity issue posting this piece of content right now? Are the words you’re using to define something the norm, or do you mean them in a slightly different way?”
Tip: Set up easy social posts approvals with Hootsuite to streamline reviews and catch mistakes before they go live.
Consult your legal team
When in doubt, Hootsuite’s Social & Influencer Marketing Strategist Eileen Kwok says to tap in your legal team.
“As a brand account, it’s always good to err on the side of caution,” Eileen says.
“So, if there are any reservations about hopping on a particular trend or leveraging a meme, double check with legal to ensure compliance.”
The 8-step social media crisis response plan
Take it from Paige: “A crisis may happen at any moment. And as a social marketer, you need to be prepared.”
Here is your social media crisis response plan, in eight steps.
1. Assess the situation
As a crisis unfolds, it’s critical to “understand the nature and severity of the crisis and assess how your brand may be impacted,” Paige says.
You also need to know what your employees, customers, and followers are saying about your brand as you navigate the crisis. “With social listening alerts in place, social marketers can be alerted as soon as there is an abnormal spike in negative sentiment,” Trish says.
Already have a social listening program in place? Great! You can pivot to crisis-oriented social listening with a few tweaks of your tracked keywords. This also means tracking competitor messaging, if applicable.
If you don’t have a social listening tool or strategy yet, it’s worth setting up now. Without one, Trish says you’ll “have to hope the news comes across your feed or that you don’t miss a notification.”
2. Brief your team
Remember the crisis team you assembled back in the last section? It’s time to call them on deck.
Paige’s top priority? “Ensure everyone is aligned on messaging and next steps.”
Don’t forget to tap into Hootsuite’s access settings and approval flows for smooth sailing.
3. Develop key messaging
Ideally, you already have somewhat of a response template via that infamous brain dump from earlier. Consider this the foundation of your messaging for speedy next steps.
Your key messaging should cover your official response, including the context of the crisis, how you’ll address it, and what people can expect moving forward.
4. Pause your social activity
Especially if your audience is waiting on your apology, Paige says “temporarily halting all scheduled and planned posts to avoid appearing out of touch or inappropriate” is the way to go.
In a non-direct crisis, Paige advises to “follow the lead of other brands and competitors, but trust your gut too. Your content probably won’t make a huge difference overall, but an insensitive post can seriously hurt your brand’s reputation.”
With a social media scheduler like Hootsuite, pausing your scheduled social media content is as simple as the click of a button. Really.
5. Choose the right channels for communication
Which social channel will appropriately reach your audience in this situation?
Start by listing the channels that your audience spends time on. Then, prioritize the ones that best match the message you’ll share.
6. Communicate quickly and with empathy
Like Paige mentioned earlier, social media is great for quickly sharing important updates.
However, your speed shouldn’t sacrifice sincerity.
In the aftermath of controversial brand messages or tragic national events, it’s important to choose your words carefully and communicate with empathy — both in your initial statement(s) and replies.
Especially in the midst of your brand’s wrongdoing, accountability should guide your continued response.
7. Monitor and respond to feedback
You’ve shared a response that’s equally empathetic as it is timely — congrats!
But your initial post was just a peek into the front lines of this crisis. Once your post is out in the world, which social media platforms and media sources will you continue to monitor during and after the situation?
Luckily, you’re already well-versed on social listening tools and tracking sentiment as it changes.
And as comments come in, you can use Hootsuite’s Inbox to collect, assign, and respond to them. This will make it easier to catch every comment and make sure the right team member is involved.
8. Evaluate and improve
You’ve made it out the other side — it’s time to debrief on what just happened.
This is your team’s chance to reflect on the situation at hand, and the pros and cons of how you handled it.
Compare this against your brand’s recent social sentiment history. Map the shifts in sentiment to the actions you took and use those results to update your social media crisis communication plan.
3 social media crisis communication examples
Good news: you’re not the first to find yourself in a social media crisis, and you sure won’t be the last.
Here are three note-worthy brands who tackled difficult times (arguably) successfully.
1. Rhode Beauty’s shade range
When beauty content creator Golloria George posted a now-viral review of Hailey Bieber’s makeup brand, Rhode, the brand found itself in some serious hot water.
The gist? Blush shades were not suited for dark skin, as Golloria showcased how “ashy” the products appeared on her face.
Less than a month later, Golloria revealed that Hailey personally reached out to her following her viral critique, “took accountability,” compensated her for “shade consulting,” and gifted Golloria two of Rhode’s new-and-improved blush shades.
As Golloria puts it, “This is redemption.”
2. Marlow’s response to tampon concerns
Menstrual brand Marlow’s recent response to an industry crisis is one to watch.
Because when internet-wide tampon concerns struck, they didn’t waste any time easing their audience’s anxieties.
The takeaway? A brand that addresses their customers’ concerns head-on is a magnet for loyal supporters.
3. Bumble’s anti-celibacy ad
Bumble’s latest marketing campaign is a public relations disaster.
Featuring messages such as “A vow of celibacy is not the answer” and “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun” — what the dating app says was intended to bring humor to “a community frustrated by modern dating” was seen as tasteless by social media users.
Bumble’s response? A thoughtful Instagram apology.
And while a lot of the brand’s audience acknowledged the statement’s quality, some felt it was too little too late.
Let this be another reason to use your social listening tools.
Now, take a load off, social media manager.
While we hope to not see you back here anytime soon, bookmark this post for the next go-around.
Save time managing your social media presence with Hootsuite. Publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversions, engage your audience, measure results, and more — all from one dashboard. Try it free today.
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