If you are on social media, a crisis will hit you sooner or later. However, that does not mean your company has to suffer due to the crisis. And every negative comment is a social media crisis, but a surge of negative comments can be an early indicator of the crisis. However, you can come out of the crisis unscathed with a robust social media management plan.
Here are 4 powerful strategies that will help you prepare a solid crisis response. There are mainly three stages of a social media crisis- before the social media crisis, during the social media crisis, and after the social media crisis.
- Secure your social media accounts
Minimize the chances of social media crisis with centralized password systems. Revoke the access to the employees’ passwords who are no longer in the company. Set up two-factor authentication to keep greater control over who tries to login into your social media account. Monitor your brand with affordable monitoring tools on the market. Create a social media guideline that may vary according to your business niche. First, however, add these four guidelines, including copyright, privacy, brand voice, and brand style. Copyright is an absolute basic, whereas privacy is based on your interactions with your audience.
- Avoid dry corporate statements
When interacting with customers, be compassionate. Use a conversational tone instead of being detached, inauthentic or dismissive. When engaging with the public, keep rumors or speculations at bay. Respond to every question and refer to the brand’s website for additional information. Create a hashtag for the crisis, which should be intuitive and straightforward to make it easier for people to find the crisis.
- Establish a crisis communication plan
Respond quickly to every crisis. Your plan must include:
- Determining the crisis.
- Communicating internally to know the update.
- Approval for the posts.
- Link of the social media policy.
- Assigning persons for posting.
Always acknowledge the problem and assure people of more information to come by.
Tip– Stop scheduled posts like memes in the middle of the crisis.
- Respond to the crisis on social media
Brace the crisis and respond to comments and questions. Respond to negative comments calmly or resolve the heated argument in private messages. Instead of being defensive, state your position if the argument is going nowhere. Keep all the employees on the same page if a crisis happens because it will help contain the spread of the rumor or misinformation.
- Conclusion
Social media helps build a brand, create awareness among customers and nurture leads. A social post allows a brand to understand its customers. Engaging social media helps to build trust with potential customers. But social media crisis can put a brand’s reputation at stake. We respond to the social media crisis with internal alerts and response flowcharts. Volar Media House, one of the leading marketing agencies in Pune, successfully manages social media crises with strategies to keep the brand’s reputation intact.