Social media has become an integral part of crisis communication. When a crisis hits, people immediately take to social platforms like Twitter and Facebook to find out what’s happening and share updates. This means organizations must have a plan for managing crises across social media. In this complete guide, we will walk through when creating a crisis management plan for social media, what element should you start with.

Creating a comprehensive social media crisis plan is crucial for mitigating damage to your brand’s reputation. By being prepared with a strategy, you can respond quickly, accurately, and efficiently when a crisis emerges.

Start by Identifying Potential Crises

The first element you should focus on when creating a social media crisis plan is identifying potential crises that could impact your company or brand.

Brainstorm and make a list of any possible crises, both internal and external, that could arise. Some potential crises to consider include:

• Product defects or recalls
• Lawsuits or legal issues
• Cyber security breaches and hacking
• Executive scandals
• PR nightmares or publicity stunts gone wrong
• Natural disasters impacting business operations
• Social media account hacks
• Viral outrage over perceived offensive social media posts
• Employee social media scandals

Look at crises that have happened to other companies, both within your industry and outside of it. This will give you an idea of the scenarios you must prepare for.

When examining potential crises, consider their likelihood of occurring and the potential reputational damage they could inflict. This will allow you to prioritize crises requiring the most preparation and crisis management planning.

Choose Your Social Media Crisis Management Team

Once you know about potential crises, the next step is to choose the right team to manage the social media response.

Your social media crisis team should include individuals from different departments. Consider having people from:

• Social media/community management: This person knows your brand’s voice and audience.
• Public relations: Important for crafting official statements and press releases.
• Leadership/executive team: Necessary for making timely decisions.
• Customer service: Can monitor incoming concerns and questions.
• Legal: Can review responses to ensure legal compliance.
• IT/cybersecurity: Needed if the crisis relates to a hack or data breach.

Ensure all team members understand their roles and responsibilities in a crisis. Develop a contact list of everyone on the crisis team with their phone numbers and emails so they can be reached 24/7 when a crisis hits.

Choose one team member to serve as the director overseeing the entire social media crisis management process. This point person may also be the sole brand spokesperson during a crisis.

Establish Your Social Media Crisis Management Policies

Every social media crisis plan needs established policies and protocols for the team to follow. This ensures you respond to crises consistently, efficiently, and accurately across all social platforms.

Some key policies to define include:

Designate spokespeople

During a crisis, select 1-2 people at most as the sole official brand spokespeople to avoid confusing or contradictory messages.

Response time policy

Define your expected response time to address social media crises. For example, “All urgent social media concerns will be addressed within 1 hour.”

Approval process

Outline the approval process for social media posts and official brand statements related to a crisis. For example, all posts may need approval from legal and executive staff.

Content guidelines

Based on your brand identity, provide guidelines for the tone, voice, and level of detail to include in social media crisis communications.

Correction policy

Outline how you will correct any incorrect information shared, whether from your brand or others.

Monitoring procedures

Detail how your team will monitor social media for relevant mentions and concerns during a crisis. This may involve social listening tools.

When creating these policies, take the time to get buy-in and feedback from all internal stakeholders. They need to align with existing social media and PR strategies.

Develop Response Templates and Draft Content

With your team and policies in place, the next step is developing response templates that can be used during a crisis.

Draft templates for statements, social media posts, and FAQ documents addressing hypothetical crisis scenarios based on your risk assessment. This content can be easily customized when a real crisis hits.

Response templates you may want to create include:

• Official media statement template
• Social media post templates for each platform
• Email templates for internal and external stakeholders
• FAQ documents covering likely questions and concerns
• Customer service talking points and scripts
• Holding statements for when details are still emerging

Make sure to have statement templates approved by your legal team to avoid any issues down the road.

Choose Your Social Media Monitoring Tools

It is crucial to monitor social media chatter, news sites, forums, and reviews for relevant mentions during any emerging crisis.

Select social listening and monitoring tools to enable your team to do this efficiently. Solutions like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and BuzzSumo have advanced filters to track mentions, keywords, hashtags, and harmful sentiment spikes.

Set up alerts and notifications tied to crisis scenarios and brand keyword mentions in these tools. This allows your team to catch crisis posts as they start trending.

Map Out a Social Media Crisis Communication Workflow

With policies, content, and tools in place, the next step is mapping out your internal workflows for responding on social media when crises strike.

Detail the step-by-step process your team will follow from initial monitoring through public communications.

A typical social media crisis response workflow may include:

1. Social media manager detects concerning posts/chatter through monitoring tools.
2. The social media manager escalates to the crisis team director.
3. The director convenes an urgent meeting with the crisis team.
4. The team investigates the situation and details to confirm a crisis is emerging.
5. Appropriate spokespeople are chosen for crisis response.
6. The spokesperson approves social media posts and official statements.
7. The community manager publishes approved social media posts and responses.
8. The crisis team continues monitoring online chatter and news.
9. The team meets regularly to assess responses and adjust strategy as needed.

Map out each role’s responsibility at every step. Share the workflow across your organization so all stakeholders understand the process.

Train Your Team on Implementation

Once your plan is documented, provide training to ensure everyone understands their role if a crisis hits.

Give an overview of the plan, key policies, response templates, tools, and workflows. Then, run through hypothetical crisis scenarios as practice drills.

Ensure all spokespeople and community managers get specialized training on delivering compassionate, transparent, and brand-appropriate crisis communications. Review the tone and style that should be used across platforms.

Refine any unclear areas in your plan based on learnings and feedback during these training sessions.

Review and Update the Plan Regularly

Your social media crisis plan is not a one-and-done document. It needs regular reviews and updates to keep it current.

Set reminders to revisit the plan every six months. Check that contacts, tools, and policies are still up to date. Revise any areas needing improvement based on learnings from past real crises or simulation drills.

When major changes occur to your brand, business, products, leadership, or other factors, assess whether your plan needs updating sooner. Plans need to be flexible to address your brand’s evolving needs.

By following these steps to create a thorough social media crisis management plan, your brand will be well-equipped to navigate any storms that come its way. Quick and effective crisis response protects brand reputation and customer trust.

FAQs 

What are some common mistakes brands make in handling social media crises?

Some common mistakes brands make that amplify damage during social media crises include:

• Not monitoring social media closely enough to detect emerging crises
• Responding too slowly with information or an official statement
• Appearing insincere, dismissive, or indifferent towards concerns
• Providing inaccurate information in haste without proper verification
• Contradicting public statements between spokespeople or channels
• Getting defensive and blaming external parties
• Failure to apologize or take accountability as warranted

How important is it to respond quickly during a social media crisis?

Responding quickly with compassion and transparency is extremely important during social media crises. According to research, if a brand takes over 10 hours to respond on social media during a crisis, consumers are less willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Aim to acknowledge any high-urgency social media complaints or criticisms within 1-4 hours. Have holding statements ready to post while you gather information.

Should we leave negative or critical social media comments up during a crisis?

Most experts recommend not deleting or hiding negative comments on your social pages during a crisis. This can appear that you are trying to dodge responsibility or frustrate users seeking answers.

Instead, respond to critical comments constructively with understanding and empathy. Leave them up as a sign you are listening while correcting any misinformation others post.

What should our social media crisis response include?

An effective social media crisis response should include:

• An acknowledgment of the situation and expression of any appropriate concern. This shows you are listening and caring.
• Facts and details about what exactly happened. Stick to confirmed details and avoid speculation.
• Action steps you are taking to address the issue and prevent repeat issues.
• Apologies and taking ownership as warranted based on your brand’s role. Don’t appear indifferent.
• Responses to people’s questions and concerns from official spokespeople.
• Updates on progress resolving the crisis. Avoid going silent.
• Reinforcement of your brand’s values and commitment to transparency.
• Gratitude and appreciation for people’s patience and understanding where applicable.
• A positive and hopeful tone focused on working together towards a resolution. Avoid defensiveness.

The goal is to demonstrate compassion, accountability, and commitment to regaining trust.

How often should we practice crisis simulations to test our social media crisis plan?

Running through hypothetical crisis scenarios with your team every 3-6 months is a good idea. This ensures everyone remembers their role and responsibilities if an actual crisis unfolds. It also allows you to identify and fix any gaps in your plan.

Practice both likely and far-fetched crisis scenarios. Vary which team members serve as spokespeople each time to give all key players practice. Make updates to the crisis plan based on learnings.

Conclusion

Developing a robust social media crisis management plan is essential for every brand today. A proactive approach can mitigate reputational damage and maintain customer confidence, even in difficult situations.

The key is having a plan in place before a crisis emerges. Stay calm, responsive, transparent, and compassionate. Your brand can build customer trust and loyalty by handling crises professionally across social platforms. With preparation, a crisis can establish your brand as an honorable leader committed to making things right.