Community managers are expected to take swift action in case of a social media crisis. Here is how some brands are doing that effectively.
Social media has become the preferred means of communication for over 80% of consumers to interact with brands. Handling both praise and criticism is a vital part of a community manager’s job description and can how this task is performed can leave a lasting impact on the costumers’ experience.
Some brands, however, are finding out remarkable ways to manage their audience when a social media crisis sets in.
Managing a social media crisis: accept no company is immune, breakdown your audience and plan ahead
Whatever the industry, no organization today is immune to the prospect of a social media crisis management. In a time of accelerated pace and so much information being communicated, mistakes can happen. In addition, personal criticisms regarding a service or product are commonly added publicly by customers and can start a spiral of negative and uncontrolled communication towards a single company.
In a few short minutes, hundreds of @mentions, tags, shares and comments can spread across the Internet. The first step mature companies are taking is to simply accept there will always be dissatisfied customers, unpleasant comments, and accusations that eventually will need to be replied so that a broader social media problem can be averted.
In a digital universe of 3.5 billion social media users, representing 45% of the world population, handling a high-profile crisis may seem like a daunting task.
The first step for every crisis management strategy is to break down the customer segments being impacted by the crisis. In recent studies, social media penetration is higher amongst Millennials (90% of them use at least one social media actively daily), followed by Generation X (78%) and Baby Boomers (48%), once data from every device and social media platforms have been compiled.
Taking control of those critical moments requires preparation, also known as a social media crisis plan. Also, best practices around the world have a couple things in common: the best answer is often quick, reasonable, and empathic.
For those companies that succeed in managing a social media crisis, the benefits pay-off: companies that respond well to a social media crisis see a 20% increase in brand value, on average, while poorly responding brands see a 30% reduction.
Define a crisis helpchain to know who does what and save precious time
Different types of social media crisis require different types of replies, coming from different teams in a company, depending on its size, complexity and hierarchy. In other words, it is essential to define internal responsibilities, according to the topic that needs to be resolved, its degree of urgency and seriousness.
Social media and customer service teams must always keep updated on new developments during the period of the crisis, even if they are no longer providing the final answer.
Establish a Social Media Policy and share it far and wide
Most companies that have been through a social media crisis have learned the value of a “lessons learned” manual, summarizing the insights of that experience.
Creating a handbook to be shared across the organization's Intranet, or dedicating a chapter of the onboarding materials to the social media policy is one of the ways companies are finding to let everyone know how to act.
One way to prevent and control a crisis in social media is to write a detailed protocol on how employees should respond to customer inquiries and how they must deal with questionable content such as misinformation, confidential information and information leaks.
Create a crisis FAQ Page
An alternative, or simply complementary content, to the Social Media Policy is a microsite on the company's official website, a landing page, or an internal social network where updated information on crisis management in social media is shared.
Adding FAQ’s, with all the most common questions answered in bullets speeds up the response time to critical topics that need to be answered immediately. These should contain:
1. How the company can detect the crisis
2. How to acknowledge it, both on social media and to active customers
3. Who needs to be alerted, when and how?
4. Actions that need to be taken for different scenarios (on a “if then” structure, preferably)
5. The potential effects of the crisis
6. Steps taken to prevent future occurrence
7. Print screens and examples
Pause Scheduled Posts
During a social media crisis, carrying on with the communications plan as scheduled is discouraged. The public is now focused on the issue at hand, and so should community managers.
It usually is not advisable to continue to publish posts that are not relevant to the response that companies should give to an existing conflict, which could make the situation worse.
So, you should stop the scheduled publications, as well as Ads, and reply (if it makes sense) with a public message on all social media channels. Do not forget:
1. Be direct and sincere
2. Go straight to the point
3. Acknowledge the mistake and show remorse
4. Describe the next steps
In this situation, a case-by-case analysis is always necessary. For instance, if the engagement and revenue results continue to be good, it may not be necessary to interrupt Ads – maybe just rechecking if the copy or images are suitable to the crisis moment will suffice.
Establish a Social Listening Program
Observing what people are saying about a brand, outside the company's social networks is another way of being aware, preventing, and even controlling, potential crisis situations.
A “social listening” program allows you to assess the proportion of positive and negative feelings associated with a brand, which can be extracted through brand mentions, industry trends or relevant hashtags.
In effective managing a social media crisis, it is not only necessary to evaluate the metrics of reach and engagement, or to respond in a timely manner to comments in posts or direct messages.
Crisis prevention is also done outside company social profiles, by watching what the competition is producing/communicating, how consumers in the same consumer niche are reacting and what consequences this can have on your brand.
We help establish crisis control programs for social media managers, improving and enhancing internal communication, so that all stakeholders in a company know how to react. Get in touch with us.