If you think a social media crisis won’t happen to your brand, you are wrong. The likelihood has grown stronger than ever before.
HubSpot shares some eye-opening crisis communication stats. The one that stood out to me was “69% of business leaders reported experiencing a crisis over a period of five years, with the average number of crises being three.”
What to do before a social media problem becomes a crisis?
- Create a social media policy, including:
- Copyright, Privacy, Confidentiality, and Brand Voice guidelines
- Secure your accounts
- Use social listening tools to identify potential issues
- Define “what is a crisis” for your brand
- Craft a crisis communication plan
- Pause all scheduled posts
- Engage, but don’t argue
- Communicate internally
- Learn from experience
Are there templates?
Yes! Dozens of social media crisis planning templates exist on the web. Here are a few resources I’d recommend.
Time is of the Essence
Creating a crisis communication plan is not something you want to do when the crisis is unfolding. It’s something to be planned and tested beforehand, then updated on a regular basis.