Every day is an eventful day on social media and dealing with your

audience requires careful consideration in every step you take.

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With people following your every move and your every word, you must be tactful when it

comes to your tone of voice and the content you decide to share on any social platform,

whether it is a fun Tiktok video, an insightful LinkedIn blog, or a statement about your

brand.

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Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are proven to be helpful tools for

managing a crisis, but they can do more harm than good when used arbitrarily.

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Here’s the best approach to harness the power of social media in crisis management!

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To find out more about any of the below, or if you have any further questions – please do

not hesitate to reach out!

What makes social media an effective tool in crisis communication?

Today, with the power of social media, any content published on the internet has the

potential to go viral in a matter of seconds, as people are quick to share news and

updates with their friends, family, and followers.

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Whether you are on social media or not, any crisis happening to your company or your

business is going to reach the public quickly, and you need to be able to handle it at the

same speed.

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Therefore, social media is the ideal platform for quick and effective communication. It

allows you to directly speak with the people you are trying to reach and manage the crisis

successfully.

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Let’s discuss how to leverage social media to your advantage in case of a crisis.

Find out more about my Crisis Management service.

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Prepare a Social Media Crisis Management Plan

In the past, we would deal with any crisis by issuing a press release to the public. Every

crisis management plan had draft statements prepared to be edited and sent out

according to the situation at hand.

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The same goes for social media. We can’t predict crises, but having a plan ready will make

the process easier and more effective.

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These documents should include a communication plan, response templates or drafts, the

response-approval process, account credentials in case you need to quickly log in to

manage the crisis, and the names of people authorised to handle the situation.

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Prepare a Social Media Policy

Prepare a clear, documented guideline for your employees and train them on the best

practices in case of a crisis. These guidelines will help them distinguish between a crisis

and the occasional dissatisfied customer. It will also reduce the risk of turning an ordinary

dissatisfaction into a real-time crisis.

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Reach out to prepare your crisis management guidelines.

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STOP Publishing

You need to pause any pre-scheduled content.

Going forward with your pre-prepared content plan will send the wrong message to your

audience or make them think that you don’t care about what is happening.

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Anticipate The Crisis

Stay up to date on all communications happening online about your industry in general,

and your brand in particular. Online chatter can help you catch on quickly, respond, and

probably avoid a crisis altogether. Or at least be prepared to not get caught off-guard.

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Respond To The Crisis

There are many ways to go about crisis management. Each situation needs a different

action plan, sometimes you might need to apologise to the public and take responsibility,

other times you might need to acknowledge the problem without incriminating yourself.

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Here are some general tips that could help you out:

● Stay active on social media, don’t go silent when a crisis occurs.

● Be quick in your responses, the faster you are the easier to handle the situation.

● Don’t delete comments that are negative to avoid what’s happening.

● Double-check your sources for anything you want to post online.

● Be sincere in your communication.

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If you need detailed, industry-specific response recommendations, send me a message.

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Analyse, Learn, Prevent

Mistakes happen; any brand is at risk of facing a crisis.

After everything is settled, it’s important to sit down with your team and experts you trust

to discuss what started the crisis and how to stop it from happening again.

Study your response speed and how you handled the situation, what worked and what

made things worse, note it down and update your crisis management plan accordingly.

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I hope that the information I shared helped you understand the importance of social

media in crisis management and how to utilise it effectively.

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Reach out today and let’s discuss how we can create an effective crisis management plan

for your business.