Social Media Breakfast gathered a group of industry professionals to illustrate the importance of navigating crisis communication for social media.

A true crisis is a rare thing. It’s easy to think of a negative comment getting over 10 shares as detrimental to your business – but is it really? Generally, the tweets and the comments that we stress out over aren’t crises.

“There are financial hits, reputational  hits, and then there are bad days. Bad days are most common, and the least likely to affect your business long term.” – Molly Snyder, Vice President of Communications at Optum

Know the difference between your company’s definition of a crisis and a bad day. Because while experiencing crises within your industry is never a fun prospect, take into consideration that sometimes they have their purpose. They serve as good opportunities to showcase why social media is so critical to your communication strategy.

Identifying the 3 types of crises

Internal
Technology is down. Supply chains are backed up. Call centers (yes, businesses still use these) are offline. Anything that can go wrong on your end, does. These are all things happening by your brand, like accidentally posting to the wrong account, or an employee scandal. Own it, address it, and be transparent about the issues you’re having with your audience. Yes, they might be a little miffed about it, but knowing that your company is doing everything within its power to rectify the issue.

External
Remember that awkward moment when you meant to post something from your personal social media account but accidentally posted it from the company account instead? Oh boy. Or that time a member of your company tweeted something that was then perceived as a statement by the media? Oof dah. External communications are things happening to your brand, like influencers tweeting about you, or a brand boycott based on content/service you’ve provided. These need to be handled with care; this is a direct connection you have with your audience, and other than through a product or service, it’s the largest form of engagement a customer can have with your brand. Be sure to establish some communication best practices with your internal social team, and think twice before handing a phone to your intern and telling them to ‘go nuts’.

Wait too long to react to a social 'crisis' and a trigger happy exec might respond, becoming the de-facto "official response." #smbmsp97

— Chris M Todd (@IamChrisTodd) February 17, 2017

Misunderstandings
Have you ever posted what you thought was a great meme to your business Twitter account, only to have it perceived incorrectly by your audience? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Oftentimes, there’s this pressure to appear ‘likeable’ and ‘clever’ to our audiences. And while those are certainly important attributes to weave into a brand’s voice, doing it incorrectly or without tact can serve as a massive blow to your credibility.

Creating a plan for crisis management

Rather than having a set plan, have a process or procedure. Each crisis is going to be different, and you’ll need to tailor your responses in accordance to their severity.

Identifying areas of interest
First, assess the areas of your company where you can stand to take the biggest hit on social media. Think about the places you have impact that could potentially be mishandled. Are there unclear processes with your legal team? Is your technology for customer service up-to-date? Additionally, follow what your audience is searching for in regards to your business. By following the search trends surrounding your industry, you can avoid crisis by putting the content you’re producing on hold.

Follow search trends very closely – check to see if a crisis is bad enough that you need to pause your content – @gregswan #smbmsp97 pic.twitter.com/GKLu2rSVgg

— Taylor Werdel (@SnappingTwerdel) February 17, 2017

Generating buy-in from higher ups
Even though social media has been around for a considerable amount of time, there are going to be times where you have to educate your higher ups on the management of social media and provide context. Your higher ups might know that engagement is important, but they might not understand how or why. Providing that education during a crisis is the wrong time. Set up meetings before crises happen and provide intelligence reports, or tailor your language and education to the way your higher ups are used to getting information and debriefs.

Setting up a contact list
When there’s backlash on your social media feed, who are you going to call? There are plenty of situations that can be improved by having a clearly defined chain of command during crisis situations. Take the time to lay out who needs to be present when things take a turn for the worst; is there anyone in your company who is always available? Do you have your legal team on standby? Who needs to address the issue, if at all? Where do they address it, and when? Maintain a well-oiled machine of people who know how to keep their cool, and be sure to build relationships with each of them. When things are tense, having a strong rapport allows for smoother transitions and instills a level of understanding on how to work together to combat major issues. Make sure those key players have access to communication channels, so that they can actually log in and take action.

"Whether you're a large or small company, sit down and make a contact list – who needs to say what and where and when" – @gregswan #smbmsp97

— Spyder Trap (@spyder_trap) February 17, 2017

Know your tools
Don’t be the last to know that your own brand is in crisis. How? Be tuned in. Use social listening tools like HubSpot or Spredfast to spot issues before they can balloon. Take note of the overarching sentiment online during an external crisis using tools like Google Trends—so you know when it’s safe to dip a toe back in the ‘business as usual’ water. If you regularly schedule social media posts, know where the scheduling happens so you can shut it off before publishing something tone deaf. The best tool in your toolbox is a dedicated resource responsible for your online reputation. Regular monitoring and listening can’t be a side task that happens sometimes; it needs to be an everyday task for most brands.

Going dark versus being responsive

To address the crisis…or not – that is the question. As humans, we have developed the behavior of being the ‘reactors’ not the ‘processors’, and this is especially true in our role as consumers on social media. There is this tendency to want to react and defend as soon as the first wave of negativity hits. But that isn’t always the best course of action. There are benefits to staying quiet in a tumultuous time (i.e. during external crises). Social media platforms are populated by noise – don’t be the company that just adds to it. Cancel your auto-promotional messaging tweets during a crisis – As Greg Swan pointed out during the panel, no one is going to miss being advertised to when something bad is going on.

At the same time, transparency during uncertain times can be advantageous (i.e. internal crises). Engaging with your audience and saying “That’s our bad, we’re sorry and we’re striving to be better” can keep your brand’s image positive—or at least authentic.

Know your business and your audience

How can you speak if you haven’t listened?
The panelists noted the advent of social media has given birth to the ‘everyday activist’ – the people who are more politically participatory than ever before because of social media. Now, we’re not just talking about left and right here. People are becoming more outspoken and more likely to poke businesses to gain a response. And that’s because they’ve been trained to do so. Remember when I mentioned our tendency to be reactionary? Because people have been given the platform to speak out, they have been conditioned to so with a fervor. Does that always mean that people are going to do what they say they are going to on social media? No.

Ok Taylor, so why does this matter?

The climate on social media platforms can sometimes be daunting – brands often have to distinguish the line between being professional while remaining engaging to their audience. And that can lead to a lot of stress about worrying how your audience is going to receive your content. A good indicator for navigating your audience and minimize the chance of a crisis, check to see “where humanity is at right now” as Greg put it.

First and foremost, your customers are people, not anonymous faces who consume your product. Find out where these people are, who they are as human beings and what drives them to action.

Greg went on to note how community managers aren’t about apologizing everyday – they are the voice of the company to the community, and the community’s voice back to the company. Our audience is coming to us for a purpose; to fill a need. We as the experts in the realm of social media and tech are expected to spend everyday on these platforms, navigating the digital waters and learning the velocity and momentum of the trends day by day so that we may better serve our community.

Despite the foreboding of crisis, we simply need to remember that we must do what we can to rectify issues and problems so that our customers can satisfy the need they’re looking to fulfill. Except trolls. Ignore them.