Social Media Crisis

There are several different ways a crisis can be defined. In social media, a public relations crisis is particularly frightening. As best we try to avoid these types of issues, sometimes problems occur that are beyond our control. For companies and organizations that work hard to maintain a presence online, coming under attack from the opposition can start a firestorm that leaves more than your Facebook page in ruins.

It is important to realize and prepare as you work toward building your online community, especially since the bigger the community, the more visible it becomes — which is a good thing, most of the time. But when it leads to people (usually very vocal) who have something to say that isn’t so nice about what your organization strives to achieve with its mission, it can be harmful. Here are three tips to help prevent the haters (people who are against what your organization represents) from derailing your communities.

Have a plan: Make sure your communications plan includes some type of social media crisis strategy. Brainstorm with other members of the marketing and commutations teams to come up with possible issues your “haters” could say about you and in which online forums they would say them (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc).

Once you know the potential issues, you can discuss ways to address them should they occur. By being proactive, you save valuable response time if a social media crisis strikes. When a campaign of one or a dozen people decides to attack your cause on social media, time is of the essence. By having a plan on how to handle a crisis-type situation, you can respond quickly and be part of a conversation instead of watching it unfold on your Facebook wall, left wondering the best way to respond.