Create the social media crisis plan to deal with the crisis you are going to face while you are selling your product online
Ensure you have a workable plan ready for dealing with crisis situations. These steps will help:
1. Detect
Before you can even begin to work on an issue, you have to know that there is an issue in the first place. To effectively manage your social media presence, you have to be tuned into the chatter surrounding your brand.
Dealing with everyday complaints or posts with negative sentiment is a part of your regular reputation management. However, make sure that you are taking the time to look at the big-picture view to see if there is something bigger on the horizon.
2. Identify
Identify what led to the problem. Who was involved? What happened and when did it happen?
Once you have a clear and objective view of the problem, it’s time to look into steps to fix it. Make sure that you not only have control of the situation, but that each involved team in your organization is synced on how to deal with the situation and potential future crises like it.
3. Consider
We’ll call these the four Ts:
Tone – What should be the tone of your response? Make sure that it aligns both with your company’s tone in general, but also with the appropriate tone demanded by the situation. If you can be lighthearted about the incident, be lighthearted. If it’s a serious issue, communicate in a serious tone.
Timeliness – How long ago did the incident happen? Make sure you are reacting as quickly as you can without tripping over your own feet in an effort to correct your mistake. This is why it is so important to be efficient in how you take apart the problem and prepare your communication strategy.
Thoroughness – What networks are you covering? This is not like posting content; you do not need to be everywhere, drawing even more attention to a problem you would like to have people accept and move past. Consider how the story is spreading, and address it in the same way.
Transparency – In almost every situation, transparency is best. That means not only should your response acknowledge any mistake your brand made, but it also should show that you are trying to deal with it honestly. This means openly broadcasting all of the steps that you are taking to fix it and make sure it does not happen again.
4. Respond
Now, it’s time to respond. Ensure your team has their social media posts ready on all appropriate channels, then send them out. Be prepared to continually deal with further feedback – also, alert your PR team to your communications strategy so that news reports only include the official positioning. It is highly useful to be using a CMS tool here, to make sure that you are controlling the conversation to the fullest extent.
Once you have developed a plan, make sure to circulate it within your organization. Everyone in marketing, PR, and sales should read it. You could even try running scenarios with your team to test your preparation.
With a good crisis plan in place and the proper training, your team can safely avoid a potential social media catastrophe.
