Crisis management is a well known discipline within corporate communications which swings into action when things go seriously wrong.
With social media now permeating every aspect of business, crisis management professionals are jumping on social media to get a message out quickly to a wider audience.
Perhaps most importantly, social media can work to protect your most precious business asset – your reputation.
Usually delivered by marketing communications/PR functions, effective crisis communications depend on knowing the agenda of all affected stakeholders and the communication channels that may pick up the news.
As with all corporate communications strategies, what is made public should be informed by considered long-term strategic planning – not knee-jerk reactions. When the wheels fall off it’s certainly not the time to start thinking about what to say – your company should already know what to put through social media when required.
Here are some tried and true social media platforms for you to consider in your crisis management planning.
Fast and effective
Twitter is an excellent medium for fast concise message. It can work as a triage to counter negative content promptly and indicate quickly where more information can be found on the issue.
YouTube is a good platform to provide that additional information. And thanks to the power of the moving image information can be conveyed fast and stands in for a lot of long text-driven content that is not so time efficient.
Facebook can be used as both a short-term and longer-term play in terms of managing a given issue. It can certainly douse a burning crisis in water but will also work to remove the embers over time.
Once the facts have been presented, truthfully and concisely to counter any negative coverage, you can rebuild any damage to your reputation with positive content that shows the business in a positive light.
This need not have an end date and as time moves on the issue is slowly moved out of the headlines – until the next crisis.
Crisis management is an important component of our social media management services. If you are interested in finding out about more our social media packages, please contact us.
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