How to Weather a Social Media Storm

As the old adage goes, the best defense is a good offense. This rings true in football, military combat and even crisis management on social media.

Sometimes social media storms are preventable and avoidable, while other times you’re just going to have to ride it out.

Here are some best practices to follow during, and before, a social media crisis hits.

1. Prepare
   Before a storm hits, the best way to batten down the hatches is to make sure your company’s bond with your social media communities are strong. Be consistent. Be targeted. Be likeable. If your followers are engaged, they’re going to be your biggest allies if a crisis hits.

 

2. Centralize
   It’s essential to have clearly defined rules for your community manager  – especially during a crisis. Centralize your efforts and have one person take charge of the crisis. KitchenAid’s Twitter flub is a just one example of this. When an employee accidentally sent a tasteless tweet from the company handle rather than his own, KitchenAid’s senior director issued apologies on behalf of the brand while disclosing that she was the one tweeting.

 

3. Listen and Engage
   When you start responding to a social media crisis as a representative of your company, you need to actually listen – not just respond. This means paying close attention to what is being said and where it is being said. Last April, Kellogg’s failed at this when a Facebook-fueled crisis erupted over the soy ingredients of their Kashi brand cereal. Kellogg’s responded by posting a statement on YouTube video instead of their Facebook Page. They weren’t paying attention to the conversation and their attempts to engage fell flat.

 

4. Learn
   Fires are always going to erupt – so you might as well learn from them. During a crisis, document every tweet, email, status update, blog comment and customer interaction for future reference. Take a look at your social media channel metrics so you understand where the crisis broke and how it spread. This will help you arm yourself should another social crisis arise.

Bottom line? Create a good offense plan now so you won’t be scrambling later on. I promise you’ll be glad you did.