On a regular day, connecting with your audience on social media requires tact, care, and forethought. In the epicentre of a major crisis, the pressure is high. What should your brand say when the facts and the future are uncertain? And how should you say it when new developments are coming in by the hour, or minute?
Social media crisis communication for brands comes down to one reassuringly simple question: how can you help?
More than ever, real-world catastrophes play out on social media in real time. As social media professionals, our job is to help our audiences and communities come through hardship together.
So, here’s our guide to social media crisis communication.
For teams working at the centre of a crisis (say, government social media teams or health care professionals) social platforms are one of the top ways to get authoritative information to the population, fast.
And for those of us operating further from the crisis, social media is how people connect and make sense of tragedy. Brands can’t ignore these conversations, but participation must be approached with care.
So, when the world’s in a tailspin, what role does social media play in a crisis communications plan?
Rapid, direct communication of updates to your audience;
Support for people who need help or information;
Social listening to learn more broadly about what’s happening in the world and your industry, as well as what people need from your brand.
In short, social media isn’t just where you say you’re helping, but it’s also where you find out how you can help, and, in many cases, roll up your sleeves and get to work.
Whatever crisis we face—as both professionals and regular people—we all hope that after it passes, we’ll come out changed for the better. On social media, that means strengthening trust and connections with our audience for the long term.
What does that look like? Here are our tips.
10 tips for communicating on social media during a crisis or emergency
1. Review—and possibly pause—your upcoming social calendar
Context shifts rapidly in a crisis, and brands (especially ones who already worry about brand safety) are right to wonder if, for instance, “finger-lickin good” is an appropriate thing to be saying in the middle of a pandemic. At best, you might seem tone-deaf, at worst, inappropriate messaging could endanger lives.
If you’re using a social media scheduler, you’ll want to unschedule upcoming posts. Have faith that all the hard work that went into your perfect National Donut Day post isn’t wasted, it’s just postponed.
2. Have a social media policy in place
We can’t predict crises, but we can be prepared for them. Especially for bigger teams, your organisation’s official social media policy is your best asset in responding as rapidly and effectively as possible. A good policy will provide a solid, but flexible, response process, as well as compile all the crucial internal information you need to move forward.
It’s also a helpful document to have in the case that some of your team members are affected by the crisis and compelled to share duties with non-team members.
Make sure your social media policy includes the following:
An up-to-date emergency contact list: not just your social media team, but legal advisors and executive decision-makers, too.
Guidance on accessing social account credentials (i.e., where that information is, and how to go about getting it, if need be.)
Guidelines for identifying the scope of the crisis (i.e., is it global or local, does it affect your operations, does it affect your customers, and to what extent?).
An internal communication plan for employees (see #4).
An approval process for your response strategy.
3. Know who’s on your “tiger” team
What’s a tiger team? A pack of ferocious specialists that assemble to work on a specific problem or goal. In this case, in the middle of an emergency or crisis, your existing social team might reconfigure, or call in additional firepower to handle the increased pressure.
Identify the people who are best suited for these roles, and delineate their responsibilities so that everyone can own their mission, and act. Tasks to assign include:
Posting updates
Answering questions and handling customer support
Monitoring the wider conversation, and flagging important developments
It’s also helpful to have people clearly responsible for:
Strategising for the medium-term (not just day-to-day)
Coordinating/communicating with other teams, external stakeholders, and/or the rest of the organisation
4. Make sure employees are aware of your organisation’s position
Communications begin at home, and however your organisation moves forward, you’re going to need your employees informed and on board.
For instance, if you’re announcing relief efforts, donations, or other moves for the greater good, then proud employees can help spread the word through an employee advocacy program. This is also a good time to remind them of your organisation’s social media guidelines for employees (including any crisis-specific amendments).
On the other hand, if your brand is in a tense position because of the crisis (layoffs, backlash, etc.), or emotions are running high, be prepared for employees to turn to social to express themselves.
Sometimes it’s impossible to get everyone pulling towards the same goal. In this case, social listening (see #7) can help you understand your employees’ concerns better. As well, your brand’s reaction in this scenario might be informed by your organisation’s social media policy for employees.
Which leads us to our next point.
5. Communicate with honesty, openness, and compassion
This one is self-explanatory.
At the end of the day, honesty, compassion and humanity will win out. The brands who build trust during hard times are the ones who are transparent about the issues they’re struggling with—or responsible for.
6. Cite only credible sources
Resisting the spread of misinformation on social media has been a vital issue for platforms, government, and brands these past few years. But in a crisis, bad information doesn’t merely damage reputations, it can be outright dangerous.
While social platforms themselves may implement broader protective policies during a crisis, it’s absolutely necessary to have a fact-checking protocol in place before you share specious claims with your audience.
And if, in the heat of the moment, you erroneously share misinformation, own the mistake right away. Most likely your audience will tell you.
7. Use social media monitoring and listening to stay informed
Your social media team may well have been the first people in your organisation to hear about the crisis, whether local or global. It’s just the nature of the job.
And if your social listening strategy is optimised, your team can continue to monitor audience sentiment around your brand, as well as track what’s happening with your competitors and industry at large. How are other, similar organisations responding to the emergency? And how are their customers responding to their response?
Do you need to craft content around your relief efforts, or new operational policies? Does your customer service team need to ramp up fast?
These are just a few of the questions social listening can help answer. It’s a direct line to what your audience needs from you, so tap in.
8. Avoid “trend-jacking” or activities that appear profit-driven
Don’t attempt to “spin” a crisis.
Yes, it can be a tough line to pin down. Even legitimate moves towards altruism, if they seem showy or calculated, will leave a bad taste in the collective mouth, and damage your relationship with your customers.
For instance, when Blackbird—a boutique perfume and incense company that is typically mysterious, hip and edgy in their communications—hinted that they’d be selling not only fancy hand sanitizer, but face masks, they received such an immediate, outraged response that they had to post a clarification half an hour later attempting to explain their good intentions. (They weren’t going to sell the masks, but donate them to hospitals all along.)
The lesson? Coy teaser strategies don’t work in an emergency situation. Communicate clearly and directly so that you don’t end up muddying the waters.
People will have questions. Be clear on the best way for them to reach you. Even if you’re not faced with a deluge of panicked customer service inquiries, take the time to engage with your audience, answer their questions, and provide reassurance.
For instance, Clorox’s coronavirus customer response team was on the ball during the coronavirus pandemic, dispensing clear, accurate answers where they could.
Meanwhile, Ticketmaster’s customer service strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic—best described as “talk to the hand”—left outraged customers to grouse among themselves about the lack of refunds for cancelled events.
10. Don’t disappear
Yes, we started this list by saying a pause may be necessary while you strategise, but—and this goes triple if your brand is close to the crisis—radio silence is not a long-term strategy.
It happens: during the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in 2010, BP learnt the hard way that an inadequate social strategy opens up gaps for someone else (or everyone else) to tell your story for you.
Since BP caused the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, this example is both a PR crisis and a real-world disaster. But the company’s lack of preparedness for online communication left the door open for a satirical Twitter account mocking their efforts that attracted 175,000 followers. (BP’s official account had 15,000, at the time).