You know what I love more than a good crisis? A great social media crisis plan! I love when brands take the right steps to protecting themselves, and I love to watch them come out of a crisis in record time and with even more loyal fans then they had going in! It’s a rare sight, but I’ve most definitely seen it on more than one occasion (and even helped to create a few, not to toot my own horn! 😉 )
I’ve had a great time this week writing about some of the smartest brands out there and how they overcame their potentially disastrous social media crises with mind-blowing results.
This week, the smart brands I’ve elaborated on are Boingo, the Red Cross and Fontaine Santé, and in each case there were some clear-cut strategies and techniques that YOU can use to strengthen your own social media crisis plan.
Let’s close the week with 18 of the best take-aways from each of these brands and their successful social media crisis plans:
- Keep up on your social media monitoring
- Know the signs of a crisis, and be able to detect those red flags
- Have a social media crisis phone-tree in place
- Never forget your first response
- Waste no time in taking necessary drastic measures
- Internal communication is essential throughout a crisis
- Address the situation head-on. No beating around the bush or making excuses
- Show the humans behind the brand and humanize the situation
- Know how to leverage the powerful help of your loyal and still-happy customers
- Always act with your customers’ best interest in mind
- Understand the power of a sincerely apology
- Release a detailed official response
- Answer questions with an FAQ
- Always make it a two-way conversation
- Thank your loyal fans for their support
- When possible, turn the negative situation into a positive campaign
- Never loose sight of your day-to-day message or brand values
- Prove that you’ve learned your lesson
These take-aways are some of the most essential parts of a solid social media crisis plan, and being a fabulous reader of my blog, there’s not a single excuse why you shouldn’t be prepared, at the very least, with these 18 essential take-aways!
What I would love even more than watching any-old brand come out of a social media crisis with flying colors, is to watch YOU overcome a future social media attack even more quickly and with higher results than the fantastic examples we’ve seen here this week.
That said, let me leave you with this:
What are you doing to protect your brand from a social media crisis? How many of these 18 take-aways were you already prepared with (whether it be knowledge or plans), and how will you take action and implement the rest of them? Be sure to share your answers with me below!
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Hi y Melissa!
Very informative post, I love the 18 tips shared here. some of indeed new to me. I guess i would have to follow them.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ajnabii,
I'm glad I was able to provide you with some new tips for your social media crisis plan! Let me know how they help you strengthen your crisis plan, as well as if you have any questions!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment! 🙂
It's nice to know that there are someone like you who would exert their effort in writing such informative post. I guess, "Prove that you’ve learned your lesson" this one is important. At the end of the day you have to realize what you've done and what has to be done.
Hi Mikaila,
You're right, this point is a very important one! If you don't learn your lesson, and show your customers and followers that you've done so, you risk repeating the same mistakes, this time with even more consequences for your actions (or non actions!).
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your comment! 🙂