Your Quick Guide to Using Social Media in a Crisis

If I were to say:

“When faced with a social media crisis, you should respond through your social media channels.”

Would you say:

“duh!!!”

with enthusiasm? I sure hope so!

Ok, kidding aside, it’s important to fight social media fire with social media water, and this rings true down to the very core of social media and the mindset it requires to excel in all aspects of it. The following are the different platforms that exist and how you can use each one to respond to, and get your message out in a social media crisis.

* Remember that the first and most important platform to use within a social media crisis is the one that the attack initially broke out on.

The different social media channels and how to use them during a social media crisis

Facebook

• Respond to each comment – negative and positive – being posted to your wall
• Post an initial response, followed by an official response
• Link to important pages and content regarding the crisis, such as an FAQ on your blog
• Update your Facebook “About” section to reflect the crisis and link fans to appropriate channels and content

Twitter

• Respond to each tweet being tweeted about your brand and the crisis – both the positive and negative ones
• Link to important and appropriate content detailing the crisis
• Tweet about the crisis as it unfolds in real-time
• Update your Twitter Bio and background to reflect the crisis and link followers to appropriate channels and content
• Develop a hashtag to use throughout the crisis to keep tweets segregated

Google+

• Google+ is great for SEO, so use it to post links and comments to the crisis in order to gain search engine rankings
• Host a Hangout to continue to get your message out, answer questions and connect with your audience
• Keep your circles informed about the crisis in real-time

YouTube

• If your social media crisis broke out due to a YouTube video, it is crucial that you respond to the crisis via YouTube video
• When uploading your video response to YouTube, click on the “Create video response” button and upload your video that way
• Title your video response “Name of Crisis (or name of offending video) – Brand Name Responds”. This will optimize it for maximum views
• Publish your video response on your blog and other social media channels

Pinterest

• A picture says 1,000 words, so be creative and wise. Share pictures that highlight the truth about the crisis and link them back to the appropriate pages on your website or blog

Blog

• Your blog is one of the first places customers, fans, bloggers and the media will turn to, therefore it’s a great place to publish both your official response and your social media crisis FAQ
• The SEO that your blog is already optimized for will help your message be spread and heard by a maximum amount of viewers
• Enable comments within each related blog post and your FAQ to encourage your audience to continue the conversation within YOUR platform

Things to remember no matter what social media platform you use during a crisis

• Have a clear, transparent and consistent message across all channels
• Always keep in-line with your brand values and day-to-day message
• Be quick to respond and post – a social media crisis happens in real-time
• Monitor the discussions taking place about and around your brand (before, during and proceeding a social media crisis)
• Respond to comments and posts by customers and fans as often as possible
• Thank loyal followers and advocates for coming to your defense

What would you add to this Quick Guide? Share your comments in the comments section below!