Protect your business, be prepared for social media crisis management
Let’s face it, social media isn’t going away. People love to talk about what’s going on in their lives, and now that they can do it with millions of others right from the smart phone in their pocket, it’s practically irresistable.
What this means to your organization is that your employees will use social media during your next crisis.
How then, do you turn this seeming vulnerability into a crisis management tool? That’s exactly the question that social media crisis specialist Melissa Agnes answers in her blog post, “How To Empower Your Employees For a Social Media Crisis.”
Here’s a quote:
Fact #1: Each one of your employees has an active social media presence.
Fact #2: Each one of your employees has their own social graph (social connections).
Fact #3: At any point throughout a crisis, your employees may:
Choose to mention or discuss the situation online
Be approached with inquiries about the events unfolding
Be sought out by reporters or bloggers covering the crisis
Fact #4: Their answers may innocently result in further damage and/or complications for your brand.
Fact #5: This is not what most people would call advantageous in a troubling matter!
Fact #6: There are precautionary measure that any and all companies and organizations can take to help eliminate this threat.
Make no mistake, these are FACTS, evidenced in many, many crisis situations. As with any other crisis, the best way to prevent serious social media damage is by being prepared, so what’s holding you back?
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]
Jonathan L. Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of crisis management – crisis response, vulnerability assessment, planning, training and simulations.
Erik Bernstein is vice president of Bernstein Crisis Management. Erik started with BCM in 2009 as a writer and subsequently became social media manager for the consultancy itself as well as for a number of BCM clients before moving to the VP position.