Social Media Crisis Management Best Practices

When things go wrong, social media can be the most dangerous place for a company to engage. In general, following a crisis, one should look to direct outreach only to the specific individuals or communities that have been impacted. Whenever possible, these interactions should be taken offline — or at least to a private forum. Most times, social media is best for “listening” and getting real-time feedback that can serve as input to broader mitigation plans.

Some of the early success stories for online engagement came from the airline industry, which was facing mini “crises” on a daily basis related to flight delays or cancellations and lost baggage. These interactions typically follow a simple pattern of:

customer complaint → company response requesting more info → resolution.

If a company is facing problems that are simple it is OK to handle these publicly, so long as there are enough resources to respond in a timely fashion. More complicated or sensitive issues, however, and especially those with concerns of liability, should be handled offline or in private and managed with support from the legal department.