Should Your Crisis Center Use Social Media? A Checklist.

By Frances Gonzalez

Since the first tweet was sent, “viral media” and “digital engagement” have been buzzwords across industries and ventures. Regardless of status as a for-profit or nonprofit entity, enterprises are pressured into launching official social media accounts with the promise that doing so will modernize and revolutionize the way they operate, and open doors that are otherwise closed to them.

Admittedly, these tenets tend to be true as a general rule. I work in Communications because I believe that getting the right message to the right audience is a vital part of successful work, including crisis center work. I also believe that digital media and social media are wide-ranging tools that can be effective and rewarding message-carriers if used well. But they’re not for everyone.

Social media is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the question of how to reach individuals that would most benefit from the services of a crisis center, or reach individuals that are in a position to help a center meet its needs. The choice to use social media should be a deliberate one. A venture into social media requires resources, time, and consistent effort on a long-term scale, and the rewards can be hard to predict. For some centers, utilizing those resources now is a worthwhile investment in the crisis center’s future. For other centers, the pay-off might not be worth the initial investment — at least, not yet.

So how do you know if your center should get into the social media game or up its current social media ante? This five-point checklist can help you decide. This list doesn’t cover every reason a center may want or need to be on social media. But it can serve as a starting point for a larger discussion at your center.

If you answer YES to three or more of the below statements, hark! Your center belongs on social media now.

1. Our center serves a large population, or encompasses a large area.

Social media makes it possible to reach a far-flung audience with low to no upfront monetary cost. This is especially helpful for centers that cannot easily reach their communities through more traditional means — either because the audience is extremely large (if your target audience is, say, everyone), or because the audience is spread thin over a wide area (which makes sustained effort over a long term a daunting prospect).

2. Our center has active partnerships or is looking to create partnerships with other organizations.

If you have a strong or developing relationship with a partner, social media’s public and global presence can serve to increase awareness of that partnership, provide an additional perk for your partner, and promote the benefits of partnering with your center. If you don’t have any partnerships yet but are looking to build some, highlighting your services, goals, and successes through social media can be a way to attract potential partners, build a network, and open an easy line of communication. They can’t reach out to you if you’re not there to answer.

3. Our center has a bank of consumer stories, photos, videos or events, or has the capacity to create this bank.

Social media needs content to operate. More accurately, social media needs good content to operate well. Building an audience of staff and the public, as well as highlighting your work, requires a steady stream of diverse material to post on a regular basis. This material includes articles relevant to your field, success stories of counselors and consumers, videos, photos, and events. The higher the quality of the photo or story, the better the response will be.

4. Our center is expanding into new audiences, or is struggling to reach our target audience.

More and more individuals use the Internet to determine what services to use. Developing your social media serves a dual purpose: proving to your consumers that you are indeed a real entity staffed by real people, and building a trustworthy reputation through swift and sensitive response to both positive and negative feedback. If you’re willing to spend some cash, several social media platforms offer targeted advertising options. These options allow you to choose the kinds of people that see your ads and the circumstances in which they see them.

5. Our center has a website.

If you already have a digital presence, no matter how small, social media is a natural expansion and next step. Being active on social media can help you increase the traffic your website receives, and vice versa, by helping you build a closed digital ecosystem that allows users to go from one type to the other, depending on the type of content they seek. Everybody wins.

If social media doesn’t seem right for you right now, rest easy and be mindful if circumstances change. If you’ve determined that you should be on social media and don’t know how to proceed, you can reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s communications team for a crash course. Happy posting!

Frances Gonzalez is the Director of Communications for the Mental Health Association of New York City which operates the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

If you’re involved with a crisis center and interested in joining the Lifeline, a network of over 160 crisis centers around the country, please emaillifelineinfo@mhaofnyc.org.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, reach out. The Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1–800–273-TALK (8255).