Social Media Crisis Management Tips for Businesses and Brands
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2025 3:42 am
When the wind turns and you become the target of a lot of criticism, do the following:
Respond quickly
Believe it or not, ignoring the problem won't make it go away! On the contrary, the faster you respond, the better. After all, even in good times, more than three-quarters of consumers expect brands to respond to negative comments or questions within 24 hours. In a crisis, it's even more important to be responsive.
This may result in immediate deletion of the offending post or a sincere apology or retraction. Whatever your response, sooner is always better—letting the issue drag on will only make things worse.
Burger King UK, for example, deleted the original tweet, apologized, and clarified its intentions within hours, allowing them to dissipate the unease relatively quickly.
To be honest, no matter how well prepared you are, a crisis can't be resolved with one or two social media posts. That would be too easy. Your followers and the public will expect to hear from you, and it's important to recognize the problem immediately. Even during the holidays, you need to be able to react quickly in an emergency.
Posting a few short, informative messages will buy you time to implement the rest of your social media crisis communications plan. Simply acknowledge that there's a problem and let people know that more information will be available soon.
To quickly nip the problem in the bud, it's essential to keep an eye on notifications and @mentions . Hootsuite's dashboard can help you keep a close eye on the situation.
The video below shows you how to use Hootsuite's social listening to prevent a portugal phone number data social media crisis from occurring.
Try Hootsuite for free
Check your social media charter
Fortunately, while some of the worst social media crises have started with an employee posting an inappropriate message, these types of blunders are also among the easiest to avoid.
To do this, your company must have a crystal-clear social media policy . A well-written policy should include guidelines for appropriate use, outline expectations for brand accounts, and explain how employees can talk about the company on their personal channels.
Dollar General has come under fire after one of its managers gave an unflattering behind-the-scenes look at the company. Ideally, your company shouldn't encourage employees to publicly criticize you, but adopting a social media policy can help moderate messages (even well-intentioned ones) about your brand.
Of course, the details of your social media policy will vary depending on factors such as your industry and the size of your company. Here are some topics every social media policy should include:
Copyright. Don't assume employees understand how copyright works on the internet. Provide them with clear instructions on how to use and credit third-party content.
Privacy protection. Indicate how to interact with customers online, and when a conversation should be moved to a private channel.
Confidentiality. Describe what professional information employees are allowed (or even encouraged) to share and what must be kept confidential.
The brand voice. Should the tone remain formal? Can your social media team get a little creative?
Implement a crisis communication plan
If you don't already have a crisis communications plan, prepare one! Put it in place when things are going well so you have a clear head and a good understanding of how to respond in an emergency.
When Quebec health officials accidentally posted a link to a pornographic website instead of information about Covid-19, they didn't have to spend hours thinking about how to fix the problem.
By having a ready-to-use document, you'll be able to respond quickly to any potential issues, instead of debating how best to handle the incident or waiting for company leadership to weigh in.
Indeed, it is essential to act as quickly as possible (which is why our first recommendation for dealing with a crisis was to “react quickly”). More than a quarter of crises spread globally in just one hour .
Your plan should outline the steps to take on social media in the event of a crisis, covering both executives and lower-level employees. Include a list of people who should be alerted at each stage of the crisis.
Your social media crisis management plan should include the following elements:
Guidelines to identify the type of crisis and its magnitude.
The roles and responsibilities of each department.
A communication plan for internal updates.
Up-to-date contact information for key employees.
Clear approval processes for social media posts.
Pre-approved external messages, images or information.
A link to your social media charter.
Respond quickly
Believe it or not, ignoring the problem won't make it go away! On the contrary, the faster you respond, the better. After all, even in good times, more than three-quarters of consumers expect brands to respond to negative comments or questions within 24 hours. In a crisis, it's even more important to be responsive.
This may result in immediate deletion of the offending post or a sincere apology or retraction. Whatever your response, sooner is always better—letting the issue drag on will only make things worse.
Burger King UK, for example, deleted the original tweet, apologized, and clarified its intentions within hours, allowing them to dissipate the unease relatively quickly.
To be honest, no matter how well prepared you are, a crisis can't be resolved with one or two social media posts. That would be too easy. Your followers and the public will expect to hear from you, and it's important to recognize the problem immediately. Even during the holidays, you need to be able to react quickly in an emergency.
Posting a few short, informative messages will buy you time to implement the rest of your social media crisis communications plan. Simply acknowledge that there's a problem and let people know that more information will be available soon.
To quickly nip the problem in the bud, it's essential to keep an eye on notifications and @mentions . Hootsuite's dashboard can help you keep a close eye on the situation.
The video below shows you how to use Hootsuite's social listening to prevent a portugal phone number data social media crisis from occurring.
Try Hootsuite for free
Check your social media charter
Fortunately, while some of the worst social media crises have started with an employee posting an inappropriate message, these types of blunders are also among the easiest to avoid.
To do this, your company must have a crystal-clear social media policy . A well-written policy should include guidelines for appropriate use, outline expectations for brand accounts, and explain how employees can talk about the company on their personal channels.
Dollar General has come under fire after one of its managers gave an unflattering behind-the-scenes look at the company. Ideally, your company shouldn't encourage employees to publicly criticize you, but adopting a social media policy can help moderate messages (even well-intentioned ones) about your brand.
Of course, the details of your social media policy will vary depending on factors such as your industry and the size of your company. Here are some topics every social media policy should include:
Copyright. Don't assume employees understand how copyright works on the internet. Provide them with clear instructions on how to use and credit third-party content.
Privacy protection. Indicate how to interact with customers online, and when a conversation should be moved to a private channel.
Confidentiality. Describe what professional information employees are allowed (or even encouraged) to share and what must be kept confidential.
The brand voice. Should the tone remain formal? Can your social media team get a little creative?
Implement a crisis communication plan
If you don't already have a crisis communications plan, prepare one! Put it in place when things are going well so you have a clear head and a good understanding of how to respond in an emergency.
When Quebec health officials accidentally posted a link to a pornographic website instead of information about Covid-19, they didn't have to spend hours thinking about how to fix the problem.
By having a ready-to-use document, you'll be able to respond quickly to any potential issues, instead of debating how best to handle the incident or waiting for company leadership to weigh in.
Indeed, it is essential to act as quickly as possible (which is why our first recommendation for dealing with a crisis was to “react quickly”). More than a quarter of crises spread globally in just one hour .
Your plan should outline the steps to take on social media in the event of a crisis, covering both executives and lower-level employees. Include a list of people who should be alerted at each stage of the crisis.
Your social media crisis management plan should include the following elements:
Guidelines to identify the type of crisis and its magnitude.
The roles and responsibilities of each department.
A communication plan for internal updates.
Up-to-date contact information for key employees.
Clear approval processes for social media posts.
Pre-approved external messages, images or information.
A link to your social media charter.