Social Media Crisis Management: Best Practices and Horror Stories
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of talking with Elisa Birnbaum, an established freelance writer and contributor at Charity Village. Elisa writes about social media strategies and tactics for non-profit organizations. This time around, she focused on social media policies – and what can happen when you don’t have guidelines in place.
”If you’re an avid devotee of social media, chances are you’ve already heard about this infamous gaffe,” writes Elisa on her cover story, Social Media: What’s Your Policy? ”A Red Cross employee uses HootSuite to send out an otherwise-innocent tweet about her alcohol-induced evening in the company of a specific beer. She thought she was sending it from her personal account. But she was wrong.
As we all know, mistakes like that are not easily repealed and once you’ve hit that send button it’s hard to take things back. But here’s the thing about the Red Cross and their reaction to the incident: no one got fired, nothing hit the proverbial fan and no one went into heavy crisis mode. In fact, they made light of the situation with an affable response.”
Elisa goes on sharing similar stories (with not so similar happy endings). After interviewing a handful of social media experts, Elisa compiled a list of top 5 tips for crafting your own social media policy:
1. Don’t forget it will have an impact on internal operations. For example, your hiring process may be affected and you may now need to re-evaluate who you hire and the type of qualifications they offer.
2. Make sure your policy is comprehensive, but yet easy to understand. Your goal is to get people to read and follow your policy (and not just scan through it).
3. Work on your policy with your marketing and sales team. Make sure your policy and your social media presence are aligned with your brand.
4. The policy should cover every possibility, including the likelihood of replacing your social media manager. People may be attached to a certain voice, making it hard for new staff to take over.
5. Keep in mind that your social media policy is always a work in progress. Social media is a dynamic, evolving medium and you want to make sure your policy stays relevant at all times.
Read the complete article at CharityVillage.com.
Recommended reading:
How To Deal With Negative Word-Of-Mouth on Social Media
How To Avoid Social Media Pitfalls, Ninja-Style!
Social Media for Small Businesses
