How to Prepare for and Manage a Crisis

Whether social media is top of mind for your organization or not, the chatter online never stops, and it's vital to stay on top of what people are saying about you at all times. 

Keeping a close eye on online consumer conversations in real time ensures organizations can identify and prioritize discussions that need attention, helping manage potential crises. In this guide, we'll share everything you need to know about tackling crisis management challenges using consumer intelligence solutions, from basic principles to practical advice. 

Why you should care about crisis management before a crisis erupts

According to a survey of over 1,300 industry professionals for our Marketer of 2025 report, only 31% of marketers believe they manage their brand's online reputation well. 

You'll have heard of stories where celebrities have made negative comments about a brand and gone viral. Ronaldo's famous "água" comment on arrival at a press conference preceded a $4bn fall in Coca-Cola's market value. But it's not just celebrities who wield enormous power when it comes to brand reputations. 

We recently explored the phenomenon of deinfluencing on social media: an act of influencing others away from buying more things, usually from specific brands. Deinfluencers pose a direct threat to the brands they actively discourage consumers from buying. 

On top of that, media outlets often seek out newsworthy consumer stories from platforms like TikTok, amplifying their reach and sending them trending within larger audiences. 

There are many ways brands can be thrown into disrepute, making it essential that marketers plan ahead, listen closely to what's being said, and respond quickly when a potential crisis is emerging. 

The role of social listening in crisis management

How can you quickly understand what's bothering consumers and come up with an effective strategy to manage any potential negative reactions? 

The answer is by monitoring and analyzing online discussions in real time and using the insights to guide your crisis management communications and response. Social listening can help brands spot emerging negative trends, learn where conversations are happening, and predict where those conversations are heading, making it one of the best tools for reputation management. 

Social listening can include monitoring keywords related to key stakeholders, tracking changes in sentiment around products or services, and getting alerted to issues that require immediate attention. 

With platforms like Brandwatch Consumer Research, you can also seamlessly view and analyze TV, radio, and print data on a single platform, alongside social, news, and other data sources. By leveraging social intelligence as an early warning system, brands can stay informed on any potential problems coming their way and respond before issues escalate. 

How to approach crisis management

Not every piece of negative feedback signals a crisis

Social media has fundamentally changed how brand reputation is built – and how quickly it can be destroyed. Today, consumers can – and do – publicly hold companies and brands accountable on everything from customer service failures to ethical concerns, often gaining significant traction. 

This might be in the form of a public complaint about poor treatment on an airplane or a bad encounter in a fast-food restaurant. It could also be about a brand's marketing practices, with consumers using terms like "rainbow washing" and "greenwashing" to highlight a lack of transparency and honesty. 

While not every negative comment on social represents a crisis, no business is immune to one either. Understanding what people are saying about your brand on the internet and how that information is being perceived and spread by consumers and commentators is paramount. 

What constitutes a "social media crisis"?

When a situation arises unexpectedly that has the potential to negatively affect your brand and reputation, you should quickly identify the source of the information and how it's being spread. 

Social Media Director Justin Clark from Mangold Consultancy explains how to understand what kind of situation you're dealing with: 

"If the situation is known only to those inside your organization, and people outside your organization won't get to hear about it, or won't have a strong reaction if they do hear about it, you're dealing with an incident that doesn't require special treatment. But if you can't be certain any of the statements above are true, or there is potential for the information to get outside your organization without your knowledge, and the reputation of your organization could be at stake, then you're dealing with a crisis that needs to be managed internally and externally." 

Key focus areas for effective crisis planning

Organizations need to focus on three key areas to effectively manage their reputation online: 

1. Setting up monitoring 
2. Creating a response playbook 
3. Continuous evaluation and improvement 

1. Setting up monitoring

Setting up a system to monitor conversations relevant to your brand is fundamental to developing a strong crisis management strategy. Typically, brands engage in broad monitoring focused on the organization and its brand name as well as any related products, services, or stakeholders. 

How to monitor social conversations effectively 

With the massive volume of social media conversations happening at any given moment, brands need the right tool to help them process all these conversations effectively and extract meaningful insights. 

Solutions like Consumer Research make it easy to filter through large volumes of conversations, create customizable real-time alerts, and build a strong monitoring system as part of a crisis management strategy. 

Start by identifying keywords relevant to your brand, product, or service and building these keywords into a search query in Brandwatch. From there, research common industry or product-related issues and complaints – including known threats and recurring concerns – to make sure your monitoring covers the full picture.

For example, a restaurant might want to make sure that any online mentions referring to poor hygiene or food poisoning are immediately flagged. Use these terms to set up automatic Alerts and Signals, which will warn chosen stakeholders of emerging negative conversations. 

Your initial analysis will likely prompt query iterations – go back and adjust your queries until your search results and alerts are as relevant and useful as possible. 

Setting up a system of Alerts and Signals 

The best way to deal with reputational issues is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Catching a crisis early can make all the difference to how it plays out. 

How do you stay informed 24/7 without being "plugged in" 24/7? With Brandwatch's Alerts and Signals, you can track the entire conversation even when you are not around. 

You can set up Signals to track any abnormalities or deviations in conversations, including sentiment, volumes, or trending accounts or hashtags. With Signals, you receive early warnings on potentially harmful stories before they gain momentum, and also discover and act on customer service issues and security threats before they escalate into crises. You can also share Signals automatically with relevant internal teams and team members to ensure no consumer feedback on social media is left unattended. 

In addition to Signals, you can also set up custom Alerts based on the triggers that matter most to your brand. For example, you might want to be notified any time a specific influencer mentions your brand online. 

Both Alerts and Signals can monitor and inform you about any significant changes or events and help your organization deal with hard-to-predict crises. 

Spotting early signs of a crisis with "threat-level" benchmarks 

In our recent State of Social report, we highlight that some industries face higher levels of negativity online than others. But regardless of the industry, every organization should establish benchmarks that define what a normal level of negativity online looks like for their brand. 

Benchmarks should focus on brand-level conversations, but it's also worth tracking individual, smaller topics of interest. When that threshold is reached, it signals to an organization that a conversation currently happening on social needs to be immediately investigated and potentially actively managed. 

While what to monitor often depends on factors such as industry, risk tolerance, and channel usage, here are some key warning signs to watch for when analyzing your brand's social data: 

• Continuous rise in mention volume around high-risk keywords over time 
• Sudden spikes in volume (brand or keyword mentions) 
• Sharp sentiment shifts from positive to negative that mention related keywords and revolve around a single issue 
• Growth in media coverage 
• Competitors or similar brands being drawn into high-profile debates 
• Mentions from high-profile or highly influential individuals like celebrities, social media personalities, politicians, journalists, or key industry influencers 

Often, these social signals can correlate with offline indicators such as customer service inquiries, contact from the media, or internal stakeholder concerns. 

2. Creating a response playbook

On social, speed of response matters more than most people realize. A slow or inadequate response, such as ignoring complaints or a poorly worded reply, is one of the most common reasons for an isolated negative conversation to turn into a crisis. 

Organizations with a well-defined crisis management plan are more likely to effectively manage a situation and prevent it from escalating. When a crisis does erupt, all plans can be enacted swiftly to curb negative feedback and minimize any potential damage. 

Set up your team 

Well in advance of any crisis, you'll want to set up a dedicated crisis management team or appoint an individual who'll be responsible for managing online communications in times of crisis. Know in advance who needs to be involved in approving communications, so public communications efforts aren’t slowing down when you might need to be acting quickly. 

A vital part of this team is a single source of truth as the crisis develops, which might take the form of a dedicated team or stakeholder responsible for brand monitoring.

They should have the tools necessary to deliver insights and enable the appropriate teams to act swiftly. 

Planning for crises: Crisis simulation 

Each crisis will require specific resources and communications to manage the issue from A to Z. Crisis simulation exercises help organizations prepare by testing strategies, plans, and systems in place. They also reveal gaps and weak points that need to be improved for when a real crisis strikes. 

A crisis simulation works best when it’s based on real-world issues that your organization might face. Identifying the most likely scenarios and those posing the greatest threat will help with realistic preparation. 

Without stress-testing your crisis management response through simulations, your organization will have to learn from scratch during a real crisis, making it harder to handle the situation effectively.

You can start by simply writing a list of "what if X happened," and then continue by asking how the issue could play out, its day-to-day impact, and how it's going to affect brand reputation as well as customers and staff. 

3. Continuous evaluation and improvement

Crisis management starts well before a crisis emerges. The right tools and plans – with automated monitoring doing the heavy lifting – can make all the difference when it matters most. 

Savvy organizations actively use best practices in monitoring, segmenting, and planning. For example: 

• Social insights directly inform key decisions 
• All sides of the conversation are proactively monitored 
• Clear, real-time communication keeps all employees informed and prepared for potential crises 

Most importantly, successful teams learn from previous crises: what went well, and what the company hadn't planned for, to be better prepared next time. They can learn from competitor crises too, seeing how certain moves calmed or exacerbated the situation. 

How to manage crisis communications: A step-by-step manual

So, it's happening, and a crisis has erupted. What should you do first? 

1. Research

When you first spot an emerging situation on social media (for example, a significant increase in mention volume, rapidly deteriorating sentiment over a particular topic, or a spike in harmful mentions), gather more information. 

"In a crisis you get signals from a range of stakeholders, via various channels. Understanding the full picture is critical in managing your crisis communications." – Justin Clark, Social Media Director, Mangold Consultancy 

Here are some questions to consider for your research: 

Mentions and volume: 

• How significant is the increase in mention volume from your average or norm? 
• How is the volume changing over time? 
• Are negative mentions restricted to one channel, or did they start on a single channel and are now spreading to multiple online platforms? 

Sentiment and perception: 

• Is the sentiment positive or negative? 
• Why is this conversation happening? 
• What's the potential impact of the issue on your customers and other external stakeholders? 

Stakeholders and sources: 

• Who are the key stakeholders driving the conversation? 
• Who is the source of this social activity (e.g., an influencer, disgruntled customers, bots, reposts, syndicated articles, or automated content sharing)? 
• Is the organization being mentioned directly or indirectly? 

Information accuracy: 

• Is the information in mentions true, based on facts, or are people making assumptions and/or spreading lies about the issue and your organization? 
• Assess the accuracy of information. Who can verify the accuracy of the mentions, news, or images shared on social? 

At this point, it may be worth tweaking your social listening searches to add any specific keywords or hashtags that are associated with the crisis, so you don't miss a mention going forward. 

This process requires ongoing iteration. While it may not be perfect initially, using the answers to these questions will give you a strong starting point to understand how the conversation is progressing. 

2. Get organized internally

Here's where prior preparation will really pay off. If you've got an existing, tried-and-tested crisis management plan in place, you'll know who needs to be involved and what actions to take next. 

You don't want to be left asking "who should we involve?", "do we have any policies or guidelines that can help here?", or "where do we keep our templates that address this issue?" 

Bring your crisis team together and get them up to speed fast on what's happening. 

3. Identify key messages to communicate

Pre-planning gives you a real head start and saves valuable time, but it only gets you so far. 

Now take those prepped response documents and decide what key messages need to be added in, taken out, and refined in your response. Keep it simple: have no more than three main messages and communicate them clearly. 

While this is done, your social media accounts can be useful channels. Any communication must be handled carefully, but acknowledging that you're looking into an issue can help quell demands for immediate action. 

Sometimes, just being acknowledged and knowing someone is doing something is enough to quiet fears and can stop repeat mentions (as long as that action sounds sensible and proportionate to the seriousness of the problem). 

4. Inform internally

Run internal briefings for all relevant teams, providing a detailed explanation of the situation and advising your staff on how they should respond if contacted. Effective internal communication is as important as opening up to the public with an official statement. Keeping key people briefed internally also speeds up their involvement should it be needed. 

5. Communicate early and often (in your brand voice)

You have the information you need, and you know your key messages. Now it's time to start talking publicly. 

Start the conversation by introducing the problem, current status, and proposed solution. It can be useful to commit to regular updates. This sets deadlines for your team and provides comfort for your audience. But, of course, be realistic. 

Remember to always gut-check your communications against your company voice. Communications in times of crisis that are overly formal, corporate, or robotic sounding can come across as insincere, especially if your brand voice is more informal during peacetime. Keep the information at the front and refer to your brand voice documentation if you need to. It should have guidance on the tone to take in serious situations. 

Questions to ask when responding to a crisis 

• What does my audience (internal and external) need to know? 
• What information can we disclose and what needs to be held back? 
• In complex situations, how can we simplify our message to ensure it's accessible? 
• When can we expect to update the audience (internal and external) on the next steps? 
• If relevant, how can people contact us, and where should we direct people for more information? 

Bonus chapter: Influencer crisis management

Working with influencers can pose additional risks for businesses and their reputation. Here's what to do when your campaign faces unexpected backlash. 

Step 1: Assess the situation

Start by checking both names: your brand's and the influencer's. Set up focused search queries to track how the story is spreading. Tools like Brandwatch's Iris can help automatically monitor and flag unusual spikes or negative sentiment. 

Next, check audience reactions to see if they're linking the influencer to your brand, and how sentiment is changing. Then figure out where the conversation is happening. Is it X, Reddit, TikTok, or all of the above? Remember, even if you're not tagged on the influencer's post, your brand can be pulled into the negative conversation by association. 

Timeline: Speed matters. Aim to complete this assessment within a few hours of becoming aware of the issue. 

Step 2: Evaluate your partnership's exposure

Consider several key factors: First, check if the influencer's content is still up (posts or paid ads). Then assess whether your partnership is being directly mentioned in the conversation. What's the overall tone toward your brand? Are people defending you, criticizing you, or are they simply watching the story unfold? 

Also check your contract: Do you have termination clauses? Who controls content removal? This information will help you decide how to limit further damage. 

Step 3: Plan your next move

Your response will depend on where the backlash is focused and the crisis type. Political controversies often require different handling than personal scandals or brand safety issues. 

• If the backlash is directed at the influencer, pause the campaign while you assess the situation. Draft a statement in case you need to go public and reach out to the influencer's team to make sure you are on the same page and to align on messaging. 
• If your brand is in crisis, give the influencer a heads-up so they don't accidentally post content that feels out of touch. (The now-infamous Fyre Festival comes to mind, where pre-scheduled influencer posts still went live after the event collapsed.) Decide if their content needs to be paused, tweaked, or left as-is. 

Keep leadership and legal teams informed throughout. They may need to weigh in on public statements or contractual decisions, especially for high-profile partnerships. 

Step 4: Communicate with care

Don't ghost influencers. They're part of your extended team while your campaign is live. Keep your tone professional, but human. How you show up and how you communicate with your partners matters. If you don't have all the answers yet, be transparent about what you do know so far and outline how and when you'll be able to share more updates. 

For smaller influencer issues, direct communication may suffice. For major crises involving large followings, coordinate messaging more carefully and consider having legal review communications. 

Step 5: Monitor the situation in real time

Keep an eye on both your brand and the influencer because public sentiment can shift quickly, and silence (such as not addressing the issue publicly) can be misread. Watch for spikes in negative sentiment or deinfluencing language and stay alert for any new concerns so you can respond before they escalate. 

Step 6: Reassess the partnership post-crisis

The crisis is typically "over" when mention volumes return to baseline and sentiment stabilizes for 48-72 hours, but it may take more time, depending on the nature of the crisis. At this point, decide if the partnership still aligns with your brand, update your internal protocols based on what you've learned, and document lessons learned for future partnerships. 

The best way to manage influencer crises is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Learn how to build a strong foundation for influencer collaborations in our blog post, How to Build Crisis-Proof Influencer Partnerships. 

Over to you

Effective crisis management hinges on preparation, real-time, reliable insights, and the right tools. Social listening empowers brands to make data-driven decisions, monitor emerging issues, and respond promptly to potential threats. 

With advanced social listening solutions like Brandwatch Consumer Research, you can track critical signals and events, identify key figures involved, and take swift action to mitigate risks. This proactive approach will help you protect your brand's reputation and maintain trust with your audience.