Social Media Crisis Management: How to Respond to a Social Crisis

A social media crisis plan gives you the power to respond quickly and with confidence when a problem arises.

Even a single misstep – be it an off-brand post, inappropriate content, or tone-deaf messaging – can escalate swiftly, generating negative publicity and causing significant damage to your brand's reputation.

Because social media moves so quickly, you need to know how to respond effectively and maintain trust in the face of potential crises.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through social media crisis management with a focus on how to respond to a social crisis. 

You’ll learn how to develop a crisis management plan, form a crisis management team, and use a crisis management tool to monitor social media for emerging issues. 

We’ll also share best practices for responding quickly and outline effective responses that help you control the narrative.

What is a social media crisis?

A social media crisis is any unexpected event, conversation, or piece of content on a social media platform that threatens to harm a company’s image or brand reputation. 

It could begin with a few negative comments on a recent campaign, escalate when unhappy customers feel ignored, and explode into widespread outrage if the situation isn’t resolved. 

Because so many people rely on social networks for real-time updates, your brand’s online reputation can shift dramatically within hours – or even minutes – if a crisis hits.

Key indicators a crisis is forming

It’s not always easy to spot a crisis. If you rely solely on notifications to monitor your brand on social media, you’ll probably not know about issues until they’ve grown too big to handle. The key is to be proactive and find crisis indicators early.

Brands use sentiment analysis tools to spot when negative sentiment intensifies quickly around their name or product. You might also see customer complaints spike on multiple social media channels.

If the crisis has gone viral, sometimes even a damaging hashtag emerges. For example, when French consumers recently boycotted several prominent American brands, the hashtag #BoycottUSA started trending.

And if things get really bad, sometimes public figures or industry insiders will share negative stories about dealing with your company.

Once the crisis gains traction, a slow or disorganized response makes the problem worse. That’s why you need a well-prepared crisis management plan to take charge and respond in ways that preserve (or restore) your brand's reputation.

Why respond swiftly to a social crisis?

During a social media crisis, time is of the essence. People expect instant communication on X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok – basically wherever your brand is active.

If you respond promptly, you're more likely to contain the damage. In some cases, a fast and organized response can calm frustrations before they evolve into a full-blown crisis.

Responding quickly is also best for controlling the narrative. If you delay, your brand’s story might be shaped entirely by third parties or disgruntled users. A lightning-quick crisis response allows you to set the record straight.

Prompt solutions are also important when holding onto trust – if you take quick and honest ownership of your mistakes, you're more likely to retain or regain credibility with social media users.

Building a crisis management plan

A robust crisis management plan is your roadmap for how to respond to a social crisis. 

By establishing clear procedures and roles in advance, your team is better equipped to tackle problems confidently and cohesively.

Core elements of a good crisis response

Start by thinking about your overall objectives. Pinpoint what you hope to accomplish when a crisis occurs. For instance, you might aim to mitigate damage, apologize and offer a solution, or prevent further negative publicity.

Next, think about your team structure. Figure out who will be on your crisis management team, including roles and responsibilities. Then, identify a spokesperson, social media leads, PR representatives, and legal advisors.

From there, line up some predefined messaging. Get specific by drafting potential statements or holding lines that can be quickly adapted to different social media channels. This step will help you share a consistent message across platforms.

You'll also need some monitoring guidelines to catch emerging crises early. For this, decide how your team will monitor social media to detect potential issues. List the tools or dashboards you’ll use.

Finally, think about your escalation workflow: spell out how a problem moves from community managers to top leadership. This saves valuable time when a serious problem arises.

Forming your crisis management team

A crisis management team comprises individuals from various departments who each understand how to respond effectively. While some members react publicly, others handle behind-the-scenes tasks.

Social media/community managers

These team members are often the first to notice a budding potential crisis due to their hands-on role with social media channels.

PR/communications staff

Employees on your PR team should develop your official messaging, coordinate with news outlets, and field media inquiries.

Legal counsel

Having a go-to person in place for legal advice is vital in case you encounter any crisis involving lawsuits, compliance breaches, or serious allegations.

Marketing lead

If the crisis is tied to a marketing push, you'll need to be able to quickly consult the person who can pause or edit any related content to avoid appearing tone-deaf.

Senior leadership

Your management team should be prepared to make final calls on major decisions, especially those impacting the company’s bottom line or brand's reputation in the long term.

Crisis management tools: Monitor social media in real-time

You won’t be able to respond quickly if you’re unaware a crisis is brewing. That’s where a crisis management tool helps. 

Using specific tools for crisis monitoring will allow you to set up alerts that notify you when mentions of your brand spike or if negative sentiment surges.

This is also useful for sentiment analysis and gauging the tone of online discussions – taking a closer look at specific conversations will help you understand how bad the situation is.

Using a tool like Brandwatch Consumer Research gives you advanced features for monitoring, analyzing, and addressing concerns during a crisis. By tracking relevant keywords (for example, “boycott” or “scam”), you’re more likely to spot a potential crisis early and avoid letting it erupt into a serious problem.

Discover the crisis management essentials you need to get started here.

Your crisis plan in action: A step-by-step guide

While the details of your crisis response plan will vary based on the specifics of your company, it should go roughly like this.

Step 1: Identify the crisis

Not every uptick in negative feedback signals a media crisis. Before taking action, look closely at whether you’re dealing with a passing wave of negative comments or an issue that could create significant damage.

Be careful here: if it's the former, releasing a knee-jerk public apology could draw attention to a non-issue.

The key red flags for a real crisis are rapidly growing conversations about your brand and intensifying hostility or calls for boycotts.

In particular, watch out for anyone with a large following driving attention to the issue.

It's also worth noting that while many crises originate with a post or comment from outside users, they can come from within the company. A staff member might accidentally share inappropriate content on the official brand account, or employees could air internal disputes publicly. Either way, a crisis management plan that addresses such internal mishaps is essential.

Step 2: Convene your crisis management team

Once you’ve confirmed a true social media crisis is underway, gather your crisis management team. Ensure each team member understands their role in the crisis management plan.

Your social media leads should then draft or adapt immediate responses while your PR team prepares more detailed statements, liaise with journalists, and handles external interviews if needed.

Don't forget to loop in your legal advisors to review any official communications to avoid liability or compliance pitfalls.

Step 3: Issue your initial response quickly

Remember, acting fast once the crisis is verified is key to minimizing damage. 

This usually involves sharing a short message on social media that acknowledges the issue, expresses concern, and includes an apology if appropriate. You don't have to say much more than that in the first instance; just let your audience know you'll give further updates as needed.

You may not have all the accurate information yet, but you must show you’re aware and working on solutions. This helps calm the storm before it grows into widespread outrage.

Step 4: Gather facts and refine your messaging

While your initial statement is live, your internal teams should investigate to get more details. 

Once you understand the root cause – be it a policy error, inappropriate content, or something more specific – you can issue a more comprehensive update. 

The best strategy here is to own mistakes if they’re yours and outline a plan to fix them. Ensure you empathize with those affected and maintain a consistent message across all social media channels.

You can also use sentiment analysis to figure out the best response. Real-time sentiment data can help you see if the mood is still deteriorating or stabilizing and identify the most volatile social media channels. This kind of info is great for guiding your messaging strategies – in some cases, you might need to make a direct apology; in others, you might need to offer solutions.

A tool like Brandwatch Consumer Research will give you insights into the source of negativity. You can then tailor responses to address the most urgent complaints or misunderstandings.

Step 5: Build trust by addressing concerns

People want to be heard during a social crisis. That means providing channels where they can voice frustrations on social media, including Facebook comments, X replies, and direct messages. While it might be tempting, turning off comments can make things worse.

Instead, allow your customers to vent while ensuring community managers respond promptly and empathetically. While the crisis is active, make sure that you monitor social media daily (or hourly) for further negative comments.

Encourage calm, open dialogue and be ready to direct the conversation to a private channel whenever needed (in the case of refunds or one-on-one clarifications).

Step 6: Review the situation post-crisis

Once the crisis blows over, evaluate how well your team handled the scenario. 

Look at whether the situation was handled quickly enough, and check if your official statements were clear and consistent.

Check for any financial or reputational damage, and learn from any mistakes – using your findings to fine-tune your crisis management plan for the future. This means checking how the crisis affected your brand in terms of metrics, such as follower counts and website traffic.

Then, check in with your team. Did everyone understand their roles? Did anyone feel unprepared or overwhelmed? A bit of customer feedback might be interesting, too. Did your audience feel heard? Did they consider your apologies sincere?

Don't forget to factor in the financial cost of the crisis – especially if you have to offer refunds or suspend costly campaigns.

Revise your crisis plan where needed. For example, if your social media monitoring process didn’t flag the crisis early enough, invest in better tools or more frequent checks.

Avoiding tone-deaf mistakes during a social crisis

When a social media crisis is unfolding, the worst thing your brand can do is seem oblivious or uncaring. 

Common blunders often involve forgetting to pause scheduled posts, so immediately pause or cancel any automated posts to prevent a bigger backlash.

Aim for empathy and sincerity when dealing with unhappy customers or critics and show you understand their concerns. This is especially important when there's a serious problem.

Make sure every team member understands the dos and don’ts of brand communication, and remember that a single misguided tweet from can fan the flames. 

Community managers should be well-trained in handling urgent replies and defusing tension rather than being subject to policies that force them to wait for approval and slow their crisis response.

Social media guidelines to prevent a crisis

As they say, prevention is better than cure. And sometimes, a potential crisis can be prevented by setting and enforcing strong social media guidelines. 

These guidelines should instruct employees on engaging respectfully, accurately representing the brand, and promptly escalating problems. 

When setting out your guidelines, think about:

• Tone of voice: Whether your brand is informal, humorous, or corporate, define the acceptable boundaries.
• Privacy and confidentiality: Make it clear employees should not share proprietary data or personal details of clients and coworkers.
• Respectful engagement: Your responses should remain calm and polite even if a customer is furious. Always aim to diffuse the situation.
• Monitoring routine: Outline how often staff must monitor social media for complaints or negative sentiment.

How Brandwatch can help you respond quickly

Whether you’re a small business or a global enterprise, the right technology can make a world of difference in social media crisis management. 

Brandwatch offers a suite of solutions designed to help you monitor brand mentions, industry chatter, and keywords in real-time. You can also analyze public sentiment to see if negative feedback is spiking and identify trending topics that might spark a potential crisis.

Additionally, Brandwatch Social Media Management will give you the power to quickly schedule, pause, or revise posts across multiple channels when a crisis hits.

Brandwatch lets you stay one step ahead when a social crisis emerges, by giving you an overview of what's being said and where. You’ll also have all the information needed to respond proactively and keep your brand’s reputation intact.

Key takeaways to keep your brand safe

Social media crisis management is about readiness, rapid response, and continuous improvement. Whether you’re dealing with a large scandal or a smaller bump in your daily operations, it’s crucial to have a robust crisis management plan, a vigilant crisis management team, and the right set of tools to spot potential crises in time.

Looking to strengthen your preparedness and build trust with your audience – even when facing adversity? Check out how Brandwatch can help you track negative sentiment, evaluate brand health, and respond decisively to any media crisis.

Request a personalized demo and discover how seamless technology and strong social media guidelines can help your organization tackle any social crisis head-on, preserving – and even bolstering – your brand’s reputation for the long run.