Quais são alguns dos riscos e oportunidades de usar as mídias sociais para comunicação de crise?

One mistake brands often make when responding to a social media crisis is publicly replying to individual comments with the same answer. This often leads to a crisis of its own as people will view the “stock” responses as unsympathetic and lazy.

My biggest tip: SLOW DOWN. If you're rushing to respond to an event, no matter what level of crisis, you're more likely to make emotionally-informed decisions as well as mistakes. You can always post in an hour, in a day, in a week. If you're worried about not acknowledging the crisis, you can say that, and follow up by saying you're working on a fully cogent response.

Here are a few for starters. Risk 1: You misread what a crisis actually is on social. You under or over estimate when something is a problem - usually because your criteria for assessing them is out of whack - and you fail to respond accordingly, often making the situation worse. Risk 2: You only broadcast a message when you need to engage with a platform and its users. Very much a legacy media mindset, but it still happens. Risk 3: You focus on delivering a message rather than addressing the source of the actual problem. Classic mistake in crisis management, but especially dangerous when the general public's eyes and ears are in play. There are more, but you should speak with an expert to get your crisis management plan in shape asap

One common mistake is when brands don't tailor their crisis comms approach for different social channels. Each channel has a different culture and algorithm, so whereas directly responding to criticism could help quell issues on some platforms, on others it might only fuel the fire. Brands should have a channel specific, context based escalation plan.

Social media for crisis communication offers speed, high reach, and direct engagement. It allows you to provide real-time updates and gather valuable feedback fast. Moreover, social platforms provide transparency, enabling organizations to stay and showcase authentic responses and maintain credibility. By monitoring public sentiment, organizations can adapt their strategies when it comes to handling a crisis, ensuring effectiveness. Additionally, social media fosters community support, empowering stakeholders to work together during a crisis. Overall, leveraging social media for crisis communication is a powerful tool in managing and mitigating crises effectively.

Analysising social media data, and online conversations and impressions, is also a great way to monitor the stage of the crisis to help respond accordingly. It's not rare for stakeholders in organisations to think there is a crisis based on their perception only as opposed to getting a true sense of scale. This then becomes a risk as they might give to much of a rushed answer, which would steer the conversation and draw attention to the issue. The opposite is also true, lack of monitoring might mean not capturing the emergency of a crisis, or the clear points that need to be addressed.

Crisis can become a catalyst for strengthening your community, fostering loyalty, and emerging stronger. Remember, the key is being prepared, responsive, and human in your approach.

As with all things PR-related, it’s important to get ahead of or on top of a story whenever possible. Not every company has a team to train for crisis communications but the critical piece of this post is to be prepared. When it comes to the digital world, anything can be screenshot so doing your best to choose your words and respond carefully is vital—even if it means taking a beat before reacting. Acknowledge the situation and address it directly and authentically. And be sure to listen to whoever was impacted and apply what you learned to try and avoid the crisis from happening again.

My other tip is, when possible, to lead with gratitude. Starting your response off with "Thanks so much for sharing your opinion. We hear you on this and are responding with XYZ..." can take you a lot further than arguing in your own comments does. Give folks the opportunity to be heard and recognize they took the time to weigh in.

As with any other crisis, you run the risk of adding fuel to the fire when you post about it. That said, silence might seem safe, but it often speaks volumes — and rarely the message you want.

Para marcas que estão acostumadas ao broadcast, social media são desafiadoras. A mensagem não é de mão única, mas construída através de diálogo. Numa crise, você precisará de afiados gestores de comunidades para acalmarem os ânimos, oferecerem respostas transparentes (por favor, nunca o "te mandei inbox"e ponto final) e rápido ajuste das velas de acordo com os ventos. Os comentários, mesmo mais raivosos, oferecem oportunidade de mensurar rápido os pontos que mais causam danos à sua reputação para elaboração de boas e consistentes respostas.