How to Define, Manage and Communicate During a Social Media Crisis

The prevalence of social media in the everyday world have changed how crisis communications professionals must address dire situations. The need for an immediate, well-crafted response is now required to effectively manage crises. Long gone are the days of waiting hours, days or weeks for a first reaction. 

Defining crisis: 

A crisis is an unexpected event that causes uncertainty and poses a legitimate threat to an organization’s mission, bottom line, reputation or stakeholders. It also creates opportunities to uncover and eliminate the root cause of any ongoing problems that may have started the crisis in the first place.  

This is different than an issue which is an unfavorable event that, while unpleasant and should be acknowledged, does not cause a long-term negative impact on an organization or the environment it operates within. Left unchecked, an issue can evolve into a crisis. 

A social media crisis is a crisis that originates on a social media platform. This is often confused with crises that occur offline and then become mainstream through social media. 

How organizations should (and should not) respond to a social media crisis: 

In 2022, Tampax Tweeted, “You're in their DMs. We're in them. We are not the same.” 

After facing criticism for sexualizing menstruation, the company then doubled down on its post by sharing, “refused to let twitter shut down before we shared this tweet.” This led to the hashtag #BoycottTampax. 

Tampax lost trust with many of its active online supporters by failing to address how its post was tone-deaf and apologize for the harm it caused in a timely manner. It took the company five days to delete the post and offer a weak apology.  

What Tampax should have done at minimum was: 

• Consider if participating in trending topics (sliding into DMs) fits with the company’s values 

• Participate in social listening 

• Swiftly take down the post that is not resonating with audiences 

• Understand why audiences have criticisms 

• If the post ultimately goes against values, take accountability instead of defending 

How organizations can use social media as a response tool during a crisis: 

Even if a crisis does not originate on social media, public online platforms can be used to respond to the situation.  

When KFC ran out of chicken at many of its UK restaurants in 2018, it took to its social media platforms to frequently update its customers about the poultry shortage.

This helped by:

• Providing transparency and accurate information 

• Promptly giving developments and official updates 

• Engaging with publics and promoting two-way communication 

• Offering solutions and closure 

Which one is harder to manage? 

In my opinion, it is more difficult to extinguish a social media crisis than to use social media as a tool to solve a crisis. In the first scenario, the crisis originated online directly from the company’s social media or digital marketing team and reflects poorly on the company’s credibility. In the second, the company is using resources to communicate information from higher up and collaborate with publics on solutions. Either way, the crisis must be solved on social media if the company involved has established accounts, which is not an easy feat.