Social Media Crisis Communications

Social media is one of your most effective tools for promotion but positive sentiment can turn to a social crisis in a moment. It could be the audience your organisation has built up over the years reacts negatively to a post or a disgruntled customer uses their influence to tarnish the brand’s reputation. Sometimes you are simply the target of a social pile-on.

Fortunately, social media posts have a short half-life, but people will often remember how well you managed an issue rather than the issue itself.
Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have changed how businesses communicate and how antagonists might communicate with you. It’s why crisis scenario planning is critical for managing social media issues.

Handling a crisis badly can cost your business, erode trust in your brand and damage your reputation. The more exposure an issue receives, the worse the fallout can be.

Social media crisis communications

It’s hard to know when a social media crisis, Twitterstorm or deliberate campaign will strike, but preparation is the best protection. We work with businesses, schools, institutions and government on response preparation, as well as the tactics that can be deployed to stop issues escalating into something more.

Of course, even the best crisis response plans come under pressure when they haven’t been tested, practiced or reviewed. We also test and refine your plans in real-world settings, so you can be sure your team will be ready when a crisis hits.

The Situation Room is Cannings Purple’s bespoke training tool that exposes your team to fast-moving crisis scenarios, testing their crisis response and issues management skills.

The Situation Room mimics developing issues and evolving situations that are the hallmarks of a modern crisis, and then reviews your team’s response in a way which helps it prepare for future issues.

Social media reputation management

Reputations and trust take years to build and just seconds to crumble. Ignore a storm of negative Twitter and Facebook posts, and your legacy can be lost as well.

Cannings Purple is ready to help if a social media crisis — or other crisis — occurs. Our expert communicators are experienced in helping clients manage significant social media issues, and have deep understanding of best practice, protocols, and the technology to help identify a social crisis, plan a crisis response and support you as you repair your reputation on social channels.

We will support your broader engagement with media, authorities, those impacted and the community. In the aftermath, we implement a reputation recovery strategy to rebuild trust and relationships.