Social media crisis management practices are often enforced as a result of a breakdown in communication between a business and it’s audiences in a public environment. Crisis planning ensures that actions are organised and understood to minimise the effects of a disaster, prior to if or when it occurs.

In business, reputation is everything. That being said, reputation is amazingly fragile and it only takes a single mistake to cause major damage to a businesses image.

This is never more true than in the digital world, where transparency and customer expectation reign supreme. Ignoring public opinion in digital environment is just not an option any more.

Businesses have to learn that social communication can be like wild fire. There are numerous examples of instances where companies have had major PR disasters on their hands and no visible social media crisis management practices in place.

Truly listening to social channels and responding in the way that aligns with both brand and customer expectations will avoid crisis management altogether. Sometimes though, it is just out of your hands.

In the digital era, it is critical for businesses of any size to have a robust social media crisis management plan in place for those times when things do go wrong.

Check out this useful infographic on social media crisis management by www.onlinecolleges.net.

Here is another useful social media crisis management graphic that will help you determine whether your company or organisation needs a social media crisis plan.

Graphic by Melissa Agnes
 

Social Media Crisis Management

Do you have a social media crisis management plan? Have you ever encountered a situation where you needed to implement your crisis plan?

It would be great to get your thoughts in the comments below.