How to Use Social Media to Tame Fallout from a Crisis | Aker Ink

You already know social media is central to your business’ marketing strategy. It can be used to connect with customers on a more personal level, amplify your brand messaging and educate and convert your followers. But are you leveraging social media as a transitional, post-crisis tool? Whether your business is…

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How to Use Social Media to Tame Fallout from a Crisis

You already know social media is central to your business’ marketing strategy. It can be used to connect with customers on a more personal level, amplify your brand messaging and educate and convert your followers. But are you leveraging social media as a transitional, post-crisis tool?

Whether your business is facing an external crisis like a pandemic or a natural disaster, or an internal crisis like a data breach or employee misconduct, your social media channels are an invaluable aspect of your response plan that should not be ignored or underutilized.

Monitor Your Company’s Online Reputation

While social media is commonly used to spread your message to others, it can be crucial for listening, too. Social monitoring tools and strategies allow you to see what others are saying, address their comments in real time and prevent a crisis from growing further. You may even discover new perspectives and opportunities.

Some popular social monitoring services include Hootsuite, Keyhole or Sprout Social. These tools allow businesses to monitor hashtags, mentions and even tone or share of voice in the marketplace. You can gather feedback and sentiment that’s critical for overcoming barriers and responding to customer needs in the right ways. Effective social monitoring can take the guesswork out of pinpointing your customers’ mindsets.

Leverage Your Social Media Channels for Crisis Response

Social media is essential to honing the public’s perception of your business – that’s why it’s such an important asset when managing a crisis. There are several ways your social media channels can play an integral role in your crisis communications strategy.

A Caveat: When to Scale Down Social Posting During a Crisis

As with anything, company outreach should be done with careful thought and strategy. In some situations, such as a serious health crisis or sudden economic downturn, the last thing you want to do is unintentionally offend or alienate your audience. To avoid this, conduct an audit of your currently scheduled content and remove anything that might be misconstrued or isn’t relevant to the current climate. People will be looking for need-to-know information during this time – other topics can come off as tone deaf or insensitive.

If your company is directly affected by a crisis, or you can offer genuine value to people coping with associated consequences, social media can be an excellent place to share information and listen for feedback.

A skilled social media team can help you leverage your social channels to their greatest potential during a crisis.

By Aker Ink | 2025-11-17T15:41:39-07:00 April 7th, 2020 | PR | Comments Off on How to Use Social Media to Tame Fallout from a Crisis