What's your strategy for managing social media risks?

Document a benchmark for what your current state is, even if it's not great. As you identify gaps, you can begin to strengthen the structural integrity of your social media presence so that it'll stay sturdy during challenging situations.

No one is immune to the occasional crisis, but preparation is key. Develop a crisis communication plan tailored to social media platforms. Swift, transparent, and empathetic responses during challenging times can not only mitigate damage but also enhance trust. Remember, a well-handled crisis can even become an opportunity to showcase your brand's resilience.

My holistic approach to social media risk management is to: Identify and assess risks by understanding the potential threats and vulnerabilities that could impact my organisation's social media presence. Mitigate risks by implementing controls and procedures to reduce the likelihood and/or impact of a risk event. Monitor and respond to risks by continuously monitoring my social media channels for potential risks and taking appropriate action to mitigate them.

Providing resources to your social media team for a listening tool is key: not only will you want to monitor when people comment on your own posts or tag you, but you'll want to pick up on any discussions happening where your handles aren't mentioned but your brand is certainly a topic of conversation.

Be vigilant in addressing complaints or negative feedback on social media promptly and professionally. A quick and thoughtful response can often help prevent the situation from escalating

Having a response protocol document gets you ahead of the game when responding to comments. Following your audit, take a look at FAQ's and use that insight to brainstorm other potential comments and questions. Create responses (in the brand voice) in an organized document that is ready to go when needed. Of course, new scenarios will always occur, but having a strong template will give you an advantage.

It's important to be intentional with your verbiage. For instance, instead of "we're sorry that happened to you," use "we're sorry that was your experience." Here's why: you only have so much control over the root issue. If you're escalating the feedback internally, it's best to avoid an admission of guilt publicly, especially before all the facts are known.

Absolutely, feedback is a two-way street. Responding promptly not only showcases your brand's attentiveness but also opens the door to meaningful conversations. Remember, acknowledging positive feedback reinforces customer loyalty, while addressing negative feedback with empathy can turn a dissatisfied customer into a brand advocate.

The best way to prepare for and mitigate social media risk to start at the top. Build awareness of social media risk - and value - at the board level to increase your chances of: a) an integrated strategy that avoids silos and pockets of risk; b) having the internal capability required to avoid unwanted and public 'stuff ups'; c) awareness and use of social media data to improve decision making and response times; d) having experienced voices in the room when crucial decisions need to be made around messaging and crisis response (to avoid enflaming things). Without a doubt, every crisis is made worse when there is a disconnect between the board and social media operations. Avoid that risk - start building board awareness and trust today.

This isn't a question of if; it's a matter of when a crisis will occur. Work with whoever manages your website to have a ready-to-go landing page that can be updated as the situation evolves. With feeds and comments gaining speed and traffic, you'll want to refer people to a single source of truth where the full details are being updated in real time.

Make your social media risk strategy part of your crisis communications plan. Evaluate and categorize potential risks, and create an escalation tree to notify impacted executives and managers, and a step by step plan for how to mitigate the risk if an issue arises. Work with the communications team to create on-brand holding statements. Ensure you include how and when you will notifying customers in your plan, and hold an internal debrief to document insights and iteration on your plan if needed.

The key to managing the social strategy is to be proactive versus reactive. Having the right tools and processes in place will help keep the team focused and ultimately lead to a more effective and timely resolution.

Crisis Response Plan: Prepare a crisis response plan in advance to address any potential social media crises. The plan should include clear protocols for handling emergencies, negative publicity, or viral incidents. Quick and effective responses during critical situations can help mitigate risks and protect the brand's reputation.