{"id":2450,"date":"2012-01-16T13:12:13","date_gmt":"2012-01-16T11:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/?p=2450"},"modified":"2012-01-16T13:12:13","modified_gmt":"2012-01-16T11:12:13","slug":"how-to-use-social-media-for-crisis-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/how-to-use-social-media-for-crisis-management\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Social Media for Crisis Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"crisis-socialmedia\"Crisis (from the Greek word “krisis” – judgment) is an unstable period<\/strong> that has a starting and ending point followed by conditions of high stress that usually occur along with multiple events and possible risks for the organization`s sustainability<\/strong> or reputation<\/strong>. From communication point of view, a crisis can be described by 3 phases: the pre-crisis<\/strong>, the post crisis<\/strong> and the crisis event<\/strong> itself. In this article, we will explain why social media can serve as useful tools during crisis and we\u2019ll attempt to propose a set of “good practices” of social media usage during that period.<\/p>\n

Crisis and Communication Issues<\/h2>\n

Conventionally, the main problem of most crisis events is the strange behavior of the people involved and the confusion of all internal and external communications. The reason is obvious, people are stressed<\/strong>, journalists are struggling to find and publish information and exclusive news and the management is also receiving tons of messages. All the above can easily be described with one word: chaos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Social Media is a Changing Environment<\/h2>\n

Before the introduction of social networks, organizations had the ability to manage the crisis events by having key connections in the media world (journalists). Nevertheless after the introduction of social media things have changed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\"crisis-chart\"\n<\/div>\n

Social Media are channels with billions of connected users, who exchange trillions of messages, in a real time<\/strong> communication arena, where a worldwide community interacts in a daily and hourly basis. Communication and socializing were always part of our daily life. Nevertheless nowadays people can contact directly<\/strong> organizations and brands, something that was not possible or easy in the past. If you combine the above with the fact that most social media messages are exchanged in public<\/strong>, you can understand how social media can help or harm brands and organizations in crisis.<\/p>\n

Social Media in Crisis<\/h2>\n

During a crisis, the social media can amplify<\/strong> the communication mainly against the brand or organization. Negative messages coming from unreliable sources can go instantly viral within social networks, generating a harmful publicity and reputation damage. Thus as we described in a previous article about online reputation management<\/a>, it is important to heavily monitor<\/strong> what users say on social networks and respond<\/strong>. In that previous article we also provided 10 steps that organizations should take at the pre-crisis phase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Using Social Media during Crisis Event and Post Crisis<\/h2>\n

Once a reputation management strategy is prepared, it is highly recommended to monitor conversations around your brand, aiming to immediately identify<\/strong> the pre crisis signals<\/strong>. When a crisis event is taking place online the first steps must include:<\/p>\n