Social Media Posting By: Tammy Collins

10 Tips for Social Media Posting During a Crisis

July 30, 2020

By Tammy Collins

Tammy Collins, a branding, marketing, and social media expert who has worked with universities, hypnotists, coaches, creatives, and entrepreneurs from every industry imaginable, shares tips on handling social media during a crisis.

1-Stop all auto-scheduled posts. These posts could prove to be insensitive during a crisis.

2-Avoid making posts from a state of panic. It’s damaging to your brand and makes your clients uneasy.

3-Join the conversation but stay industry-relevant. If you’re a lawyer, your posts should focus on laws around the crisis. To ensure relevancy, don’t post things unrelated to your brand. 

4- Avoid overposting. During a crisis, there’s a plethora of readily available content. It’s easy to fall victim to “share anything and everything about the crisis” mentality. Stick to your normal content posting schedule. 

5- Use social listening skills to see what your competitors are doing and how they’re handling the crisis. Be mindful of what others are doing during this time. This will help you to rise above the noise and stay relevant.

6- You’ll need to understand the crisis sentiment. A crisis can be many different things and can be industry-specific. Be very mindful of the overall sentiment and use appropriate sensitivity.

7- Don’t ignore what’s happening. Join the conversation in a smart, industry-specific, and brand-centered way. Don’t pretend it’s not happening.

8-Engage gently. Never argue. Acknowledge and validate someone’s feelings or opinions. You do not have to agree with them.

9-Never ever discuss politics-EVER! Avoid emotionally charged subject matter. Remember to leave emotion and opinion out of the discussion.

10-Above all else-think about your clients. What do they need from you? Always put their desires and wants first. Leading with compassion will always be a wise move for any business.

One final tip, you should have a Social Media Manual that outlines policies and guidelines for your brand. The manual will determine how you handle a crisis before it happens. A manual tells your company how to handle the brand in a crisis. It will define a crisis and give instructions on how to be proactive when possible. Additionally, it will give direction on how the brand looks, acts, sounds, and behaves in the digital space. The manual ensures brand consistency and that everyone in the company is on the same page.

Top reasons to have a company Social Media Manual-

1. Structure and consistency for branding
2. Sets positive expectations among employees and corporate
3. Sets the company expectations of employee interactions in social media -they represent the company too
4. Allows for swift action in a crisis
5. Sets the protocols for handling reputation or PR issues
6. Can prevent a PR issues from exploding
7. Can help to prevent security breaches
8. Define and assign key roles for the brand
9. Helps to bring employee awareness to reach and implications of social actions
10.  Opportunity to teach company wide brand nuances through role play and test scenarios. Read Client Worty Website.

Having a well-developed brand strategy, is always the best approach. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs overlook this step when building their business. It is the foundation that can make or break your success. A brand strategy outlines how you will communicate your mission and message. It’s the Who, What, Where, When, and How of your brand. Done right, it will include a Social Media Manual. It helps you communicate consistently- this is how a brand stays authentic. It will also drive your marketing and social media strategies building a solid honeycomb infrastructure so your marketing hive can thrive.

To learn more about Tammy follow her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammy-lynn-collins/

To book a FREE strategy session, visit TammyLCollins.com.

https://calendly.com/tammylcollins/30min