Social media is a necessity for any business when faced with a crisis. It’s important to continue to reach your audience, clients, and consumers by way of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram with an emergency communication plan.
The ability of social media platforms reach to a wide array of demographics can’t be denied. Ten years ago, social media appealed to a premillennial generation, but today it’s used by people of all generations and ages, as social media channels have transformed into a viable communications mechanism out pacing more traditional media platforms for keeping people informed.
Social media statistics from 2019 show that there are 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, this equates to roughly 45% of the current population, and this number is only growing.
National and local governments, large and small businesses, schools, community and civic associations, and religious organizations all fall in line with the national social media trends. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed:
68% of all women use social media, compared with 62 percent of all men.
35% of all those 65 years old and older report using social media.
56% of citizens living in the lowest income households now use social media.
58% of rural residents, 68 percent of suburban residents, and 64 percent of urban residents all use social media.
Delivering messaging through social media, increases the landscape of your messages. It’s a faster and easier way to communicate. As an organization, you want to make sure that you’re prepared, your messages are filled with an abundance of information, distributed in a timely manner and featuring the most recent updates, services available, resources and networking information. This could make the difference between your organizations survival or succumbing during a crisis.
Social Media OUTREACH STRATEGIES
- Ensure you have your messages crafted and, in the can, ahead of a crisis
- Schedule social media post insert the content you want to schedule, and then choose the date you want your content to post.
- Setup a social media listening to identify potential issues. By monitoring social media post and setting up keyword searches and Google Alerts, you can spot an emerging concerns. Make sure you have someone in your organization who is monitoring this for your organization and responding accordingly.
Create an internal response flowchart. Determining the level of the response and who within the organization will respond should be considered prior to implementing your crisis plan. - Create a landing page or microsite on your website, or designate a single social media channel to post information about the crisis in one place. This allows you to respond to questions with a link instead of an answer.
- Create a Crisis FAQ page that includes:
- Acknowledgment of the crisis
- Detail specific actions taken by your business/organization in response to the crisis
- Real or potential effects
- Who was alerted when and how?
- Contact information for real people at the company
- Publish to all active social media accounts a post that links to your FAQ
- Use relevant hashtags to disseminate info
- Let your clients/members know you are in it for the long haul by posting safety tips or a checklists applicable during the crisis.