Crisis Communication: Using Social Media to Shape Outcomes

Introduction

Crisis comms, not our favourite topic but definitely important and worth talking about for any comms professional. Communications itself isn’t always straightforward, so to then add the pressures of time, trust, or even livelihood, crisis comms is certainly something you want to get right the first time.

Widespread use of social media brings many benefits – the average user can stay connected whenever they feel like, catch up with what’s going on in each other’s lives as it happens, and enjoy a silly video here and there too. For you, especially when running public services, you need to be able to get in touch with your local communities and citizens and let them know what’s going on and when. The million dollar question: how can you take advantage of social media in the wake of a crisis?

Strategy. Strategy. Strategy.

All that stands between you and getting your message out to the general public is the click of a button, simple right? Not always.

First things first, you need a solid comms strategy for general use, that includes a clear outline for action and thorough message planning to cover crises and emergencies. Having a strategy in place helps you to understand your organisational objectives and align your comms team, reducing time spent deciding what to do and when and ultimately improving your overall efficiency.

Done right, Social media can be a powerful tool to help you engage with your communities (especially when you consider there’s over 57 million active users, spending 108 minutes of their time on social media daily!!). Now, let’s look specifically at using social media in a crisis, and how you can harness the power of your organisation’s social channels when it matters most.

Educate and build trust

If you are consistent and transparent in your messaging, you’re going to improve your overall brand reputation and build trust with your audience. With PwC reporting 32% of people in England see loss of trust as the biggest threat to our democracy, building trust should certainly be high on your priority list! What you post and the tone of it is entirely your choice, but be genuine and direct in your communication style. The more open you are, the more likely your communities are to follow directives and instructions in the wake of a crisis.

Looking back to 2020 when the world was locked inside – as if that wasn’t enough to deal with – Reading Borough Council was put to the test when there was a terrorist attack in the area. The Council needed to get in touch with their community, advising them to stay home and avoid the area, quickly and efficiently to keep their citizens safe. Thanks to using a social media management platform (ahem, Orlo, ahem), they could centralise incoming messages which made life much easier for the social media team, and also enabled the customer service team to get trained up and support them.

You might be very lucky in that it’s not often you enact your crisis comms plan, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want your community to trust your regular comms! Avon and Somerset Police, during Glastonbury Festival 2023, had the primary aim of using their X (Twitter) account to keep festival goers informed of relevant events and updates. Fortunately, they had no crises to communicate, but by focusing on increasing trust and confidence, the force received 9.7K likes across X (Twitter) and Instagram in one week. Glasto attendees felt safe and engaged meaning they were more likely to react if the Force needed to raise an urgent appeal.

Take (back) control of the narrative

With all good things, there are (of course) the downsides… As we all know, rumours can spread fast. Social media is brilliant for its real-time nature and immediacy, but this can quickly turn into, well, something a bit less brilliant.

A good example of this would be the disappearance of Nicola Bulley in 2022. As there were so many question marks around what had happened, when the news hit the headlines there were a lot of social media users who were lured in by misinformation which spread quickly online. Having an active presence on social media means you can join in with conversations as they happen and correct any misinformation you spot – much like Lancashire Constabulary had to do. You need to ensure that, if anything happens, your community looks to you first as the source of verified information, and doesn’t come to their own, often incorrect conclusions.

Take a break

A crisis doesn’t always entail a risk to human life or a criminal incident. When the Queen passed in September 2022 and Operation London Bridge was enacted, public sector organisations had to observe an official period of mourning. This included pausing all regular and planned comms immediately as a sign of respect to the Queen. Being able to do this quickly and efficiently (the two key buzzwords of this blog 😉) was critical, as teams had to act at very short notice. Social media management tools assist in doing this – taking Orlo as the example – with our Company Lockdown feature which allows admins to instantly pause all scheduled comms until they’re ready to resume.

It’s not always clear how long it will take to resolve a crisis, so knowing you can easily go on a social media hiatus when you need to, without losing all your beautifully and meticulously planned content, is a bit of a relief if you ask us!

What next?

A crisis can take many different forms, so you need to always be ready to go – but still adaptable of course! Social media should always help and not hinder so immerse yourself in finding the best ways to make social channels work for you. Want to know more? Check out our 13 tricks for effective crisis management.

Want to know more about how features such as Company Lockdown, Approvals and Social Listening can help your organisation? Book a demo with one of our experts to see the power of Orlo in action.