When tragic events or crises occur, people quickly turn to social media for news, information, help, and camaraderie. Emotions are heightened, the public narrative pivots to reactions to the event and what may have been relevant a mere moment ago, now becomes unnecessary noise. During these times, brands have a responsibility to take a close look at their, often-scheduled, social media content and take action. Knowing when to institute a social media pause, or issue an official reaction is nuanced and there are no official guidelines from platform to platform or event to event.
Planit PR understands the many factors and implications involved in making the critical decision to suspend brand social media activity. When it comes to deciding to take a social media pause, first, take a BREATH and weigh these factors:
Brand connection:
- Is your brand or organization connected (either directly or indirectly) to the crisis or event?
- Were your products or your industry involved?
- Is your brand identity or logo appearing in photographs or videos that have gone viral?
If the answer to any of these is yes, pausing your social content is the right move. An excellent example of this was Southwest’s recent decision to pause regularly scheduled social media content even though the company was not directly affected by the CrowdStike outage. The airline managed to escape mass flight cancellations, but they knew their industry, team members and customers were still feeling the stress at the airports.
Reach:
- Is the crisis of an international, national, regional, or local scale?
Never underestimate the reach of a tragedy as they evoke different emotions in everyone. If the event has hit the collective heart of the nation, the city of your brand’s headquarters, or a large footprint area of yours, pausing is probably the right call. Here in Baltimore, many companies got this right after the Key Bridge collapse. Business-as-usual posts were replaced by messages of support and unity for our community. Many people took comfort and pride in those posts and Baltimore area businesses championed recovery.
Executive response:
- Are your executives or spokespeople going to speak about the crisis?
If they are planning to come out with an official statement on behalf of the organization, pausing your social media content is a good idea until the official statement is issued. During these times, it’s critical for internal communications, the people team, and the social media team to be in lock step as to what the company is, or is not saying, will play out across channels.
In situations where executives are passionate about responding to an event, but it isn’t exactly aligned correctly with the brand, we recommend either an internal message addressing the team (after all, you should always address your people first) or the use of a personal LinkedIn page vs. the company’s. While anything coming from the board or C-Suite is reflective of the brand, personal LinkedIn posts from the executive’s account tend to be safer. If this is the route your executives choose to take, social media community managers should be prepared for it to make its way cross channel or brand page.
Audience:
- How is your audience reacting or connecting with the situation?
It’s critically important for brands to know their customers and who engages with them on social media. Social listening tools can help you gauge your audience sentiment ahead of any pauses or statements. Use Meta Business Suite to look at their age, location, profession, and respond accordingly. Does your brand connect to first responders, healthcare professionals, teachers, members of the military, or frontline workers? If so, you should put yourself in their shoes to determine whether a post is appropriate, or if it’s better to reschedule. You never want to appear tone deaf online, but you especially don’t want to alienate your brand loyalists.
Temperature check:
- How is everybody feeling?
- Are they still in a breaking news cycle covering moment by moment?
- Have they returned to lifestyle content and regular programming?
Emotions run hot during breaking news events and public reactions can be heavy and unfiltered. Most brands don’t want their social post comments becoming home to debate or discourse, especially when it’s unrelated to the post itself.
It can be wise to pause and post when the temperature has calmed and the broader picture is clear. It can be hard to know when the timing is right, but we like to monitor how the major mainstream networks are covering the event and use that as our thermometer. If so, it’s ok to return to scheduled content with the caveat that you aren’t posting any language or images that could inadvertently connect back to the event or appear insensitive (ex. Bullseye! BOOM!, Earth Shattering, etc.) We also like to recommend posting in stories first after a crisis, especially if your brand is more risk averse. Stories can also be a good home for official statements if you don’t want it living in your feed or grid indefinitely.
Help:
- Ask yourself, does posting immediately following the event help your audience?
- Is your POV needed in people’s feeds right now?
If the answer is no, you absolutely shouldn’t post in the first hours after a crisis. When in doubt, that post can wait and if/when you do post, it should state clearly how your brand or company is offering support or contributing to the solution. For example, making a monetary or product donation to a cause supporting the situation, a link to a brand website with information on how the company is responding, or another call to action.
Taking a BREATH is a solid strategy for social media leadership during a crisis, but it also applies to evaluating a pause of paid ads and boosted posts (remember, you can’t edit a post after it has been boosted, you have to delete it and repost).
After a crisis occurs and you pause, don’t forget to look back on recent posts/content and do an audit of any language or imagery that may now seem tarse or inappropriate. You really don’t need an organic, paid ad or boosted post marketing to “life as usual” when someone’s social feed is anything but.
And, always have a crisis communications plan in place so your company is aligned on responsibilities, processes, responses and clearly outline how to pause social media posts using your preferred social media platform tool. You never know when, or how quickly, you might need to pause your content and everyone on your comms team should know how to do it.
Take a BREATH, hit pause and protect your brand.
Planit offers crisis communications and social media support and plans. Need help making sure your brand is prepared? We’re here to help!