Social media risk #3 - Going viral – for the wrong reasons

In this blog post we take a look at 1 of 6 social media risk areas for the public sector and how to handle them. 

RISK #3

Going viral – for the wrong reasons

Know it can happen to anyone, at any time

Having a great team, running a great social media account, and working at a great organisation can make us complacent. But in an age of instantaneous communication, anything can happen – and will get amplified at the speed of light.

Be prepared for when it does

Familiarize yourself with PR crisis management measures, and educate your team. Have an escalation and response plan in place for the eventuality that your organisation gets in the harsh spotlight.

The 5 things to do in a PR crisis

• • Own up to and acknowledge the problem, fast
  • Have a clear protocol for who will take the lead
  • Provide a holding response until you have full information
  • Communicate often, both externally and internally
  • Stop all scheduled posts to avoid further missteps
    

Asess

• • Do you know who will do what during a social media crisis?
  • Can you recognize and respond to a crisis quickly?
  • Do you know what your ”holding response” looks like?
  • Do you have a way to prevent improper communication?
    
    

How can RelationDesk help? 

• Detect an unusual volume of traffic
• Pause all scheduled posts with one click
• Evaluate effectiveness of response with Measure

Did you know… RelationDesk lets you measure the proportion of positive and negative comments over time with our smart tag system.