A plan written during a crisis is written badly. A social media crisis response plan exists so that the first hour is spent responding rather than deciding who is allowed to respond.
Define severity in advance
Most bad days are not crises. Separating levels prevents both over-reaction to ordinary criticism and under-reaction to something genuinely serious. Three levels is usually enough: routine complaint, elevated concern, and genuine crisis.
Write examples for each level. Abstract definitions get argued about at exactly the moment nobody has time, whereas a concrete example makes the classification obvious in seconds.
What the plan contains
- Severity levels with concrete examples.
- Named decision maker per level, plus a deputy.
- Who may publish, and who must approve first.
- Pre-agreed holding statement wording.
- Whether scheduled content is paused, and who pauses it.
- Contact details for the people needed out of hours.
- A log kept from the first hour.
- A review after it ends.
Pausing scheduled content is the step most often forgotten. Cheerful promotional posts publishing automatically during a serious incident do more damage than silence would.
Say something true and early
A holding statement acknowledging that you are aware and looking into it buys time without committing to facts you do not yet have. Silence is read as indifference, and speculation is worse than either.
Never deny something you have not verified. Corrections are far more damaging than an initial statement that was appropriately cautious, and the correction becomes the story. Keep a log from the beginning, since the sequence of what was known when matters afterwards. Day-to-day handling sits in the community management workflow guide and the moderation checklist.
Common questions
Who should be in the plan?
A small named group with deputies. Large committees cannot decide quickly enough to matter.
Should the plan be rehearsed?
A short walk-through once a year is enough to find the gaps, usually in out-of-hours contact details.
When should scheduled posts be paused?
At the first sign of elevated concern. Restarting is easy; an insensitive automated post is not undone.
Should every criticism trigger the plan?
No. Most criticism is routine and handled by ordinary moderation.
What happens afterwards?
A short review: what happened, what was done, what changes. Skipping it wastes the only useful part. See contact.
Should the plan cover employee posts?
Include guidance on whether staff should respond personally. Well-meant individual replies during an incident frequently create a second problem.
Who talks to press?
Name that person in the plan. Social channels should redirect rather than answer, since the two audiences need different handling.
How long should the plan be?
Two pages. Anything longer will not be read during an incident, which is the only time it matters.