The final countdown to the November election is on with the political temperature on the rise. That can mean trouble ahead for just about any organization. Call it “Cleanup in the Social Media Aisle!”
Consider this scenario: an employee, on a personal social media account, posts an extremely inflammatory political statement that goes viral. While the post does not reference your organization, it’s clear from the employee’s profile that they work for you. Your social accounts blow up with people demanding the employee be fired. Others support the employee and their “right to free speech.” Local media have picked up on the controversy and interviewed the employee. Now they want your side of the story.
What do you do? The answer SHOULD be simple: review your social media policy, pull out your crisis comms plan and use them to guide your actions and comms response.
Chances are your organization has a social media policy. Various studies show 60-70% of U.S. companies do. However, when I bring up scenarios like this one in client workshops, I learn there’s often little training on it. What’s more, many policies have not been updated to account for today’s divisive political environment.
While personal employee posts can create big messes, so can content created by employees on behalf of the organization that are posted to official accounts.
As with any crisis, if it is not managed quickly and properly, it’s going to spin out of control.
- A social media policy acts as a safeguard, helping to ensure that the company’s public statements and engagements are thoughtful and aligned with its values. This can prevent potentially damaging missteps and protect the company’s reputation from being compromised by unplanned or poorly executed communications.
- A social media policy creates clear guidelines for employees, providing a framework that helps them understand how to represent themselves and the company appropriately online. It also spells out the consequences of violations.
- An UPDATED crisis communications plan enables companies to respond swiftly and appropriately to social media threats, which helps to control the narrative in a way that aligns with their values and goals.
Make sure your social media policy includes personal communications and reeducate employees on it. At the same time, review your crisis comms plan. Does it include social media issues? Have there been personnel changes since it was last updated? Are roles and responsibilities clear? Are the resources needed to manage a social media issue in place?
If the answer to any of these is NO, your organization is one post away from what could be a very time consuming and costly social media mess.
Message me to schedule a call to discuss improving your preparedness.
Also, know I am available to help with the clean-up when a crisis strikes.
Make it a winning week, team!
This Tuesday Tip-Off was written with AI help from ChatGPT.