How to make sure your Facebook page doesn’t become a PR trojan horse

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Facebook Crisis Management

In 7 steps

#1. Be there

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Monitor keywords

Monitor channels

Be ready to act

Keep your eyes on screen at all times

BE THERE

AND GAIN CONTROL OF SITATION

#2. Carefully but quickly gain control of the situation

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Because it is important to realize that “response” isn’t enough, in order to be

effective, you have to be more than simply reactive.

You have to regain control of the situation.

You have to regain the initiative.

If you don’t, you will find yourself in a defensive position for days, and nothing will

get resolved.

#3. Introduce yourself, put a face, name and role to your official

presence

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Don’t just reply from behind a faceless corporate identity and avatar. Be a

human being and talk like a human being. Feel like a human being. Engage on

a personal level with commenter.

#4. Make a point to welcome the comments. Invite them. Keep it up.

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Be cordial, be kind, be professional, and assume

your role as the custodian of facts.

If someone claims something about your company

or products that is inaccurate, politely respond to

their comment with a link to factual information that

will help them reconsider their position

Without getting defensive or getting drawn into an

argument, the facts need to be stated.

#5. Create an area for Discussions on the Facebook page.

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This will give discussion topics their own

tab on the page, and a place for

people to go to start and participate

in discussions that isn’t necessarily the

wall:

- Move lots of the traffic and activity

off the wall, which isn’t a bad thing -

for obvious reasons

- Keep all of the conversations

focused. Instead of a mess of anger

and random grievances, you can

create a discussion thread for each

specific grievance.

#6. Recruit your detractors’ help in fixing the issues they are angry

about, ask your audience for advice and suggestions

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Redirect their energy, shift them from

anger to deliberate empowerment.

They’re angry at your company? There

are specific things they want you to

stop doing?

Take the discussion a step further and

ask them to give you better

alternatives to what you’re doing now.

Make them think about practical

solutions together.

#7. Follow-through

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What starts on Facebook or twitter or

wherever doesn’t stop when you get to the other side of the activity bell curve. Once the crisis is averted, you have to take advantage of that little bit of trust

and collaboration you’ve helped your detractors (and your bosses) glimpse.

#Our Tips

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Notes on tone, self control, and gaining control of an unstable crowd

1) DO NOT GET DEFENSIVE: Don’t get drawn into an argument, don’t argue. Listen! Acknowledge! Treat every commenter with respect! Be professional! A lot of angry commenters just want a fight. Don’t give them one. Offer them your ear, a platform, and hopefully a solution.

2) DON’T BE A PUSH-OVER EITHER: Don’t let the angry numbers fool you. You’re the community manager. You can and must assert your authority when people get out of line. Do it calmly, do it politely, but let commenter know when they are out of line.

#Summary

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Be there -> Monitor -> Introduce yourself -> Acknowledge -> Engage -> Take charge -> Redirect -> Manage -> Follow through.

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