Minimize Your Risk: 6 Elements for Your Business Social Response Plan

In the last week, two brands approached us to help them navigate negative comments and unchecked trolling online. They wanted to take a proactive approach to managing engagement on social media, but weren’t sure how.

What resources should be dedicated to this endeavor – both people and tools? What constitutes a comment that should be escalated and what doesn’t? Who should be responsible for monitoring this and what does that role look like?

If you don’t have a documented social response plan, you should! I stress documented, because too often social media responses are managed on a case-by-case basis and by a variety of people. A documented plan aligns your organization, stakeholders and leadership. It helps you onboard new employees to the team so they understand how social media is managed across the organization, and helps you more efficiently and effectively handle situations that inevitably come up.

To help you get started, below are six sections your plan should include:

1.     Overview – This explains what is it you’re doing and why the company does it; why does social media exist for your company? How is it handled and what is the forthcoming document for?

2.     The Team – Who are the point people for social media monitoring and customer service? What is their current role?

3.     Sites Monitored – What sites do you monitor and actively engage in across social media, review sites, etc.

4.     Goals/Objectives – What is the goal of your social media response plan? This should align with organizational goals and your objectives should be SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and have a timeframe).

5.     Response Strategy – This should be one of your meatier sections. This section should contain guidelines for when your team should and shouldn’t respond via social media and sample responses for situations that exist for your organization.

6.     Escalation Framework – This section should include a framework for when issues should be escalated and to whom the issues should be brought; it should identify a tier level for threats, what types of situations fall under each level and what the response plan is.

Remember, your plan should reflect the values and voice of your brand. It should be tailored to your unique objectives and situations. Once written, it’s important to train your team on the plan regularly so they know and understand it.

Companies with a documented social media response plan keep everyone on the same page and minimize the risk to their organization.

Ready to document your social response plan? 84 Communications can help.

Email info@84comms.com to get started.