How can you spot a social media crisis?

This mainly applies to older channels where mentions can be populated but to monitor this on Tiktok you need to search for your brand name like you would on Google. We do this twice a day to monitor / discover videos that may be targeting the brand negatively and it has proven to be better as Tiktok’s business manager does a poor job at this and only tracks mention tags in videos.

Spotting a social media crisis early is crucial for managing and mitigating potential damage to your brand's reputation. Sudden Spike in Negative Mentions: A noticeable increase in negative comments, mentions, or messages about your brand, product, or service can indicate the start of a crisis. Monitor your social media channels closely for this Viral Negative Content: If negative content or complaints related to your brand start to go viral or gain significant attention, it's a red flag. Virality can amplify the impact of a crisis. Trending Hashtags: Negative or critical hashtags related to your brand or a specific issue can indicate a crisis. Keep an eye on trending topics within your industry

Additionally look for trending hashtags or activity.. be on the look out for negative hashtags or activity targeting your brand. Another one to watch is negative media coverage. Monitor news outlets, industry publications, influencers and blogs for any negative coverage or articles related to your company. Content covered by the media can quickly escalate into a social media crisis.

I agree one of the easiest ways to spot a social media crisis is to monitor the X mentions, comments, and DMs. These platforms provide a direct line of communication between users and brands, making it easier to identify any negative or concerning feedback. Additionally, monitoring the engagement and sentiment of these interactions can help determine the severity and potential impact of the crisis.

One of the most underrated aspects is monitoring mentions of your brand alongside products & services. Reallocate your focus time on these elements, and you'll be able to anticipate and bounce back faster in the case of an ad-hoc emergency. Following spikes and behavior patterns will help eliminate lookalike situations and remove challenging conversations and counter campaigns. Be aware—be an active listener.

It’s so important to analyze your brand’s sentiment on a regular cadence. With how massive the social media landscape is, all it takes is one viral video to drastically shift the sentiment of your brand or product. Pro-tip: Social listening tools still can’t pick up all brand activity across TikTok and Instagram - it’s important to use a combination of tools and monitoring tactics to get the full picture.

Build a community of customers that offer honest feedback directly to you so that you can constantly work towards refining your product before it turns into a social media crisis.

Pay attention to the sentiment of mentions and comments about your brand. An increase in negative sentiment or a sudden shift from positive to negative can signal a potential crisis. Use sentiment analysis tools to automate this process.

Today, paying attention to sentiments on social media is very important. You will have to rely on 3rd party tools that will help you track mentions, keywords and hashtags around your brand to analyze the sentiments of your brand. Pay attention to negative sentiments and treat it as very useful feedback to improve your brand. For positive sentiments, make that as an opportunity for social proof and user generated content

Follow influencers in the same domain as your brand. Are you a make-up or skin-care product? Follow make-up and skin-care influencers, regardless of their reach. Even aspiring content creators might share a non-sponsored post featuring your product that you need to keep a close check on.

Influencers and brand advocates often have their fingers on the pulse of your industry and audience. Listen to what they are saying and watch for any negative comments or concerns they may share. They can be early warning signs.

Influencers influences opinions and buying behaviours of people. They also amplify messages on platforms. If an influencer has negative experience about your product or brand and publish it on social media, there are high chances that messages will reach many people. Therefore, it's important to keep tabs of influential people on the platform.

Monitoring competitors is crucial in the realm of digital marketing and social media. It provides invaluable insights into market dynamics and helps in gauging performance. Tools like SimilarWeb and SEMrush are excellent if you are ready to dive deeper into competitor strategies. You will gain a competitive edge by tracking competitor campaigns and innovations in a product and services segment. You should be ahead of the competition. Don't wait to react—Be Proactive! If rivals start gaining ground or exploiting your vulnerabilities, it's a red flag. Swift action is imperative to avert a potential crisis and stay ahead in the game.

By staying vigilant and using tools like SimilarWeb, SEMrush, or Social Blade to assess their performance and strategies, you can identify potential threats early on and take necessary actions to safeguard your brand's reputation and customer base. In the fast-paced world of social media, staying one step ahead of your competitors can make all the difference in averting a crisis.

Keep an eye on your competitors' social media channels. If they are facing a similar issue or crisis, it could be an industry-wide problem that you need to prepare for.

Monitoring your competitors helps you know what competitors are doing. It helps you understand what trends are happening in the industry and the efforts made by your competitor. A tool like SEMrush or Sprout Social are have good competitor analysis features.

Pay specific attention the the verbiage that your direct competitors are using. If you are experiencing backlash but they aren't, 9/10 times it's because of the way something was (or wasn't) communicated. Also- always assume your competitors are capable of making the same pivots you are. Don't count them out because they haven't done it yet. If they see you doing it successfully, they will catch on.

Absolutely learn from your historical success and mistakes, not all platforms and practices work for all companies and goals.

Review past social media crises your brand has experienced. Understand how they unfolded, the responses that worked, and those that didn't. This historical knowledge can help you identify potential issues before they escalate.

I agree with this, always learn from the past. What social media crisis have you encountered? How did you manage? Where did you fail? What measures did you put? Also, learning from past experiences of your competitors or related industries is important to help you curb possible social media crisis

Data hold a unique growth, and in this case, crisis anticipation compass. The best practice is to document all previous activities and initiatives that had challenging scenarios. This method will enrich situational awareness when a company (or a specific team/department) faces a similar issue. Learn from your mistakes—like in your personal development journey.

You should always have an ever-living internal document or wiki for writing your company’s social media learnings down. This not only reduces the risk of silo’ing your social media knowledge with one Social Media Manager, but can also help executives and other departments better understand — without constantly repeating it verbally.

The signs crisis on social media are a bit like tremors leading up to an earthquake. You'll spot a post here and a post there showing signs of a discontent among your community or people complaining about a certain problem--and then, BAM. It hits with a share from the right person, a media outlet or an influencer, leading to a spike in negative comments. The good news is, that unlike an earthquake, if you deal with the problems early on, rather than just wishing they would go away, you a can prevent a larger crisis.

The first step is to define with your senior leadership what necessitates crisis comms and what doesn’t. If a post had views in the thousands then it’s likely a CM moment for your internal team. However if it’s a post in the million views on Tiktok it can create a SERIOUS issue for the entire brand very quickly. The key is to get ahead of these moments BEFORE they escalate to that point.

- A sudden increase in negative comments, reviews, or mentions about your brand is often a red flag. - If a negative post or comment gains significant traction and starts going viral, it can escalate into a crisis. - When your audience is expressing anger, confusion, or concern about an issue related to your brand, it's a sign of a potential crisis.

The first step is always to DEFINE what a crisis is for your business, as it can be industry-specific. Not every negative comment or feedback is a crisis. You need to have clear criteria for what constitutes a crisis for your brand, and what level of response is required. Be proactive but don’t try to capitalize on an external crisis. Trying to use a tragedy or a disaster as a marketing opportunity is a sure way to spark outrage and criticism. There are many examples of big brand blunders that resorted to using a tragedy or a disaster as a marketing opportunity. Here are some of them: ??Gap: During Hurricane Sandy in 2012. ??Kenneth Cole: In 2011, during the Egyptian revolution. ??2010, A Lush campaign called “Rethink the Shark”.

Deciding on your threshold for what means it’s a true social media crisis for your business is critical. Mentions are important but it’s also about: - Likes - Shares - The power of the voices (following) You need to assess the risk carefully before deciding on action. One high profile person making a complaint tongue in cheek on Tik Tok isn’t a social media crisis, that’s handled by your customer care team. But if it’s a petition with a boycott being threatened… time to alert the business and think about proactive comms. I think most people are too quick to react instead of take stock of the scale of the issue and the risk.