Your company is facing conflicting narratives on social media. How do you navigate through the crisis?

Diagnosis of the situation is the first step to analyse the problem and strategize the plan - combat, control and reinstate the image. Quicker the diagnosis would be, the faster would be the begining of crisis control process.

Establishing a robust management team with clear responsibilities is essential to tackling the crisis. As you can imagine, you’ll definitely need a crisis team leader to coordinate the responses, oversee the decision-making process, and get the strategy approved by senior leadership.

Investigate the messages' context, author, intention, content, and form. Differentiate between misinformation (unintentional falsehoods), disinformation (intentional falsehoods), and complementary or opposing opinions. Understanding these nuances helps determine if the information aims to harm your reputation or is simply a different perspective. For instance, if you identify that a narrative is based on misinformation, a factual correction might suffice. This thorough analysis ensures that your response is precise, timely, and effective, addressing the narratives' root causes and potential impacts.

Engage directly on social media, but do so strategically. Interact politely and informatively with users spreading misinformation to show your company's attentiveness and responsiveness. Acknowledge those who support your narrative to reinforce positive engagement. Avoid wasting resources on “haters” who are unlikely to change their stance. Focus on maintaining a conversation that showcases transparency and credibility.

Time changes, and so the hard time too. In any crisis situation, there is an opportunity to tweak it in favor. So, keeping a close eye is very important.

Turn the crisis into an opportunity to educate the public about your company’s values. Beyond correcting misinformation, create content that adds value and context. Share insights into your operations or highlight initiatives that reflect your commitment to fundamental principles. Additionally, provide your audience with tools to develop a critical perspective, helping them discern future misinformation. For example, share tips on verifying sources or recognising biased content.

Organisations need to do more than analyse early warning signals. They also need to ensure they are organised to maximise their chances of responding effectively. All too often, this is left until it is too late. As communication professionals, we should (with the help of others) identify the most likely scenarios that could impact the business. We should then bring these to the attention of leaders with an outline of the action and resources needed to ensure the organisation is prepared and can emerge stronger from the situation.