Social Media: Crisis Source or Reputation Solution? 

During Tech Week NY, marketing and communication professionals gathered to explore the vital role of social media for crisis preparedness and response. Hosted by Clarity and Tech Week NY, the “Social Media: Crisis Source or Reputation Solution?” event, moderated by Kristen Ingraham (Clarity), brought in expert panelists Hope King (Axios / Macro Talk), Ben Cathers (Hootsuite), and Tamara Littleton (Polpeo) to unpack how social media is essential for anticipating and dealing with crises. 

Here’s a recap of the key insights highlighting why social needs to be at the heart of any strong integrated solution to a crisis in the modern age:

Social Media Preparedness Before Media

Many brands still default to a media-first approach in crisis situations, but as journalist Hope King (Axios / Macro Talk) rightly pointed out: “By the time your crisis makes it to the news it’s too late”. Media will go to social media before they go directly to the brand for commentary, so it's imperative brands are ready to communicate on social media first.

Ultimately, it's the world’s largest focus group and an essential, immediate touchpoint for monitoring sentiment. Ben Cathers (Hootsuite) recommends that brands start with putting a social listening strategy in place, ensuring they have a lay of the land before a crisis appears, where they can test strategies to get a sense of what messaging their audience is receptive to or not. On top of that, monitoring how competitors or like-minded organizations respond to a crisis can help brands learn what may resonate with their community.

Not Every Incident Needs to be Raised to Crisis Status 

Tamara Littleton (Polpeo) made the point that brands must understand the importance of learning what to ignore and what to address. Not every incident is a crisis for every organization. Learning to identify the true red flags - and differentiating between issues and crises - enables brands to calibrate their responses and avoid unnecessary escalation. What’s considered “normal” for one brand may be extreme for another, so brands must determine what they consider a red flag for their organization.

Organization Values Should Guide Social Media Response

In a fast-moving, unpredictable crisis, it’s tempting to overcomplicate messaging. Instead, the panel advised letting brand values be the compass - and that starts in the preparation stage. Company values will ultimately show you how to show up on social media.

Misinformation is a very real issue brands will face, particularly on social media. Brands must be ready to squash it and move on, otherwise it could be picked up and get out of control quickly. As Tamara Littleton (Polpeo) eloquently put it: “Misinformation can be squashed with clear statements, truth and empathy”. 

Social Media is a Receipt to take to Leadership

Social platforms are the “receipt” that lasts forever. This transparency should motivate leadership to uphold promises made and act with integrity, especially under pressure. “Bring those social media receipts to your leadership and say ‘do you remember this?’” said Hope King. Whether leadership has changed hands or not, brands cannot forget what was once promised to their community and marketers should use it as a tool for accountability directly from the top.

And Last but not Least… Practice, Practice, Practice

They say the best way to prepare for a potential crisis is through practice and we couldn’t agree more. While we’re not saying the crisis communications playbook is dead, sometimes you don’t have time to turn to page 13 of Section 2 Part 3… It’s why we partnered with Polpeo to host a crisis simulation workshop after our panel, where our guests were able to experience the high pressure of a real crisis in a controlled setting. The exercise demanded quick thinking, creativity, and teamwork and participants left with a deeper appreciation of the need for preparedness, agile thinking, and collaboration during digital crises.

We’d like to say thanks to our brilliant panelists, our engaged attendees, and our partners at Polpeo for making this event possible. At Clarity, we are committed to helping organizations not just weather crises, but emerge with a stronger reputation and deeper public trust.

Stay tuned for more insights and upcoming events as we continue to explore the vital role of social media in crisis communications and get in touch with the team if you’d like to discuss how Clarity can support your crisis preparedness strategy.