No one wants to be in the middle of the social media emergency, but they’re becoming more common as major brands are seeing their accounts compromised and taken over by hackers. It’s only a matter a of time till something like that might happen to your church.
Your church probably has plans for severe weather or a medical emergency, but what about a social media emergency? How do you prepare for a social media emergency?
If you haven’t take the time to prepare for a social media emergency, now is the time to do it. It won’t take you that long to complete, but those few hours you spend preparing can save you a lot of headaches.
What I have listed below is by no means a comprehensive list of what you need to do when creating a social media emergency plan. However, this list should point you in the right direction.
Define What an Emergency Is for You
What is a social media emergency? Some things may seem like an emergency (like an accidental tweet, or Facebook status) when in the grand scope of things a quick apology will do the trick. Determine for your church what really constitutes an emergency.
Research Possible Emergency Scenarios and Find Success Stories
Research and document various types of scenarios that could come your way. More importantly though, find organizations that have faced those emergencies and handled them well. See if you can identify common elements that you’ll want to include in your emergency plan.
Create a Set of Contacts and Instructions for Reclaiming Accounts
In your plan, list out the social media accounts you use. Then list out instructions on how to reclaim each of the accounts. Why would you want to do this? Well, in a emergency you don’t want to have to google instructions or email tech support to figure out how stop an emergency. Make it easy and quick to find the answers you need.
List Out Alternative Communication Methods
If one of your social media channels is hijacked, you need another way to communicate to your congregation that you’re aware of the situation and you’re working on a solution. For example, if something happens to your Facebook, use your Twitter or email channels. List out your alternative communication channels that you’ll use in an emergency situation
Determine Who Your First Contacts Are
In an emergency who do you contact first? Is it your minister? Your communications director? Find out who needs to know what in a social media emergency and how much they need to know.
Write Some Predetermined Responses
Have responses ready for a social media emergency. It the heat of the moment you want to make sure you have some clear communication available to distribute. It’s much easier to think clearly about an emergency when you’re not in the middle of one.
Social media emergencies aren’t fun and can be paralyzing if you aren’t ready. Prepare yourself and your church for the worst and if it does happen you’ll have a better chance of succeeding.
Questions: Have you prepared for social media emergency? If so, what did you do? Click here to share below.