Even with all the proper precautions and arrangements, social media can be hard to predict or control, and you might find yourself on the unpleasant side of a social crisis.  It is almost unavoidable to slip up at some point, and the more engagement you have, the more likely it is that someone will notice a gaffe or become offended in the first place.

As one of the first and foremost social networks, nobody knows how to handle blunders or has had quite as much experience with them as Facebook.  So, why not learn from their mistakes?  Facebook itself would like to help, and offers some advice on the subject in a descriptive document.

The first thing Facebook advises is to figure out what the problem is.  This may seem obvious, but the specific details are less important than the criticism itself and where it’s coming from.  For example, are you being confronted by a few influential figures, or a significant portion of your actual consumers?  Once you’ve got a handle on that, it’s critical to determine exactly how credible the criticism is.

Then, depending on the severity of the mistake (if it was in fact a mistake on your end), start showing the consumers that you care about what they have to say, and that you are taking their comments and criticism into consideration by carefully addressing them and maintaining a consistent, conversational tone.

In moving forward, think about setting up a dedicated crisis response team, in order to handle complaints in a timely and efficient manner.  Don’t forget to address a lot of the comments in a private way, i.e., through personal messages and email.  If you lose control of a conversation in a public forum, the backlash will be exponentially worse.  A good step in this direction is to create a dedicated Facebook page for the issue if it is the focus for a small but outspoken faction.

If any consumers have your back during an issue and express their support, make sure to thank them and ask permission to publicly share their comments, which can be done in order to gently counter some criticism.

Lastly, if there is genuine validity to the problem, make sure to address it and implement changes where necessary!