Essay Example on the Importance of Social Media to an Organization's Crisis

In modern times, social media has evolved to become a tool necessary for not only keeping family and friends connected but also facilitated frequent communication in the commercial organization particularly between the enterprise and its clients. Social media has also been a valuable tool, especially in crisis management practices (Jin, Liu, & Austin, 2011). As a communication tool, social media has been essential in reporting of crisis to the relevant authorities. For proper communication of such incidences, it is important to follow right legal paths in structuring best crisis management structures. Additionally, social media is an important tool in creating internal protocols to ensure that users send right messages at the right time. Social media is an important element in crisis communication. In congruence with an organization's crisis management plan, social media provide different outlets through which users can communicate in case of an emergency. In a business set up, organizations can use social media to share information with its customers updating them during and after the disaster. Therefore, organizations and other emergency response units can use social media to alert the residents of a crisis happening within their locality (Jin, Liu, & Austin, 2011). These platforms can also be used by an organization to alert clients on emanating crisis particularly those that can compromise the company's brand name. Similarly, through setting up right communication protocols, social media can be used to curtail the spread of catastrophic information.

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Use Social Media in My Organization

In the modern world, social media is a roadmap to the organization's success. My organization's rapid growth owes to all sort of influence impacted by these platforms. As a commercial entity, my organization uses social media as a marketing tool. Through these platforms, the organization is conveniently able to advertise all the products on sale. Via social media, the organization facilitates the clients with an opportunity to place their orders from their homes or workplace. As an organization, we are mindful of our clients. Therefore, the organization can alert our customers of any crisis happening within their vicinity. Thus, the organization can inform our customers of any developing or anticipated disasters. Lastly, social media helps this organization to mobilize support in case of a crisis. By reaching out to our clients, we can support emergency response units by mobilizing moral and financial support from our esteemed clients.

Pitfalls of Social Media

If done right, social media is one of the best ways through which an organization can create awareness and strengthen the connection with a certain audience. The following are some of the pitfalls that an organization should avoid. To begin with, the lack of a strategy is one of the most common social media pitfalls (Everbridge, 2013). Therefore, a strategic social media plan is an important element to perfect an organizations plan. Failure to respond to social media claims and resolve problems presented in these platforms (Malthouse, Haenlein, Skiera, Wege, & Zhang, 2013). For example, Smuckers, an American online store, gave for charity as well as supported the production of genetically modified feeds which precisely is their common ingredient and this prompted their customers to ask the company to declare its position over the matter. Instead of responding to this post, the company deleted the post from its Facebook page. In turn, the customer was heavily criticized by its clients. Therefore, to avoid such issues organization should respond to its comment.

References

Everbridge. (2013, January 24). Everbridge study shows importance of social media strategy. Retrieved from https://www.everbridge.com/everbridge-study-finds-58-of-organizations-lack-social-media-strategy-during-crises/#sthash.PSNisNtj.dpuf

Department of Homeland Security Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2012-2016 (2012), Retrieved from: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/dhs-strategic-plan-fy-2012-2016.pdf

Jin, Y., Liu, B. F., & Austin, L. L. (2011). Examining the role of social media in effective crisis management. Communication Research, 41(1), 74-94. doi:10.1177/0093650211423918

Malthouse, E. C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E., & Zhang, M. (2013). Managing customer relationships in the social media era: Introducing the social CRM house. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 270-280. doi:10.1016/j.intmar.2013.09.008