TRAGEDY, PITCHFORKS AND TWITTER

Managing Campus Crises on Social Media#pseweb@amygracewells

SOCIAL CRISES

Racial Tensions

Viral Events

Winter Weather

Cataclysmic Weather!

Confederate Flag!!

Roommate with Windex

Exploitation

Campus Shooting!!!

Campus Blackout

The photo

Body Found (Suicide)

I got this!

Holy @$!* run away!

WARNINGThe proceeding will be filled with horrible trolls, rude students, a good dose of humor, a bit of

mild profanity and, of course, gifs.

SOCIAL CRISISAny on-campus, off-campus or online event

that affects an online community and a managed brand account.

It often requires a direct response from the managed account.

+ +

When viral happensIs that real or Photoshopped?

Viral eventChallenged racial relations on campus

Viral eventChallenged racial relations on campus

19,755Messages generated to our Facebook and Twitter

Up your listening

game

Be better than the NSA

• Pick a tool. We use SproutSocial.

• Find where the conversation is happening.

• Decide what is most important.

• Get to know your campus and community issues.

Where to grow• Flowcharts/Clear protocols of chain of

communication.

• Better communication with key offices on who manages social media.

• More staff in SproutSocial to spread load.

• More staff/time to regularly monitor anonymous platforms.

Define your issues

The spectrum of hell

Being better than the NSA requires time and effort

Hashtags, keywords, geolocations, key accounts, media, anonymous accounts

AnnoyanceLots of chatter, not much to be done

Parking, wifi, weather

IssueMay require an action, loops in others, safety often not an issue

Student actions, severe weather, controversial issues

CrisisImmediate response required, leadership involved,

safety of campus at jeopardy Shootings, issues resulting in threats to students/staff, catastrophic weather

Campus shooting

Feb. 5, 1:28

Feb. 5, 1:55

Feb. 5, 2:17

Feb. 6, 12:18

No time for spellcheck

Where to grow

• More defined spectrum of issues.

• Clear protocols and expectations tied to spectrum for each audience/channel.

• Menu of response from a content strategy view point.

• Social team. Three layers deep.

Manage the mob

…said no sensitive person ever.

Confederate FlagTaking a stand on challenging national issues

18,295Messages generated to our Facebook and Twitter

When you lead the call…

Direct and deflect• Humans need to communicate and express

emotions.

• The mob will find a space so control the space.

• Essentially invite them to get it out so you can move on.

• Also gives advocates a chance to self-police for you.

Militarized zone

• Hide/delete for two reasons: personally identifying information/threats or profanity.

• In general, don’t intervene with rants unless inaccurate information.

• Use and TRUST your judgement.

Where to grow

• Know when you can be strong and respond.

• Respond to community response quicker.

• Find better ways to update during event for better understanding.

Be socialPlug in and reach out to campus peers

Are you kidding me?

• We’re busy. We forget things in times of crisis. Communicate after initial response.

• Arm community managers with talking points and support.

• Remind them to check for scheduled tweets.

• Let them know the game plan for central accounts.

Where to grow

• Better/quicker ways to get info out.

• Better training for social managers.

• Stronger crisis response team.

Be humanAnd understand that humans are emotional, irrational beings

When things are scary

• People flip the freak out!

• They are grasping for comfort and familiarity.

• They want someone to speak to them and understand.

• They don’t need all the information. They just want to know what they can expect.

Understanding in crisis

• Use ‘we’ and ‘our’ language when possible. It’s more personal and calming.

• Tell them when they can expect an update.

• If you don’t have any updates (aka nothing has changed), tell them that. They appreciate it and it calms them down.

Natural DisasterSometimes shitstorms happen

28 tweets in three days

14 of those updates to

weather page

11 updates on Facebook in

two days

And people suck

Get a therapist

No, really. I’m serious.

Social Support

• People are mean. Mean things are sticky. Sticky things drive you crazy. Crazy people can’t sleep.

• Your people/person at home can’t take it all.

• Have co-workers, students, ‘professionals’ to commiserate with.

• Let it out and self soothe.

Keep the good

And laugh when you can

@amygracewells

amygrace@gracefulcontent.com

Thanks.

Questions?