How you communicate bad news to your donors is key to your crisis strategy. Say for instance, a board member has been arrested and inevitably this news will reach your donors. Here are a few steps to follow when crafting social media posts that may help your team diffuse the potential negative impact of this individual’s actions.

Step #1: Remain Composed. Your Crisis Communications Plan exists for situations just like this. Take a moment to review the outlined workflows within that communication plan. This will help identify who should be involved and the approvals required for a social media post to be published. If you lack an organizational Crisis Communication Plan, click here for helpful tips.

Step #2: Don’t Delay. The more time you take to respond to the news, the greater the chance other organizations or individuals will shape the narrative.

Step #3: Be Honest. Acknowledging bad news is crucial; don’t attempt to deny facts or glaze over the truth. Bad news is bad news. Craft your social media post in accordance with compliance and privacy obligations while keeping in mind that being truthful is the most effective way to engage your audience. This allows you to maintain the audience’s trust so your Board can share the second part of your message—actions it’s taking in response to the news.

Step #4: Monitor Conversations. Roll up your sleeves and have a team monitor and reply to comments about the news in a timely manner. Move conversations off public platforms to private DMs or calls. Yes, your organization is posting publicly about your news, but conversations resulting in this communication should be moved to private spaces as soon as possible. This allows you to address concerns, respond to criticisms and answer questions in more detail than you may feel comfortable doing in a public forum. It also prevents a negative snowball effect.

Step #5: Allow for Space. Pause all “business as usual” type social media posting until your Board feels the crisis communication messaging has been heard by the relevant parties. Your brand should avoid appearing as if it’s simply trying to sell or downplay important news with tone-deaf posts. Take a moment to suspend scheduled content and review it for appropriateness.

Social media posts can play a crucial role in the communications strategy of any nonprofit organization during the time of a crisis scenario. These types of outreach platforms allow for a rapid response which can be instrumental in effective deescalation of a negative press situation. If your Board hasn’t crafted a Crisis Communication Plan that includes a social media workflow for various “bad news” scenarios, let this serve as a nudge to schedule a time to work on this critical communications toolkit item.