What to do when you get it wrong on social media

Whether the blowback is fair or not, you need to have a plan in place to deal with the inevitable.

During Ragan’s Social Media Conference in March, Melissa Vela-Williamson, author and founder of MVW Communications, shared tips for how to recover in her presentation, “Safe and Sound – Social Media Ethics in a Changing World,” delivered along with Alicia Calzada, deputy general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association.

You can watch the full presentation here, but let’s take a closer look at some of Vela-Williamson’s advice for recovering from your social media mistakes with your reputation intact.

The reminder that this is a matter of if, not when, is vital. You may not be able to plan exactly what your response will be (who knows what issue will make you the main character on Twitter?), but you can plan who will respond and what layers of approval they’ll need. You can identify potential legal risks ahead of time, and who you’ll most need to speak to with your response.