Social Media Crisis Management Market Trends

Growth Drivers  

• Rise of cancel culture and social media activism: The social media boom has led to the rise of the cancel culture phenomenon. Social media activism can also negatively impact businesses if their practices are not aligned with the interests of a group with a strong social media presence. It is crucial to navigate with care if a brand face cancel culture attacks or its reputation may be harmed affecting sales. Individuals are also not immune to cancel culture and seek professional social media crisis management solutions to create an action plan to navigate the backlash. For instance, in 2022, Red Bull faced massive backlash for a social media post that was labeled as insensitive to the LGBTQ community. As social media reach and usage increase, brands will look into social media crisis management services to mitigate solutions to online campaigns targeting them.
• Advancements in predictive analytics and monitoring: Rapid improvements are made in artificial intelligence (AI) tools and machine learning (ML) technology to increase the efficacy of predictive analysis and real-time monitoring. Social media crisis management firms are now leveraging AI tools to analyze vast amounts of data to identify potential crisis triggers before they occur. Real-time monitoring tools can allow businesses to take immediate action if a social media post faces undue backlash, decreasing the time between the crisis and action. Additionally, businesses are increasingly demanding professional solutions to create action plans to navigate during events such as Pride Month and Black History Month. For instance, in April 2024, Emplifi launched 10 new social media customer care tools.
• Heightened risks of viral spread of misinformation: Social media as a tool enables greater reach for brands. The average usage of social media has been increasing with time and due to the heightened reach, any gaffe or mishap also can go viral in minutes. The rapid and real-time nature of social media platforms can make it challenging for brands to control the narratives during a crisis increasing calls for crisis management services to monitor and respond quickly. As per a Forbes report in July 2024, brands that fail to react effectively to negative stories going viral can lose trust and sales in the aftermath. Additionally, it can also be beneficial if brands do not immediately respond but assess the progress of narratives, and to do that, social media crisis management services can prepare effective action plans to mitigate any further risks.

Challenges

• Managing cross-platform crisis: Social media crisis can span multiple platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, LinkedIn, etc. Each platform has diverse audiences with different engagement trends and user behavior. Maintaining a unique brand tone across different platforms while devising an effective social media crisis management strategy can be challenging. For instance, constraints in character limits and content formats can dilute the uniformity of action across various platforms. For instance, in 2021, the investing app Robinhood was at the center of a social media controversy after freezing trades for GameStop. The backlash started in Reddit and soon spread like wildfire to other social media platforms requiring effective strategies to mitigate the negative press.
• Rising AI and deepfake threats: The rise of artificial intelligence has made it easier to create deepfakes that can be used to harm a brand’s reputation. The lack of efficient fact-checking on social media platforms can lead to deepfakes going viral significantly denting the reputation of a brand. Social media crisis management services are constantly navigating the rising challenges.