Social media moves faster than any crisis plan. This course builds the judgment and practical skills to manage your organisation’s online communication when reputation is under immediate threat. You will learn to monitor developing situations, decide when and where to engage, craft appropriate responses across platforms and maintain control of the narrative when events are moving rapidly.
Digital dynamics in crisis communication, platform-specific crisis response and engagement, online crisis strategy, monitoring and resource planning, and hands-on crisis simulation across channels.
Every session runs in a small, boardroom-format group — typically six to eight senior professionals. Your trainer tailors content to the specific industries, organisations and challenges each participant brings, so you work on real situations, not generic examples. The learning combines evidence-based best practice briefings with structured discussions, practical workshops and peer learning. This is training with a coaching and consulting flavour — focused on building skills and producing outputs you can apply in your work immediately.
- Navigate the dynamics of real-time online communication during breaking news
- Apply international best practice in online crisis communication to your organisation
- Prepare crisis communication strategies and resources across key digital platforms
- Respond and engage rapidly online when a reputational crisis develops
- Monitor and track emerging issues across social media channels
- Make sound decisions about when, where and how to engage online under pressure
- Design policies and systems enabling rapid decision-making in a digital crisis
- Identify and engage online influencers and stakeholders during crisis situations
- Digital dynamics in crisis communication: how social media spread and propagate reputation-critical information
- Identifying platforms and approaches for online intervention and engagement
- Integrating online channels in crisis response
- X (formerly Twitter) in a crisis
- Using Facebook and Instagram in a crisis
- Using YouTube and multimedia in a crisis
- Using search engines in a crisis: crisis search communications
- Online issues tracking and monitoring
- Creating strategies, policies and systems enabling rapid decision-making and engagement
- Preparing online crisis resources: platforms and content ready to go live at a moment’s notice
- People and skills
- Online press office management in a crisis
- Online crisis stakeholder engagement
- Messaging and positioning for online crisis communication
- Identifying and engaging online influencers
This course is for professionals responsible for managing their organisation’s social media presence during a crisis — including social media managers, digital communications leads and members of crisis response teams with a digital remit. It is designed for people who need to make fast, sound decisions about when and how to engage online when reputation is under threat.
The following are some of the ISOC trainers who regularly lead this course, depending whether you join us in London, Dubai or live online.
Yes. We deliver this course for teams of any size, tailored to your organisation’s context and objectives. Contact us to discuss your requirements.
Handling the Media in a Crisis focuses on managing the full communication response — media strategy, messaging and spokesperson coordination. This course focuses specifically on the digital dimension — monitoring, engaging and controlling the narrative across social media platforms during a crisis.
Yes. The principles of online crisis communication are platform-agnostic, and your trainer will cover whichever platforms are most relevant to your industry and situation, including any that have emerged or changed since the outline was written.
Nothing specific is required. If you have a current project, challenge or organisational context relevant to the course, bring it along — the practical exercises can incorporate real-world scenarios.