Their role is to escalate to the right teams.
Social teams are often the first to detect emerging issues or potential crises. But their role is not to necessarily respond or resolve every situation.
Instead, the job is to capture early signals, assess severity and route it to the right teams.
According to Samantha Cocove, senior specialist of enterprise social media at Cencora, while speaking at Ragan’s Social Media Conference, effective escalation starts with documentation. Her team logs posts with links, screenshots, timestamps and keywords, anything that could help other teams, like PR or HR, quickly understand what’s happening.
“No one should have to hunt for context,” she said.
Stay in your lane
Clear roles help the escalation process move quickly.
Social teams are responsible for identifying and tracking risk, then presenting it up the ladder. HR handles employee issues while PR handles messaging, said Glennon Daysardonia, director of social media at Cencora.
“(Social media managers are) probably going to see the conversation (before anyone from PR). You’re going to see the posts first,” Daysardonia said. “That does not make your job legal, HR, or PR. Your job is social media.”
Give partners what they need
Escalation only works if other teams then act on what they receive.
That’s why social teams package information in a way that’s immediately usable. Screenshots prevent access issues. Engagement metrics can show how fast something is spreading and timelines help teams understand whether a situation is growing or contained.
“If the conversation is already happening externally…your PR team wants to know,” Daysardonia said. “They want to have the time to either write their media statement or to have the background.”
Early visibility gives PR, legal and leadership teams time to prepare that response, before a reporter calls or the issue escalates further.
“We’re not responsible for these risks as a social team, but we are responsible for identifying them and sharing them back,” she said.
Visit here to watch the full presentation and learn more about Ragan Training.
Courtney Blackann is a communications reporter. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at courtneyb@ragan.com.
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