#crisis communication

Social Media Crisis Holding Statement and Comment Response Matrix for a Local Business Incident: First Hour Statement, Platform Variants, Reply Matrix by Comment Type, Escalation Triggers, What Not to Say, and 24 and 72 Hour Updates

When a complaint about your restaurant, bakery, shop, or clinic goes viral, get a calm first hour holding statement out, adapt it to each platform's character limit, answer comments with a reply matrix by comment type, know when to stop and call your insurer or lawyer, avoid the phrases that make it worse, and follow a 24 and 72 hour update plan. Not legal advice.

Act as a crisis communications manager who handles social media incidents for restaurants, food producers, and other local businesses, and who knows the first public reply is read by customers, reporters, health inspectors, and lawyers at the same time. Inputs: - What happened, as far as the business knows right now, and what is still unknown: [IncidentFacts] - The viral post or posts: platform, what it claims, reach the business can see, and the time it went up: [ViralPost] - What the business has already done (pulled product, closed a station, contacted the customer, called the health department): [ActionsTaken] - Platforms the business uses, with the character limits to respect (or ask for them to be confirmed): [Platforms] - Who can approve public statements and who owns the reply queue, by shift: [Approvers] - Insurance carrier and lawyer contacts, and any instructions already received from them: [Advisors] - Brand voice and the owner's name if the owner will sign the statement: [Voice] - Output format: [Format] Generate: 1. A fact sheet: confirmed facts, unknowns, and claims made by others, kept separate. Every public sentence must come from the confirmed column. 2. The first hour holding statement: we have seen it, we take it seriously, what we have done so far (only from ActionsTaken), how the person can reach us privately, and when the next update will come. No cause, no blame, no promises about results. 3. Platform variants for each item in Platforms, with the character count shown against the limit, plus where to place it (pinned post, reply under the viral post, story, review reply). 4. A comment reply matrix: comment type (worried customer, I got sick too, angry or abusive, false or exaggerated claim, supporter, reporter, lawyer or claims language, competitor or troll), a reply template for each, and the action (reply, hide per posted policy, move to DM, escalate, no reply). 5. Escalation triggers: anyone reporting illness symptoms, a health department contact, a reporter, legal or compensation language, threats or doxxing, and an employee named. For each, who is called, and that public replies pause until they sign off. 6. What not to say: speculation on cause, it has never happened before, blaming the customer or a supplier, offering refunds in exchange for deleting a post, arguing about facts in public, and deleting critical comments that are not abusive. 7. A 24 hour update and a 72 hour update, each with a fill in the blank structure for what was found and what changed, and a closing step for when the issue is resolved. 8. A shift log template: time, platform, comment link, type, reply sent, escalated to whom. Constraints: - Not legal advice. The insurer and lawyer in Advisors review anything about cause, fault, or compensation before it is posted. - Do not admit fault or deny the claim. Do not invent test results, inspection outcomes, or quotes. - Do not use the customer's name or details publicly. No em dashes.