7 Best crisis management tools: A guide for marketers

No brand is immune to a crisis, but the right preparation can make all the difference. Whether it’s a product recall, a data breach or a social media scandal, a crisis can damage an organization’s reputation, break customer trust and even lead to financial losses. Even with a crisis management strategy in place, a dedicated tool will empower businesses to navigate these incidents effectively. From social media monitoring to streamlined communication, these tools are essential for protecting your brand’s reputation.

This guide will dive deeper into what crisis management tools are, their benefits and the best available options to monitor and protect your brand from a social media crisis.

What are crisis management tools or software?

Crisis management tools are digital solutions designed to help businesses anticipate, manage and recover from the impact of crises. These tools include capabilities such as social listening, internal and external communication coordination and planning and preparedness.

With 76% of consumers valuing how quickly a brand responds to their needs, it’s important for brands to be ready if and when crises arise. Businesses can identify potential threats before they escalate, respond swiftly and protect their brand reputation.

Benefits of using crisis management tools

Crisis management tools empower businesses to respond swiftly and effectively. These tools offer many benefits that can help organizations deal with even the most difficult situations. They can monitor and alert you in real time, make communication easier and work across teams more efficiently.

When you’re ready, download our crisis management plan template to prepare your team should a social media crisis arise.

Faster and more efficient crisis response

During a crisis, every second counts. These tools use advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence to analyze data in real time, identifying potential threats and providing early warnings.

Improved communication and collaboration

Effective communication and collaboration are essential for managing a crisis successfully. These tools facilitate seamless collaboration between different teams and departments within an organization. They provide a centralized platform where team members can access real-time updates, discuss strategies and ensure that all stakeholders are aligned and working towards a common goal.

Enhanced situational awareness and decision-making

By using real-time data in a crisis management tool, businesses can gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation and make informed decisions about the appropriate response. Features like Spike Alerts notify businesses of sudden changes in conversation volume or sentiment, ensuring prompt response.

Reduced risk of reputational damage

In today’s interconnected world, a crisis can spread like wildfire. Crisis management tools help businesses proactively address and manage crises, protecting their brand image.

Increased crisis preparedness and resilience

Regular use of these tools helps businesses develop a crisis-ready culture, ensuring they’re prepared for any eventuality. By continuously refining their crisis management strategies, businesses can build resilience and become better equipped for crises.

Top 6 crisis management software

1. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a comprehensive social media management platform with robust crisis management capabilities, including social listening, real-time monitoring and engagement tools. With its suite of tools, Sprout equips businesses to proactively address and mitigate potential crises.

Sprout’s advanced social listening abilities allow you to monitor conversations and sentiment about your brand in real-time. This enables you to identify and respond to emerging issues before they escalate. Sprout’s Smart Inbox centralizes all incoming messages, comments and mentions, making it easy to track and respond to conversations across multiple social channels.

The platform’s Spike Alerts feature immediately notifies you of sudden increases in message volume or mentions, giving you a head start in addressing potential crises. In the event of a full-blown crisis, the Pause All feature allows you to halt all scheduled content with a single click, preventing any further missteps. With Sprout Social, you can confidently navigate any crisis, protect your brand’s reputation and emerge stronger than ever.

2. Brandwatch

Brandwatch is a social listening and analytics platform that gives users real-time insights into online conversations and brand sentiment. This lets social media professionals watch their brand reputation closely and track issues that may be developing, which can help identify potential crises early on.

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Brandwatch’s analytics and reporting features provide valuable insights for understanding and managing a brand’s online presence during a crisis. This ensures social professionals use a data-driven and effective response.

3. Talkwalker

Talkwalker is a social intelligence platform that offers a suite of tools that can help in social media crisis management. It tracks brand mentions, relevant keywords and hashtags across various social media platforms, news sites, blogs and forums. Its social listening features let you watch conversations and brand sentiment in real time. This helps social media professionals respond quickly to developing crises, which can help avoid reputational impact.

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4. Mention

Mention is a social media monitoring tool that provides real-time alerts, enabling businesses to quickly detect potential crises as they appear. By tracking brand mentions and relevant keywords across various social media platforms and websites, Mention offers comprehensive coverage of online conversations. With Mention’s timely alerts and insights, businesses can proactively address problems, manage their brand reputation and mitigate potential damage during a crisis.

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5. Meltwater

Meltwater‘s media monitoring and social listening platform can be an asset for social media crisis management. By providing real-time alerts and sudden spikes in brand mentions or negative sentiment, Meltwater enables businesses to closely monitor emerging issues. This type of early identification empowers social media professionals to take swift action.

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6. Resolver

While Resolver is primarily known for risk management and incident response, its features can be applied to social media crisis management as well. By streamlining incident logging and categorizing, task management and communication, Resolver can help teams coordinate their response to a crisis that originated on social media. Users can also track the severity of the crisis and its impact on your brand.

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It’s important to note that Resolver has some social listening and monitoring capabilities, but they might not be as comprehensive as a dedicated social media management tool that offers social listening.

Prepare your team for the unexpected

In today’s digital landscape, crisis management tools are no longer optional—they’re essential. By investing in the right tools and creating a proactive crisis plan, businesses can protect their reputation and keep customers’ trust. Don’t wait for a crisis to happen—empower your business with the tools it needs to succeed. Download our brand crisis worksheet to prepare your team when a crisis happens.