Navigating Social Media in a Crisis
When Our Job Became Listening: Running a Social Media Agency Through A Crisis
Running a social media agency usually means planning ahead; mapping content calendars, launching campaigns, optimizing performance. But in Minneapolis, crisis has taught us that sometimes the most important work isn’t creating content at all.
It’s listening.
Living and working here, we’ve experienced moments that reshaped our city and our industry, from the murder of George Floyd to the recent ICE killings that once again sent shockwaves through our communities. Each time, the same question surfaced for our clients:
“What do we do right now?”
And more importantly:
“How do we show up in a way that’s real, respectful, and aligned with who we are?”
Becoming the Eyes and Ears
In moments of crisis, our role shifted almost overnight. We weren’t just managing feeds, we became our clients’ eyes and ears. In some cases, we became their PR agency.
That meant closely tracking:
What was happening locally
How people were responding online, emotionally and socially
When silence was appropriate, and when it wasn’t
Our clients weren’t asking us what to say right away. They were asking us to help them understand the moment so they could decide how they wanted to show up. A lot of our clients don’t have a PR agency, so we stepped into that role. Writing content, statements, and more importantly, pivoting from every single planned post we had.
Every Client Needed Something Different
One of the hardest parts of these moments is that there’s no universal playbook.
Some clients wanted to:
Pause all content completely to clear up the feed for important news information
Donate quietly without public announcements
Share resources for employees or customers directly affected
Acknowledge what was happening and be vocal
Our job wasn’t to push one approach; it was to guide each client through their own decision-making process while making suggestions to make sure we are staying true to the brand and community, and not being tone-deaf.
The Pivot: From Scheduled Content to Real-Time Support
Within hours, we scrapped normal content plans. Promotions, product launches, lighthearted posts, content shoots — all of it paused. Not only to make room for what we were going to pivot to, but also because our Knack team is primarily people of color, and we had to think of the safety of our own employees, too.
In its place, we built entirely new strategies focused on:
Tone and timing
Internal alignment (leadership, HR, legal, and marketing)
Community impact
Clear paths for action, especially around donations and support
Posts that would create action
We helped clients decide:
If they should speak and what to say
What they were actually prepared to stand behind
Where to direct resources or funds
How to avoid performative messaging
We handled all the comments and DMs from the thousands of people commenting on these heavily viewed and honest posts
In many cases, the most responsible move was restraint, clarity over speed, intention over optics.
Helping Clients Turn Concern Into Action
For clients who wanted to act, we helped translate values into tangible steps:
Vetting local organizations and mutual aid efforts
Framing donation announcements thoughtfully, or choosing not to announce them at all
Crafting language that acknowledged pain without centering the brand
Ensuring follow-through beyond a single post
Social media became less about visibility and more about responsibility.
What These Moments Taught Us
Working through crisis alongside our clients reinforced a few truths we now carry into everything we do:
Listening is the strategy.
Before posting comes understanding. NEVER do something in a moment of reaction or because everyone else is doing it. PAUSE and breathe. Think about what you can do that will be best for the business and community.
Not every brand needs to speak, but every brand needs awareness.
Silence can be thoughtful. So can action. What matters is alignment. You don’t always have to say sonething, especially if it’s for the saftey of your staff.
Speed matters less than sincerity.
Audiences can tell when something is rushed, borrowed, or insincere.
Social media isn’t just marketing.
In moments like these, it’s a public reflection of a company’s values. It is a time to show what your company is made of.
Moving Forward
These experiences changed how we support our clients and what we believe our role truly is. The main takeaway would be: pause and think. Do not just react. As a company, we worked overtime to come up with statements, create images, put together fundraisers. It is important to do what you can, not what everyone else is doing.
When crisis hits, we don’t lead with content.
We lead with listening.
We watch. We absorb. We advise.
And when our clients are ready, we help them show up in a way that feels honest, intentional, and grounded in care.
Because sometimes the most impactful thing a brand can do is not say more — but understand more.