By now, we have seen it so many times: a company faces a crisis that was created entirely through social media. There are certainly many activist campaigns launched through Facebook, Twitter and blogs that bring negative attention to companies. But what really makes the most headlines is when companies bring a fiasco upon themselves.

We’ve discussed this previously, calling it “self-inflicted reputational damage” and it consists of a company either conjuring a crisis out of thin air or making a bad situation worse.

Take Kenneth Cole. Back in the early days of the Arab Spring, the company’s founder tweeted something insensitive that made light of the violent revolution that was taking place.

“Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online,” tweeted Mr. Cole. The response was outrage from people worldwide on social media platforms and even the mainstream press detailing how the company had goofed.

Now, the fallout from this reputation wasn’t as financially damaging as, say, the PR nightmare following Toyota’s poor handling of its massive recall in 2010. But plenty of others have felt the increasingly influential power of social media.

Social Media Influence highlights the recent bad press Carnival Cruises and McDonalds have received.

Fortunately, they also have some advice for companies who suffer such a fate. Enter the social media crisis response plan. They have created the flow chart below to help guide your decision making after the worst occurs. Click here for a larger version then print it out, laminate it and put it on your wall.

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