Purpose This thesis aims to provide guidelines for cosmetic companies on how to use social media in times of crisis.

Background In today’s society, cosmetic companies can face crises that can vary according to their level of impact and their level of controllability. These crises can go viral and reach a huge amount of stakeholders since social media can take on many different forms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It is important to know how to manage these different com-   munication tools and it is even more crucial in times of crisis. However, social media and the cosmetic industry have not been combined in previous studies. Therefore, it is beneficial for cosmetic companies to have guidelines on how to use social media in times of crisis.

Method The method is based on an inductive approach. Benchmarking case studies reflect crises that occurred in industries other than the cosmetic industry. The findings from the case studies are then complemented with a chosen company representative from the cosmetic industry. Finally, a semi-structured interview has been conducted to balance the research and add new valuable information to the investigation.

Conclusion Based on the results of the analysis, the authors of the thesis have been able to provide guidelines to cosmetic companies on how to use social media in times of crisis. These guidelines are divided into two parts: the first part advises guidelines to follow while the second part recommends factors to avoid on social media.