How social media change crisis communication - and practical advise hot to deal with those changes. A takeout of a workshop held at the Corporate Communications Forum Shanghai on December 2, 2011
1. Social media in crisis
communication
A presentation by
Ulrich Gartner
Gartner Communications
December 2011
www.gartnercommunications.com
Seite 1
2. Some social media facts
7 years: total length of videos uploaded to Youtube each day
3 billion: no. of Youtube videos watched each day
3: no. of times this exeeds the combined audience of ABC, CBS and NBC
72 million: no. of people who watched the Royal Wedding on Youtube
43%: no. of online video viewers who watch less TV as a result (BBC
survey, 2006)
800 million: no. of active Facebook users
50%: no. of Facebook users who log in every day
200 million: Tweets per day on twitter
5.900: no. of US newspaper journalists laid off in 2008
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3. The world is changing
7 on a scale from 1 to 10
The average rating of the „general importance of social media
in crisis situations today“
Source: Gartner Communications Survey August 2010 – 91 participants from 31 countries
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4. The world is changing
Source: Gartner Communications Survey August 2010
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5. But… are we ready?
Source: Gartner Communications Survey August 2010
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7. A crisis is…
“an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in
which a decisive change is impending; especially
one with the distinct possibility of a highly
undesirable outcome.”
Merriam-Webster
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8. A social media crisis is:
„a crisis issue that arises in or is amplified by
social media, and results in negative mainstream
media coverage, a change in business process,
or financial loss.“
Source: Altimeter Group
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9. Source: Annual ICM Crisis Report: News Coverage of Business Crisis 2010
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10. You simply are part of it
Companies don„t „decide“ whether they want „to be in social
media“
The dialogue is out there – your only choice is whether to
actively participate or not
You must - at least - listen to what„s being said about you
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12. Crisis response: the road to
disaster
Media dig
Massive
up older
Problem Massive reputational
sins,
Problem becomes negative and
prejudices
public publicity financial
are
damage
confirmed
Deny that All credibility
Play down the Deny Give in
there is a lost for a long
problem responsibility (half-heartedly)
problem time
"The Gulf of Mexico “BP, Transocean, “We care about “We will make BP
is a very big ocean. Halliburton blame the small people” pay for the
The amount of oil each other in Gulf Carl- Henric damage their
and dispersant we Oil Spill” Svanberg, company has
are putting into it is Business Week Chairman, BP caused”
tiny in relation to „I want my life Barack Obama,
the total water back“ US President
volume“ Tony Hayward,
Tony Hayward, CEO, BP
CEO, BP
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13. So - it„s much better to…
Keep
Show
Acknowledg stakeholder Fix problem
concern for Address the
e the s informed and close
those problem
problem about crisis
affected
progress
While starting to While avoiding While pro-actively While continuing While
collect further statements that communicating to collect further communicating
information could be legally what you do details learnings and
premature resulting changes
(if any)
Seite 13
14. Crisis assessment matrix
High impact on
publics
Natural disaster Negligence
Systematic; internal trigger
Accidental; external trigger
Systematic Fraud
Blackmailing
„Victim“ „Culprit“
Product failure
Cartel law suit
Harrassment Infidelity
Low impact on
publics
Seite 14
15. Social media change crisis
evolution
Public impact
Time Time
Traditional
crisis curve Social media
Mainstream crisis curve
media threshold
Buzz Dange
r
Zone
Issue Problem Crisis Time
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17. Case: Qantas Airlines; ash cloud in June 2011
Greatest disruption of Qantas„ operations in history
Over 120,000 people affected by cancellations or delays
Call centers and service desks inundated by passengers
Corporate Twitter and Facebook accounts completely
dedicated to ash cloud updates and direct responses to
coustomers
Several hundred tweets every hour
Video featuring chief pilot describing reasons for not flying
– 13,000 views in the first week, and lots of positiv
feedback
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18. Statistics:
Twitter followers up 68%
No. of tweets up 360% versus normal periods
Direct twitter conversations with over 2,000 people
Facebook fans up by 12%
42 wall posts
9,269 comments/likes
387 wall posts by fans
3.3 million news feed impressions
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29. Common organizational pitfalls
Lack of Lack of guidelines
Lack of overview Lack of preparation
understanding und processes
„Put me on twitter!“ SM activities split
„Who is entitled to Relations, techniques,
„Social media„s not for across numerous
what?“ resources
us“ different departments
Demonstrate
relevance (case Identify key
studies, ongoing One central influencers upfront;
Create social media
conversations about responsibility understand netiquette
policy/guidelines;
your company or (based in corporate of differnen platforms;
define escalation tree
industry); raise risk comms!); define adapt general content
and alarm procedures;
awareness; establish objectives and targets; and messaging to
define approval
basic social media establish complete social media
procedures; create
monitoring; provide monitoring of all requirements; provide
infrastructure
trainings and share activities adequate multi-media
best practice; materials
„laboratory“
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30. Social media policy - elements
Transparency rules:
Authenticity and full-disclosure
Commentary rules:
Off-limits phrases; defamation, discrimination etc.
Disclaimer rules:
„Views expressed are my own“; no corporate logo in individual profiles;
etc.
Confidentiality rules:
Proprietary information, privacy rights of employees, etc.
Brand value rules:
Respecting, and contributing to brand integrity
Education
Formal training, best-practice-sharing, „laboratory“
Social Media Monitor
The company„s „public persona“ on the web; social media on enterprise
level
Source: marcelmedia
For concrete examples, visit http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php Seite 30
31. Simple ground rules
Pay attention
Review context
Mind the channel
Address promptly
Acknowledge first
Don‟t overthink
Be open
Fix the problem
Tell your story
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32. Four key indicators to watch
Buzz Velocity Momentum Sentiment
•Accumulated no. of activities •How often an item is •No. of activities on a day •Tonality of opinions
at a given point in time copied, shared, downloaded minus no. of activities on the expressed in posts, tweets
•Relative: activities in relation etc. within a given period of previous day etc.
to other topics time •Indicates a trend in the •Indicates publics‘ (changing)
•Indicates the importance of •Indicates how quickly a topic topic‘s future attitudes towards the topic
the topic in question is spreading importance/lifetime
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33. Example
120 Accumulated no. of posts
100
80
60
No. of new posts
40 in previous week Buzz
divided by 7 days
Momentum
20 Velocity
0
Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7Day 8Day 9 Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day Day
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
-20
-40
New posts on day minus
-60 new posts on previous day
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34. Preparation process
Resources, Content
creation
Scenario
processes, and
Crisis mapping planning Training, s
infra- relation-
(click for more) (click for imulation
structure building
more)
(click for (click for
more) more)
Identify crisis sources Identify Define members of Create general Crisis training, media
with highest likelihood stakeholders, informat crisis team and content/templates for training, crisis
and damage potential ion sources etc.; supporting staff; alert different scenarios simulation, etc.
anticipate crisis and escalation (e.g. holding
development and procedures; statements, fact
define response infrastructure (e.g. sheets, general
procedures intranet, monitoring, s Q&As, contact lists;
ervices, dark sites dark site
etc.); crisis room content, etc.);
facilities; etc.; compile establish relations
information in crisis with identified key
handbook, etc. stakeholders and
multipliers, etc.
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36. Scenario Planning
For each scenario:
Identification and profiling of relevant influencers online
Opponents, potential supporters?
Which channels/platform could play a major role?
Definition of „crisis“ threshold?
Learnings to draw from similar scenarios?
Back to flowchart
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37. Resources, process, infrastructure
For each scenario:
Social media specialists as part of the crisis team
What supporting resources are needed?
Which sources to monitor? Keywords? tools?
Choice of suppliers
Alert procedures: who informs whom?
Approval procedures, authorization
Contact lists for pro-active social media outreach
Preparation of outlets, channels, accounts
Inclusion of social media aspects in crisis manual Back to flowchart
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38. Content creation and relations
For each scenario:
Content:
Adaptation of press materials for social media use
(length, tonality, multimedia…)
Concrete wordings to be used in social media posts
Etc.
Relation-building
Pro-active outreach to key influencers
Briefings, meetings, dialogue
Back to flowchart
Etc.
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