2. “a crisis is “the perception of an unpredictable event
that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders
and can seriously impact an organization’s
performance and generate negative outcomes”
- Coombs
3. UNDERSTANDING THE RISKS
Reputational risks: Damage to brand and image, mistakes
visible to all
Misinformation: Propagation of incorrect/false information,
misinterpretation of information, lack of context
Security: Hacking of accounts, gateway for viruses, breach of
privacy, redirection of url/posts
Lack of control: Little control over message and sentiment,
comments and people misrepresenting the company/brand;
inability to retract misinformation; hard to enforce legal &
compliance requirements
Employee issues: Release of sensitive information, loss of
productivity, inappropriate messages, general lack of
understanding of how to use social media
4. SOURCES
Internal
Employees/freelancers
Facilities
Vendors/Suppliers/Consultants
Distributors/Resellers/partners
Product
External
Acts of Nature
Market
Government
Legal Restrictions/Law
Customers
Advocacy Groups
5. UNDERSTANDING THE FACTORS
Speed of response: In a crisis you have to think quickly, and act quickly
Visibility: The age of being able to hide behind a corporate press statement
in response to a crisis is, effectively, gone. The statement plays its part, of
course, but a more human and transparent response will come on Facebook,
Twitter, blogs and forums. These are highly visible channels, and the
effectiveness of a response is judged on them.
Unpredictability: It was hard enough for marketing teams dealing with the
press through a crisis, but now we deal directly with the public through social
media channels. And members of the public won’t have an objective view;
each will bring a personal agenda and emotion to the issue.
Lack of control. It is no more possible to control conversations on social
media than it is to control conversations in the home. Corporate control has
no place on social pages that are, often, deeply personal.
This is a new industry. That means every action by a company managing a
crisis is being watched, scrutinised and analysed. Your peers are learning
from your handling of an issue, good and bad.
The boomerang effect. Whatever you do in a crisis could come back to bite
you. The temptation is to retreat to a safe place and ignore what’s going on,
but the public nature of social media means this isn’t possible any more.
7. ANTICIPATION AND REHEARSAL
Crisis mapping (sources plus response points)
Full scale rehearsal
Policies, Crisis Team and Procedures
Crisis Monitoring
Crisis Communication Strategy
Crisis Action Plan
Crisis Standard Communications Template
Build Confidence
8. PREPARE
Invest in the right tools: Monitoring and social
listening tools will help filter out the information you
need to know about from the background chatter.
Crisis team: to handle episodes; preferably including
members from
PR and reputation management
Customer service
Corp comm
Marketing
Legal
Tech support
Social media and social listening
Community management
9. PLAN
Define a crisis: what will it look like? “Mayday”
Who all have passwords for your social channels?
Have a social media policy in place for employees and
partners
Bank goodwill to buffer your reputation
Severity of crisis should determine the response
Determine channels of engagement during a crisis
Figure out levels of response
Define an escalation path
What do you have to lose – be clear
How long will it take to put this behind you?
Have a situation room
Have clearly defined response roles; with adequate backup
10. RESPONSE
Avoid cover ups – they don’t work and often backfire
Do not deny or accept any allegation immediately
Avoid procrastination
Acknowledge impact and ‘victims’
Commit to investigate
Commit to sharing information and cooperation
Share corrective action plan if available
Respond in the format in which the crisis was received
Authorise community managers to act on your behalf
Check your facts
11. COMMUNICATE
Start with your reputation – initial goodwill level
If you do not necessarily have all of the information at
the given time, then say so. Tell them that you are
working to get more information
Involve senior management, early on
Tone of communication – consistency across channels
Remember you cannot control the spread of stories on
social media
You can only respond
Do not overreact or be extra defensive
Be patient and listen and understand the issue before
responding (every issue is not a crisis)
12. RECOVERY AND REASSURANCE
Start with a honest acknowledgement of oversight
Reaffirm commitment to all stakeholders and values
Reaffirm commitment to correction
Demonstrate results in line with commitments
If an active Voice of Customer program is on,
leverage it to reach out to customers