Crisis Communications in the Digital Age

Crisis Communications Insight and 5 Steps to Managing an On-Line Crisis

Influential Media Has Changed

Good news, get it out fast Bad news, get it out faster !

Yesterday’s Response Method

What’s Changed?

Today’s Response Method

The New Crisis Response Team Yesterday’s Team Executive Team Legal Counsel Communications Product Specialist Additional Team Members IT & Web Blog Staff Social Media Counsel Community/ Brand Managers Media Production Staff Media & Blogger Relations

Kryptonite Bike Lock Fiasco

The Power of Video Blogs
A biker finds out that his bike lock made by US lock-maker Kryptonite can be picked with a Bic pen
He posts video online
Company does not react after three days
Bloggers continue to rail at the company until it finally agrees to exchange the old locks for new ones, at an estimated cost of at least US$10 million

Mainstream Media Picks Up Story

Source: Fortune

The Internet circa 1993

Internet Today INSERT hard video Link to ‘Did You Know Video’ Version 3 is Hyperlinked

Ad with new mothers
Anger on the web
Twitter Twitter message “I can't even count the ways I am offended right now. Taken aback! This is a serious screw up for such a major company.”
Instant reaction on blogs and other social media
Crossover to traditional media
INSERT hard video Link to ‘Motrin Ad’ Video is Hyperlinked

"On behalf of McNeil Consumer Healthcare and all of us who work on the Motrin brand, please accept our sincere apology," the message said. "We are in the process of removing this ad from all media. It will, unfortunately, take a bit of time to remove it from our magazine advertising, as it is on newsstands and in distribution."

The ultimate demise of the campaign demonstrates either how quickly social media can galvanize a groundswell of opinion or how much power over online discourse they can give a few vocal tastemakers with outsize weight.’ ( Ad Age , Nov. 1, 2008)

Addressing Domino’s Pizza Crisis, the firm decided to react to the event (taking 48 hours to respond) . They presented an apology (public & personally ) with immediate action taken and future commitment to its customers. It chose unconventional media channels to confront their consumers, the same channels in which the crisis found its way through social media networks.

Consumer research will be needed to follow consumers’ perceptions and behaviors in few months time. Currently, it seems that although the images were shocking, the Company has succeeded in reacting well to the event. On-line trends indicate that the buzz around I lost an interest.

Ide ntify your crisis team & expand it
Update traditional crisis communications plan for social media response plan
3 Imagine your nightmare scenarios & prepare 4 Instill 0n-going active listening Track blogosphere & social media 5. Don't wait. Your response time is only 24 hours. For high profile brands – Only hours

Review: Managing a crisis in the YouTube age
Set up crisis management unit, role-play strategies for dealing with crisis scenarios involving digital media – blogging, online video, viral emails, rogue websites.
Create crisis webpage and direct press there.
Openly and quickly share the facts online that you know with the public.
Show you care, accept responsibility, tell the truth when you are at fault & warrented .

NOW
Word-of-mouth
Then
SMS, MMS
Email
Blogs, Microblogs
Social networks
IPTV, Online radio
IM, Chat
W2W
Online video
Podcasting
Websites, Wikis
SEO, Online ads
Product placement
Viral marketing
Print
Mail
Telephone
TV/ Radio
Advertising
PR/Marketing
Media Options

Crisis PR: Time Is of the Essence
Traditional crisis tenets apply
Like crisis, messaging must not stray from facts
Timely reactions are critical to stymie crisis
Big blogs, social network users prompt immediate reaction
Never overpromise (coal miners)!
Even small blogs, social network users should be responded to immediately – not days.
Media “crowdsources” stories from blogs, socnets

Have a Plan, Items in Place
Worst case scenarios such as downed plane, terrorist attack, etc:
Have messaging in place
Communication guidelines in place
In some cases, prepared statements
Emotions involved get shared socially across the Internet, making it a community loss: It’s about them
Prepare to provide regular updates on a public schedule, even if there is no update

EXTRA SLIDES

1 Identify your crisis team & expand it: investor relations, government relations, public relations, crisis communications, outside lawyers, general counsel, digital communications, human resources, multimedia communications experts and an executive team. 2 Imagine your nightmare scenarios and prepare for them — make sure you own all the search-engine-optimization keywords, and that lawyers who specialize in class-action suits against major companies don't. 3 Track the blogosphere and other social media. Be connected with the major players and be as responsive as possible. 4 Don't wait. Your response time is only 24 hours. For real high profile brands - You're will need to evolve from the standard 24 hours to 24 minutes.

Crisis Communications in the Digital Age

by Robert Collins on Nov 30, 2010

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Crisis Communications in the Digital Age Presentation Transcript