What will you do when your company's reputation depends on your reaction? In 2012, companies need to have crisis communications plans in hand for many different types of situations. More crucial than ever before is the need to understand the impact social media has on crisis communications. Cara Posey will help you understand the key tips you need to know to be prepared, as well as how to avoid common mistakes that happen when a crisis happens to your company.

1. Crisis Communication in a Social World
Cara Posey, Speakerfile Inc., Chief Marketing Officer
Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College
Symposium on Arts Management and Innovation
October 6th, 2012
@CaraPosey

2. Who is this person talking to me?
Cara Posey
Chief Marketing Officer
Speakerfile, Inc.
10+ years experience in communications, public relations, social media, marketing,
fundraising, management, strategic planning and more.
Signature Worldwide, Ohio State Government, Girl Scouts of America,
Brookings Institution, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony,
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Adjunct Professor, Communications & Marketing, Franklin University
M.A.M. (Carnegie Mellon University)
B.A. (College of Wooster)
@CaraPosey

3. “ Everything’s fine and dandy till
someone picks their nose with your
product and posts it on YouTube.
”
@CaraPosey

4. Social media is ripe with crises
No one is immune from these types of disasters…
@CaraPosey

5. Crisis communication
How to prepare, take action, and move on
Planning
Have a game plan for
handling a crisis Be Prepared
Repair Training
Continually listen to Helping your people not
feedback and work to do stupid things
rebuild reputation
Quick Response Ground Work
Be prepared to act Build positive
quickly and confidently relationships and a solid
presence
@CaraPosey

6. Planning
1. Do you have a crisis
communications plan?
2. Does it include social media?
3. Is it actionable?
4. Who owns it?
5. How do we know when to enact
the plan?
@CaraPosey

7. Training
If they might speak on behalf of your organization, train them
Planning
• In-person training with
Have a game plan for
handling a crisis
takeaways for reference
Repair Training • Crisis drills for executive
team and spokespeople
Continually listen to Helping your people not
feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
do stupid things
• Monitor actions daily
• Reinforce training with
Quick Response Ground Work regular social media get-
togethers & discussions
Be prepared to act Build positive
quickly and confidently relationships and a solid
presence
@CaraPosey

8. Training
Train
Faster Drill
Faster Monitor
Faster Reinforce
Faster
 In-person training is  Prepare potential crisis  Check social networks  Email updates can be
optimal for uniform situations including multiple times a day, quick and effective to keep
understanding scenarios your executives including organization employees or volunteers
could encounter pages engaged with your social
 Give examples of the media efforts
good and the bad  Table drills with small  Set up Google Alerts for
groups to ensure organization name,  Regular meetings to go
 Set expectations for over new social media
consensus and identify executives names,
behavior and participation trends or technology help
areas of disagreement programs or products, and
 Provide takeaways for your name reinforce training and keep
 Individual drills in front
reference after training people engaged
of the group can identify  Don’t be the only Admin–
individual strengths and always have other people  Answer questions
weaknesses serving as eyes and ears through whatever method
makes the most sense,
but if one person has a
question, consider
whether you need to
answer it for the group
@CaraPosey

9. Ground work
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” – John F. Kennedy
Planning
• Build awareness of your
Have a game plan for
handling a crisis
organization’s personality
Repair Training • Get to know media and
thought leaders in your
Continually listen to Helping your people not
feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
do stupid things industry or area
• Engage your customers,
Quick Response Ground Work
volunteers, and employees
regularly and consistently
Be prepared to act Build positive
quickly and confidently relationships and a solid
presence
@CaraPosey

10. Getting to know you…
@CaraPosey

11. Quick response
Planning
Social Media
Never Sleeps
Have a game plan for
handling a crisis
Repair Training
Continually listen to Helping your people not
feedback and work to do stupid things
rebuild reputation
Quick Response Ground Work
Be prepared to act Build positive
quickly and confidently relationships and a solid
presence
@CaraPosey

12. You have limited to no time to mitigate a crisis
Social media goofs are easily recorded and hard to erase
Time until
meltdown
Don’t get lazy
National Organization Local
@CaraPosey

13. How do I know it’s a crisis?
• Messages are coming from many people, not just one person
• The story is starting to be shared with more people and multiple platforms
• Your phone is ringing no matter what time it is
• Your mom knows about it: it’s gone viral
Oh $%@&!
@CaraPosey

14. If you don’t want it on the front page, don’t
tweet it…
@CaraPosey

15. You can pull the tweet, but the damage is done
@CaraPosey

16. How to respond to angry mobs of people
1. Listen
2. Identify Context of
Problem
3. Determine Appropriate
Response
4. Respond Quickly
5. Empathize and Apologize
6. Be Brief and Sincere
@CaraPosey

17. So what did KitchenAid do?
“ During the debate tonight, a member of our Twitter team mistakenly posted
an offensive tweet from the KitchenAid handle instead of a personal
handle. The tasteless joke in no way represents our values at KitchenAid,
and that person won’t be tweeting for us anymore. That said, I lead the
KitchenAid brand, and I take responsibility for the whole team. I am deeply
sorry to President Obama, his family, and the Twitter community for this
careless error. Thanks for hearing me out.
- Cynthia Soledad
”
@CaraPosey

18. Repair your reputation
Planning The good and
the bad:
Have a game plan for
handling a crisis
Repair Training
Continually listen to
feedback and work to
Helping your people not
do stupid things
There’s a new crisis every
rebuild reputation
day, but the internet rarely
forgets.
Quick Response Ground Work
Be prepared to act Build positive
quickly and confidently relationships and a solid
presence
@CaraPosey

19. Sometimes it takes time or money or both
• Original social media
disaster happened in
2009
• 18 months spent
developing turnaround
• Self-deprecating…we
used to be bad
• Tens of millions of
dollars spent
revamping product
• Hired one of top
marketing firms in
country
@CaraPosey

20. Repair doesn’t have to be complicated
“ We areoneorganizationwas just a little mistake. disasters and this
an that deals with life-changing
wasn’t of them…it - Wendy Harman
”
@CaraPosey

21. Bonus: public service announcement
You do not need to add your
personal accounts to
Hootsuite to intermingle with
your business accounts.
Given how many mistakes
have happened due to this,
proceed with caution if you
use social media for anything
other than business.
@CaraPosey

22. Hootsuite is a tool, you have to be the brains
@CaraPosey

23. When all else fails, use the website application
This is harder to screw up…not
impossible, but a lot harder
@CaraPosey

24. Crisis communications in a social world
Planning
Have a game plan for 1. Plan ahead
handling a crisis
Repair Training
2. Train your people
3. Lay the ground work
Continually listen to Helping your people not
feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
do stupid things
4. Respond quickly to a crisis
5. Repair your organization’s
Quick Response Ground Work reputation
Be prepared to act Build positive
quickly and confidently relationships and a solid
presence
@CaraPosey

25. Thank You!
Cara Posey, Speakerfile Inc., Chief Marketing Officer
cposey@speakerfile.com | www.speakerfile.com
@CaraPosey