This document discusses crisis communications and reputation management in the digital age. It outlines how social media has changed how consumers get their news and share information about brands. It then provides eight reasons why social media matters for businesses, such as the large numbers of people using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs. It also gives examples of how advocacy groups, unions, and politicians are using social media. The document concludes with best practices for social media crisis management.

1. CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS AND
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
IN THE DIGITAL AGE

2. Stock Value Plummets 90%
Trading Halted at 11:10 AM
Stock Closes Down
10% For The Day

3. 1. Accidental
2. Deliberate but
uncoordinated
3. Organized
campaigns

4. CONSUMERS TRUST SOCIAL
50%
Half of all online users gather news from within
their social networks
37% More than a third of internet users contribute to
creating news.
Source: 2010 Pew State of the News Media Annual Report on American Journalism
75% Three quarters of online users receive news
forwarded via email or social networking posts
Consumers are seeking, and sharing brand information online like
never before

5. CONNECTING IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL
PUBLIC RELATIONS
“TRUST ME,
HE’S A GREAT LOVER”

6. “I’M A GREAT LOVER.
I’M A GREAT LOVER.
I’M A GREAT LOVER.”
ADVERTISING
CONNECTING IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL

7. * Source: http://www.slideshare.net/LumensionSecurity/the-greatest-question-since-the-meaning-of-life-what-is-the-roi-of-social-media
CONNECTING IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL

8. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
• Top 8 reasons
social media presents real
challenges and clear opportunities for
clients, businesses and organizations today.

9. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 1
• 2/3rds of the global Internet
population visits social networks

10. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 2
• There are now 133 million active
blogs online. 50% of professional
bloggers are parents.

11. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?

12. BLOGOSPHERE CRISIS CASE STUDY:
SIX FLAGS BANKRUPTCY

13. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 3
• Twitter now has 180 million
registered users. 300,000 join
every day, sending 85 million
tweets every 24 hours.

14. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 4
• YouTube users watch 2 billion
videos everyday. 24 hours of new
video is uploaded every minute of
every day by the site’s 250 million
monthly visitors.

15. ONLINE VIDEO CRISIS CASE STUDY:
LIFELOCK

16. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 5
• If Facebook were a country,
it would be the 3rd most
populated in the world.

17. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
• Facebook has 520+ million
users, 1.5 million business
pages and 100 million mobile
users
per day
{ Average User
Spends > 55 minutes
on Facebook

18. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 6
• Customers today who make buying
decisions online want to continue
their brand interaction in the same
medium.
• Social Customer Service cuts costs,
reduces reputational damage and
increases customer loyalty.

19. LOGOS CAN’T TALK - CSR CASE STUDY:
COMCAST

20. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 7
• Social media provides every individual
and organized issue advocacy group
with a free globally interconnected
multi-media megaphone aimed
directly at your corporate reputation.

21. OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF ADVOCACY
GROUPS USE AT LEAST ONE SOCIAL PLATFORM
Thirty-three out of the 34 political advocacy
groups examined use at least one social
media platform, including either a Facebook
page, Twitter account or YouTube channel.

22. ALMOST ALL GROUPS ARE USING MULTIPLE
PLATFORMS SIMULTANEOUSLY
Ninety-one percent of the political advocacy
groups that use social media use Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube as a means of outreach.

23. INTEREST GROUPS USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO
ADVOCATE POSITIONS ON LEGISLATION
• All of the political advocacy groups on Facebook and Twitter
use the platforms to share views and news about specific
local, state or federal legislation or regulation.
• Advocacy groups use Twitter more than Facebook to relay
legislative and regulation messages.

24. GROUPS USE SOCIAL TO ENCOURAGE DIRECT
LOBBYING OF POLITICIANS
• Sixty-one percent of political advocacy groups on Twitter
and 56 percent on Facebook use social media to
encourage stakeholders to lobby politicians.
• Ninety-five percent of direct outreach posts on Twitter and
89 percent on Facebook provided phone numbers,
instructions or easy to fill out forms to contact politicians.

25. DIALOGUE VERSUS MONOLOGUE
 On Twitter, 73 percent of political advocacy groups
mentioned or directly responded to others.

26. STAKEHOLDERS ARE SEEKING OUT AND
CONNECTING WITH ADVOCACY GROUPS
• The average number of followers, fans, and subscribers on
Twitter (4,880 followers), Facebook (32,588 fans) and
YouTube (777 subscribers) highlights significant public
interest in connecting with advocacy groups via social.

28. ISSUE ADVOCACY CASE STUDY:
GREENPEACE VS NESTLE
50,000+ Followers
500,000+ Fans
1.8 Million+ Views

29. UNIONS ARE ALREADY ACTIVE

30. UNION ORGANIZING CASE STUDY:
NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Creating multiple properties has facilitated broad stakeholder engagement
• Facebook (3 pages)
– National Education Association: 7,205
“likes”, daily content updates
– Speak Up For Education & Kids:
35,827 “likes”, multiple daily updates,
emphasis on motivating members to
force changes in education legislation
– NEA Priority Schools Campaign: 2,483
“likes”, posts directly address
members and start discussions
• Twitter (3 accounts)
– NEA Today: 8,405 followers
– NEA Media: 682 followers
– Priority Schools: 697 followers

31. WHY DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MATTER?
REASON 8
• Members of Congress, the White
House, U.S. and global regulatory
agencies are actively engaging in
social media.

32. • About six out of 10 (62%) senators and
representatives have Twitter accounts.
• While there are fewer Republicans in Congress, a
larger percentage of them are using Twitter to
communicate. 72% of Republicans have at least one
Twitter account, compared with 55% of Democrats.
CONGRESSIONAL USE OF TWITTER

33. DIALOGUE VERSUS MONOLOGUE
• 53% of accounts are re-tweeting content.
• 59% of congressional accounts are using the “@”
function.

34. WHAT’S COMING NEXT:
THE WHITE HOUSE PLAYBOOK
YOUR LOGO
HERE

35. BEST PRACTICES:
SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS MANAGEMENT
1. Prepare - Use your peacetime to build credibility and identify
your potential online brand ambassadors before you need them.
2. Integrate - Coordinate across all teams, both online and off.
3. Benchmarks - Establish clear objectives and don’t try and do
“everything” at once.
4. Avoid Talking Logos - Identify and train your internal and
external social media ambassadors/spokespeople early.
5. Define It – Create the visuals and the narrative during and after
a crisis to define the situation before others define it for you.
6. Fix It – Over communicate actions, stop explaining and begin to
articulate the next steps to fix the problem.
7. Engage - Don’t ignore criticism – answer it and claim at least ½
of the narrative.
8. Don’t Forget Employees - Define best practices for online
employee communications.
9. Don’t Quit!

36. Dallas Lawrence
Managing Director
Twitter: @dallaslawrence
dallas.lawrence@proofic.com