This document discusses crisis communications strategies for when issues arise online that could damage a company's reputation. It recommends continuously monitoring for potential issues, having a crisis communications plan in place beforehand, and responding quickly and appropriately when a crisis occurs. The first 12-24 hours are critical, and it's important to address amplifiers beyond the original source. Communications should align with the company's brand but be suitable to the situation. Dialogue and correcting misinformation are important for managing the crisis and negative news cycles. Lessons should be learned from each experience to improve future crisis response.

1. WHEN
THE SHIT
HITS THE FAN
Jonathan Sy (@jntn)
Senior Director, Edelman Digital

2. An online conversation, photo
or video that has the potential
to grow exponentially in scale
and severity to damage the
reputation of the company
and/or its brands.

3. ISSUE & CRISIS

4. ISSUE =
LOW-LEVEL
THREAT

5. CRISIS =
BUSINESS LEVEL
THREAT

6. It can come from
anywhere

7. Consumers
Politicians
Employees
Customers
Media
Bloggers
Competitors
Etc.
Advocacy
groups

8. FRIEND OR FOE?

9. Listen
Start listening now
Add keywords related to issues into monitoring
Extend monitoring: Beyond your immediate
community and beyond top influencers
Know your audiences before issues arise

11. Plan and Prepare
Craft crisis communications plan in advance
Assess your internal readiness
Formalize protocols, decision trees and
approvals processes
Train your employees with guidelines

12. High
Risk
Potential for greater
negative PR or legal
action?
Yes
No
Specific customer
service issue?
Yes
No
Med
Risk
General comment or
complaint?
No
Misinformed?
Yes
Yes
No
Violates policy /
terms of use?
Low
Risk
No
Yes
Alert response team. Get
approval before
responding.
Engage offline.
Engage by email for
documentation.
Alert response team. Get
approval before
responding.
Engage offline.
Develop FAQ list for
repeating productrelated inquiries /
comments.
Acknowledge / answer
with standard FAQ
response.
Engage publicly.
Provide facts.
Flag and delete. Signal
policy / terms of use.
Thank / acknowledge
No
Positive
comment?
Is responder
influential?
Yes
Thank engage
further.

13. At the Trigger Point
Escalate issues proactively
Where possible, solve problems in public
Involve PR early, inform crisis team frequently

14. PR
Operations
Marketing
HR
Customer
Service
Operations
Finance
Legal
C-Level

15. Speed of Response
The first 12-24 hours are critical
Be clear on when your crisis plan activates
Go beyond the original source; address the
amplifiers

16. Go Beyond the Community
Prepare dark sites ahead of time
Post response on owned properties but also send
response directly to third parties
Monitor analytics to get a sense of velocity

18. Tone and Language
Stay true to your brand
the situation
but be appropriate to
Align with Legal on flexibility for wording
messages*
Assume your content will exist online forever
characters

19. Dialogue and Frequency
Post proactive content and look to engage
strategically
Correct misinformation and present your side
negative news cycles or have
community re-live bad memories
Disagree when necessary. You
every discussion

20. How Much (or Little) To Say
Manage expectations on information availability
Stick to the facts.
or hypothesize
Stay on message and make measured promises
Identify the most appropriate voice for your
response community manager, senior
management, subject matter expert

21. Source: http://www.fastcompany.com/3001908/how-kitchenaid-spun-twitter-crisis-pr-coup

22. Debrief to Learn
Follow-up with involved colleagues
Consider quantitative analytics along with
qualitative insights
Revise and optimize your crisis response plan

23. Preserving Trust
When a company is distrusted
63%
When a company is trusted
will believe
negative
information
40%
after hearing it
1-2 times
7%
will believe
positive
information
after
hearing it 1-2
times
22
%
will believe
positive information
after hearing it 1-2
times
will believe negative
information
after hearing it 1-2 times
-Think about a company that you do not trust. How many times would you need to be exposed to (C83. positive information; C84. negative information)
about that company to believe the information is likely to be true? Please give me a number. Informed publics ages 25-64 in Canada.
-Think about a company that you trust. How many times would you need to be exposed to (C85. negative information; C86. positive information) about
that company to believe the information is likely to be true? Please give me a number. Informed publics ages 25-64 in Canada.

24. Success for Your Role as CM
 How prepared you are
 How responsive you are
 How informative and insightful you are in
helping the crisis team
 Your openness, accessibility, frequency in
communication
 Your willingness to learn from such incidents

25. Questions?

26. Jonathan Sy
@jntn
jonathan.sy@edelman.com
(416) 849-1550