The document outlines Speakman Press' social media plan to promote their student publication and encourage submissions. The plan details research on the most effective social media content and the key audiences of MSVU students, faculty, and alumni. Speakman Press will use Facebook as their primary channel along with Twitter and Instagram to spotlight writers, support other societies, and stimulate student contributions to the publication.

1. Social Media Plan
Prepared by Aislinn Robinson, Bethanee Diamond, Brad Donaldson,
Natasha Legay, Nick Punjabi and Oliva Bierman
Prepared for Tracey Taweel
PBRL 3025 01
April. 14, 2016
SPEAKMAN
press
www.speakmanpress.com
@Speakmanpress

2. Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................3
Branding..................................................................................................................3
Interaction with Stakeholders...............................................................................3
Opportunity.............................................................................................................4
Key Audiences........................................................................................................4
Key Messages.........................................................................................................5
Research..................................................................................................................6
Strategy....................................................................................................................8
Calendar...................................................................................................................11
Budget......................................................................................................................14
Communication Objectives....................................................................................15
Evaluation................................................................................................................15
Style Guide...............................................................................................................16
Crisis Communication.............................................................................................17
Conclusion................................................................................................................19
Resources.................................................................................................................20

3. Introduction
Speakman Press is a collaborative publication for Mount Saint Vincent University students, faculty
and alumni. This publication’s goal is to reflect our community in a collective journal that includes all
and excludes none.
The name Speakman derives from a honourable tale of a man named John Speakman. John was
a Quartermaster who – just a few months before MSVU was founded in 1873 – heroically helped
save lives following the crash of the SS Atlantic off the coast of Nova Scotia (Speakman Press,
2016).
We believe in sustaining a platform for inter-disciplinarian work that ranges between discourses and
encourage all to embrace and join in on this journey we call Speakman Press.
Branding
Our branding was designed to reflect a minimalistic, yet versatile, organization. We have designed
our initial logos, posters, and stickers in a clean, black, white, and grey colour slate to reflect our
homage to the past of black and white printing. These graphics have also been tailored to fit the
precise measurements of each social media platform that Speakman Press uses.
The tone Speakman Press will carry will be one of acceptance, engagement, and professional, but
with a sense of humour and a playful side. We aim to uphold an ethical and inclusive image in our
relationships with our stakeholders and the public.
Interaction with Stakeholders:
Speakman Press has a motive to create a feeling of collectivism between the organization’s mem-
bers and its stakeholders. We believe in two-way, transparent communication and to hash-out any
problems in person as much as possible.
Inclusive engagement is important to the organization and ensuring appreciation towards our stake-
holders is crucial in building a reputable brand on and off the MSVU campus.
Questions from stakeholders will be answered on behalf of the organization and with its ethical
standards in mind. When a problem between the organization and a stakeholder arises, we will
approach the situation with tact and honesty. If the dispute happens to take place on a social media
platform, our social media coordinator will promptly respond and diffuse the situation thoughtfully
with the same ethical standards of the organization.
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4. Opportunity
Speakman Press views their opportunity as a filling gap—something that is missing in the MSVU
community—that we feel has the chance to combine a range of excellence. Our organization saw
a widening spread between faculties and departments and hopes to bring those members into a
collective space of printed creative expression.
It has been many years since MSVU has seen a student-run publication that doews not tailor itself
to any certain discipline. Speakman Press sees an opportunity to change this and bring together
the Mount’s community in a collective way. This publication will welcome all and exclude none,
publishing creative and academic writing for all members involved with MSVU.
With the majority of writing being digitally produced in 2016, we, as an organization, still believe in the
power of print publications to allow readers and writers alike to flip through the pages filled with their
community member’s work, empowering and inspiring others to do what they love and create.
Key Audiences
Speakman Press’ key audiences are current students, alumni, faculty and external publics. This
implies that the age of our key audiences can range from seventeen to fifty, considering that
somewhat younger faculty and external business leaders who are older may be part of Speakman
Press’ key audience pool. We can also assume our audiences have at least a high school diploma
and a basic understanding of technological devices such as a computer and/or smart phone.
In terms of psychographic targeting, these groups of individuals are interested in free and creative
writing, publishing, communications, student advocacy, and societies, and are individuals who
spend at least a somewhat substantial amount of time on social media. Primary stakeholder groups
are those who include current students, as these students are the most likely to write content to be
passed on to Speakman Press.
Key Messages
For all of our social media platforms we want to stay consistent, concise, with an approachable flare
to get students to want to engage with us online and on campus. Although we want to remain as
professional as possible, we are still a student-lead society; therefore we need to keep the tone of
our messages relaxed, yet proficient. Engaging with students through our social channels will also
be a great way to relate and convey feelings of inclusion for anyone who wants experience writing,
editing, event planning, and graphic design work.
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5. Key messages that will be included throughout our social media platforms:
1. MSVU Student-run publication.
Using this key phrase will attract our main key audience: MSVU students. This will encourage all
students to feel included and able to contribute to our society. As well, one our key objectives as a
society is to extend an opportunity to students to submit their creative or academic work to the
publication. We want our audience to know this is not an exclusive publication to contribute to, but
that all students are welcome to be involved.
2. Looking to have your creative, academic or illustrative work published?
We want to have a conversation with the student body, so starting social media messages with a
question. One of these posts would successfully create a conversation about the kind of work we
want to have published. By starting out with a phrase like this, we can attract a number of students
with different talents, skills and abilities from all academic backgrounds to contribute.
3. Our goal is to reflect our community in a collective journal that includes all and excludes
none.
This type of statement speaks volumes to what Speakman Press is all about; it includes everyone
at MSVU. It is our aim to ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to be apart of our society in
some way. By consistently using phrases such as this we will be able to have an open-environment
for dialogue between students to help fill the pages of the publication, gain new and interesting
ideas for future publications, as well as event planning and encouragement for other societies and
student-led organizations to partner with us. We want to network and engage with the student body
as much as possible.
4. We value seeing written works beyond the classroom
Explanation: Student work gets submitted to professors and never seen again, or stay hidden away
on a computer or portfolio. We want to encourage our peers and alumni to not be afraid to show off
the hard work they have completed, whether it’s work for class or just for fun – we want Speakman
Press to show another side that the Mount hasn’t seen before.
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6. 5. You are our audience and our contributors.
This key message is to emphasize that our society is useless without student involvement and en-
gagement. Speakman Press strives for a horizontal structure where there is little hierarchy. This mes-
sage is to show that Speakman Press is a cyclical operation that can only successfully be executed
with help from MSVU students and alumni.
6. Bridging gaps between the classroom and the student body
This phrase has already been successful and we intend to keep using it to encourage students
to submit their written work, but also to host events on campus. Another goal of ours is to create
fun events that encourage students to learn outside of the classroom. For instance, we hosted our
first event called the Life-Rope Debate, where professors debated from their respective disciplines,
while students watched from the audience. We intend to put this event on again, as well as writing
workshops and trivia nights. These types of messages will highlight that learning can be applied and
continued in a fun environment, inspiring students to learn in new ways.
Research
Speakman Press, like any new initiative, faces a potential awareness issue as a new society on
campus. This presents an opportunity to develop a strong reputation using digital tools like social
media. Determining what type of content to share on social media is important to consider when
trying to increase our online engagement with key audiences.
Here are some statistics on the type of content audiences naturally engage with (Socialmetrix, n/d):
• Photo posts get 120 per cent more engagement than the average post, and photo albums
actually get 180 per cent more engagement.
• Shorter posts get 23 per cent more interaction. Keeping your posts below 250 characters
can get you 60 per cent more engagement than you might otherwise see.
• Using emoticons increases comments by 33 per cent, and can make a big difference to your
engagement rates.
• Questions posts get 100 per cent more comments, if comments are the kind of interaction
you’re after, questions might be the way to go. According to Kissmetrics, they get 100 per cent
more comments than standard text-based posts.
6

7. Platforms Speakman Press uses:
Facebook:
Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and
connected, and people use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover
what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them (Facebook, 2016).
There are 1.55 billion monthly active Facebook users, and 1.25 billion mobile users of the social
media platform. In Canada, 59 per cent of Canadians and 75 per cent of Atlantic Canadians use
Facebook (Oostveen, 2016).
Facebook data shows that the 18–24 age range is still the largest demographic using the site
(Sprout Social, 2016):
Facebook also seems to skew more heavily toward women, with 77 per cent of adult females
on the site and 66 per cent adult males (Sprout Social, 2016). These demographics suggest
Facebook will be an important tool when communicating information to key audiences.
Twitter:
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short
140-character messages called “tweets”. There are 320 million monthly active users, with 80
per cent of them accessing Twitter using mobile devices.
Atlantic Canada beat the national average with 28 per cent of Atlantic Canadians on twitter
compared to 25 per cent of Canadian using the social media platform (Oostveen, 2016).
Each day, 500 million tweets are sent, which is about 3.5 billion a week. Creating content that
will stand out of an over-crowded timeline will be key to increasing exposure and interactions.
7
• 87 per cent of adults 18–29 use Facebook.
• 73 per cent of adults 30–49 use Facebook.
• 63 per cent of adults 50–64 use Facebook.
• 56 per cent of adults 65+ use Facebook.

8. Instagram:
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that en-
ables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them on the app, as well as through a variety
of other social networking platforms. Instagram was launched in October 2010 as a free mobile
app, and has since rapidly gained popularity, with over 400 million users.
Over half of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Instagram (55 per cent), while only 16 per cent of
Canadians and six per cent of Atlantic Canadians use the social media platform (Oostveen, 2016).
In addition, 59 per cent of Instagram users are on the platform daily, including 35 per cent who
visit several times a day (Oostveen, 2016). This would suggest that an effective Instagram strategy
would include more frequent posting compared to some other platforms.
Tips for social media (Oostveen, 2016):
Strategy
Our social media usage goal is as follows:
Tips for Instagram
• Post high quality photos
• Find & use popular
hashtags
• Use video
• Tag locations and users
Tips for Twitter
• Use photos or graphics
• Include Timely, important info
• Use hashtags for measurement
• Use lists to organize followers
and timeline
• Tag friends on twitter
Tips for Facebook
• Use for monitoring
• Create mobile-friendly
content
• Use eye-catching design
• Use video content
1. To stimulate and encourage students to write for the publication.
2. Offer volunteer opportunities to students for help with editing, design and assist
promoting Speakman Press news and events.
3. Post articles and photos that interest and inspire writing (i.e. editing methods,
brainstorming activities, writers block solutions, etc.)
4. Spotlight local writers, on and off campus.
5. Support other MSVU societies and student union initiatives.
8

9. We want our social media channels to reflect our goals for the publication, which is to represent
student work at the Mount and beyond. Our objective is to have a publication that “includes all and
excludes none” therefore we want to be involved on platforms where Mount students are most active
and will most likely see our societies content. Through these social channels we will also be able to
balance our online and offline reputation, with a number of our posts and messages pushing for our
physical presence on campus.
Primary Social Media Channel: Facebook
Since our launch in February, Speakman Press’ Facebook group has been our primary avenue
of connecting to the Mount’s student body. According to our social media diagnostics (i.e. follower
count, engagement, platform visits, etc.), Facebook is our most successful channel for student
engagement. Although Facebook has been our main hub of social activity, we have decided to
create a “page” rather than having just a “group.” The Facebook group was not allowing us to
involve a larger number of students, since admins were only able to invite fellow students from their
Facebook lists (since the executives are made up of upper year students, we were not able to
branch out to younger students as well). Therefore, we decided to create a Facebook page where
we can extend our audience and brand ourselves. Through our Facebook page we can share events
and promotions, such as future Life-Rope Debates, Society Fairs, and, most importantly, publishing
deadlines with the Mount’s student body and beyond.
Our Facebook page strategy will include:
Student polls - This is where we can have students vote on issues, ideas or events so anyone can
easily engage with us.
Speakman Press posts - Executive members can post on the page since only the publications
name will appear on the front of the page. This helps execute messages without representing only
one person who directs social media messages, which emphasizes our non-exclusionary presence
as a society.
Direct messages - Another way for anyone to contact us. Our goal is to have “responds within an
hour” under the banner of our Facebook page to represent how committed we are to anyone who
reaches out to us.
Visitor posts - We will encourage anyone from MSVU to write feedback in this section of the page.
We will moderate it for appropriate content, but constructive criticism is always welcome.
Photos & Video - This section is a great avenue to showcase student activities and events that
Speakman hosts. We can also post related photo and video content that pertains to writing, as well
as memes that relate to the Mount and current events.
Facebook diagnostics - Unlike the Facebook group, we can actually see the traffic that our page will
be getting. We will be able to keep an eye out for what messages have garnered more attention than
others, as well as seeing what days of the week and what times people engage with our page the
most – and more. 9

10. Secondary Social Media Channels: Twitter & Instagram
These social media platforms are great to reiterate messages from the Facebook page. Speakman
Press can use these channels to reach other audiences beyond the Mount, which will contribute
to our school’s prestigious reputation. Communicating messages whether through photos or 140
characters will keep us connected to other societies and student initiatives, where they can repost
or retweets our content, and vice versa.
Twitter: Using Twitter for networking with students, faculty, alumni, other MSVU societies and
publications is key. We will reiterate messages from Facebook, and post videos and photo content
from Instagram. Being represented on Twitter will also balance our professional image that we wish
to cater to as well.
Instagram: Posting photos from our events and other society initiative to help garner a inclusionary
approach that Speakman upholds. Starting in the Fall we will also be including a “wandering gnome”
series that includes a John Speakman portrait that we will document in different places around
campus and greater Halifax area. It will be a fun quirky way for Speakman Press to pop up on
people’s’ Insta feeds.
Wordpress Strategy:
This platform will be our main hub for information regarding the publication itself. We have an About
section that explains our mission statement and purpose; a “meet the press” page that includes
the executive positions and biographies; and a submissions guidelines page that includes the
instructions how to properly submit these works. Our Wordpress will remain minimalist since our
other social media platforms will garner more attention, however we will still keep an eye on the
pages diagnostics which keep track of page hits and traffic.
10

11. Calendar
Monthly goal: Generate awareness through transitioning followers from
Facebook group to new Facebook page
Draft Facebook post: “We thank everyone who is part of the group so
far and invite you all to make the transition with us and check out our
new Facebook page! Join us inblazing the trail for the Mount’s first fully
inclusive reflective-collective magazine, Speakman Press. You can
always contact us about submissions, editing positions, or general
inquiries/suggestions at speakmanpress@gmail.com”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Our new page welcomes you! We’ll
be posting updates and other fun stuff here from here on out!
facebok.com/speakmanpress”
*Monday Motivation: “Either write something worth reading or do some-
thing worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin
Tuesday Call for Submission: “Do you want your voice to be heard?
Do you have a special story to share? Then submit to
speakmanpress@gmail.com!”
Wednesday Hump Day Humour: “4 Commandments to Writing Funny!
HAHA! http://thewritepractice.com/four-commandments-to-writing-fun-
ny/”
Thursday Society Updates: “We just got final confirmation of launching
April 2016
Monthly goal: Promote Society Member of the Month – Brad Donaldson
Draft Facebook post: “Brad is our Editor Coordinator who oversees the
Publishing Society and the Speakman Press by editing, proofreading
and coordinating society activities, including meetings.”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Our first society member of the month
is none other than Brad himself! #SpeakmanPress #Leader #BossMan”
May 2016
Social Media 1 Year Calendar (April 2016 – March 2017
11

12. Monthly goal: Promote Society Member of the Month – Bethanee
Diamond
Draft Facebook post: “The team’s money girl and copy editor,
Bethanee, is good with numbers and words, as she is keen on
coordinating cash flow, budgeting, grammar, sentence structure,
syntax and much more!”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Diamond in the dirt! #SpeakmanPress
#MoneyTalks” our first official publication in November! #StayTuned”
Friday Miscellaneous Posts: “#MSVUSU has agreed to help
#SpeakmanPress generate awareness through promoting our
new Facebook page!”
June 2016
Monthly goal: Promote Society Member of the Month – Brad Donaldson
Draft Facebook post: “Brad is our Editor Coordinator who oversees the
Publishing Society and the Speakman Press by editing, proofreading
and coordinating society activities, including meetings.”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Our first society member of the month
is none other than Brad himself! #SpeakmanPress #Leader #BossMan”
July 2016
Aug. 2016 Monthly goal: Promote Society Member of the Month – Aislinn
Robinson
Draft Facebook post: “Aislinn is the outgoing Media and Event
Coordinator who actively promotes and brands the society through our
social media platforms and prepares our awesome events!
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Get connected with Aislinn!
#SpeakmanPress #Engagement”
Monthly goal: Promote and engage through Society Fair
Draft Facebook post: “Come visit our booth this week – meet, greet,
connect!”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “We’re getting ready for the upcoming
Society Fair! We look forward to seeing you! #SpeakmanPress #MS-
VUSocieties”
Sept. 2016
Social Media 1 Year Calendar (April 2016 – March 2017
12

13. Monthly goal: Promote Life-Rope Debate
Draft Facebook post: “We’re once again bringing back the Life-Rope
Debate! Interested in seeing your professors try to save your life again?!”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Be sure to RSVP for #SpeakmanPress
#SurvivorSkills”
Oct 2016
Monthly goal: Promote publication launch party
Draft Facebook post: “We’re proud to finally launch the first edition of
Speakman Press! Check it out at the launch party at the campus pub,
Vinnies!”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Readings at the Launch Party! Are you
coming?! #SpeakmanPress”
Nov. 2016
Dec. 2016 Monthly goal: Maintain student and stakeholder engagement over
break
Draft Facebook post: “Enjoy the Holidays! Write up a Christmas card!
Draft up a holiday poem!”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Happy Holidays! We thank you for this
wonderful year and thank you for keeping in touch with
#SpeakmanPress!”
Monthly goal: Promote and engage through Society Fair
Draft Facebook post: “Come visit our booth this week – meet, greet,
connect!”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “We’re getting ready for the upcoming
Society Fair! We look forward to seeing you! #SpeakmanPress
#MSVUSocieties”
Jan. 2017
Social Media 1 Year Calendar (April 2016 – March 2017
13

14. Monthly goal: Promote Life-Rope Debate
Draft Facebook post: “We’re once again bringing back the Life-Rope
Debate! Interested in seeing your professors try to save your life again?!”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Be sure to RSVP for #SpeakmanPress
#SurvivorSkills”
Feb.
2017
Monthly goal: Promote Publication launch party
Draft Facebook post: “ Second publication is here! Check it out at the
launch party at the campus pub, Vinnies! #Speakmanpress”
Draft Tweet/Instagram caption: “Readings at the Launch Party! Are you
coming?! #SpeakmanPress”
March 2017
*Daily posts (Monday Motivation, Tuesday Calls for Submission, Wednesday Hump Day Humour, Thursday Society Updates,
Friday Miscellaneous posts ) will be continued every day of every month to match relevant events (holidays, semester activi-
ties, publication progress, etc.).
Social Media 1 Year Calendar (April 2016 – March 2017
Budget
Speakman Press is a not-for-profit organization, which means the social media budget will be strictly
used towards advertising on social media. Society members will be create the designs, graphics
and photos, so our organization will not have to outsource these factors. We do not need a large
budget because our audience is MSVU students, faculty, and alumni. Gaining attention from
students and faculty is easier than alumni because students and faculty are on campus where we
have more access to them. The budget for social media advertisements will be for grabbing the
attention of alumnae mostly, but also the students and faculty.
Based on our funding from the MSVU Student Union, the average donations we get from various
events, and the frequency of those events, we calculated a budget for social media advertisements
to be $25 dollars a semester. Having $50 for the year is minimum forecast ($100 is available if
necessary) of what we could potentially spend from our observation and research leading to the
conclusion that the Mount community seems to be significantly less-active on social media then at
other universities. This being our first time using paid social media advertisements, we
decided to keep the budget at a minimum.
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15. Communication Objectives
1) Get 300 Facebook likes by October 2016 through inviting MSVU students to like the page
2) Get 100 followers on Twitter by October 2016 by following MSVU students and interacting with
them
3) Get to 100 followers on Instagram by October 2016 by following MSVU students, and interacting
with them.
4) Increase engagement on Facebook posts by 25 per cent by April 2017
5) Increase post reach on Facebook by 25 per cent by April 2017.
6) Average at least 50 likes per post on Instagram by April 2017.
Evaluation
The following demonstrates how we will measure our success:
1) Get 300 Facebook likes by October 2016 through inviting MSVU students to like the page.
We will know we have succeeded if we reach or surpass 300 Facebook likes by October 2016
2) Get 100 followers on Twitter by October 2016 by following MSVU students and interacting with
them.
We will know we have succeeded if we reach or surpass 100 followers on Twitter by October 2016
3) Get to 100 followers on Instagram by October 2016 by following MSVU students, and interacting
with them
4) Increase engagement on Facebook posts by 25 per cent by April 2017.
Use Facebook’s analytics to determine if post engagement has increased since April 2016. Use
the amount of post engagement from April 2016 as a benchmark to determine the increase by April
2017.
5) Increase post reach on Facebook by 25 per cent by April 2017.
This can be measured in a similar way to the post engagement. There is an option on Facebook
analytics for both reach and engagement.
6) Objective: Average 100 likes per post on Instagram by April 2017.
This can be measured through Iconosqaure Iconosquare is a program that makes it easy to see the
average amount of likes, followers and comments on your Instagram posts.
15

16. Style Guide
The style guide will always change and improve because we will face new quarries as we move
forward in the society.
General
Follow the Canadian Press style guide, except:
Follow the most recent Oxford English Dictionary for spellings.
Follow MSVU’s policy of using female pronouns. When a student needs a book, she can find one in
the library, or bookstore.
Follow the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IPUAC) when using relevant scientific
terms.
Specifics
Italicise when someone thinks to themselves. I should go to sleep, I thought.
Italicise when using a language other than English. My friend said I wasn’t funny, but I said to her
“Moi ? Je suis très drôle !”
Italicise names of large bodies of works, and use quotations for smaller works. The album Let It Be
has the song “One After 909”.
Capitalize the common noun Mom and Dad when it replaces a person’s name. My mom makes me
happy. (vs) Sometimes, Mom gets cookies at the store.
• In creative pieces or when appropriate, spell out the full date. January 5 (vs) Jan. 5
• In scientific papers, capitalize Earth (when referring to the planet), the Sun (when
referring to the star) and the Moon (when referring to the Earth’s Moon)
• For numbers, generally spell out numbers in creative pieces, but write the numeric
form in scientific-based papers. Special circumstances might change this. Never use
the rule write out all numbers above ten, and numerically below ten. Never: one bird,
five fish, 12 cats and 792 ants
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17. Social Media
Facebook posts should not exceed 120 words for ensuring conciseness.
Tweets should use the Hashtag #SpeakmanPress and/or #MSVU when character counts allow it.
Most social media posts should use a photo.
Instagram photos should use at least three Hashtags.
Words
John Speakman
Life-Rope Debate
Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU)
MSVU Publishing Society
Quartermaster
Speakman Press
SS Atlantic
White Star Line
Crisis Communication
Social media has transformed the way many organizations communicate with their publics. For
Speakman Press, social media is a major tool used to communicate information to key publics and
enhance brand image. While social media has “dissolved traditional boundaries, creating a sense
of proximity between brands and consumers,” it has also made organizations that use social media
“more susceptible to potentially damaging situations” (Affect, n/d). In response to this susceptibility,
organizations must now incorporate social media into crisis communication plans.
“By definition a crisis is an unexpected situation or event likely to be detrimental to a
brand or organization – this may range from something as simple as serious customer
dissatisfaction through to a major disaster” (Brown, 2009).
Although there a several types of crises, including situations regarding public safety (physical
health), public welfare (psychological health), and public perception (reputation), the nature of
Speakman Press’s work means public perception and reputational crises are the main focus of
Speakman’s social media crisis management plan. A social media crisis is “a concern that arises
in or is amplified by social media resulting in negative legacy media coverage, changes in business
operations, or threatens financial loss” (Tracey’s Presentation)
17

18. The following four phases are the cornerstones of any successful crisis communications strategy
(Affect, n/d):
Readiness – A sound crisis management strategy starts with preparation long before a crisis begins.
While it’s impossible to plan for every future crisis, organizations should examine their internal and
external environment “to assess areas of significant risk and identify the potential threats that
are both most likely to happen and most likely to cause harm.” Having a plan in place enables an
organization to react quickly when a crisis occurs.
Response – Crisis bring normal day-to-day operations to a halt, and demand demand an immediate
response. This means it’s often necessary to respond before an organization has had a chance to
assess all of the facts. It is important to begin by acknowledging the situation, as well as its impact
on all affected parties, and commit to a full investigation. By responding immediately, an organization
shows the public that they’re taking the incident seriously, and ensures that their message is a part
of the narrative right from the start.
Reassurance – “Following the initial response, effective crisis management requires conducting
an investigation and developing an action plan that seeks to rectify the situation at hand.” From the
plan’s implementation phase until the intended outcomes are accomplished, organizations must
reassure publics that their needs are being adequately addressed by communicating all of the
important details regularly or when possible. Organizations should demonstrate their commitment to
transparency and assure publics that they intend to share the results of its investigation as well as
take corrective action.
Recovery – Managing a crisis is about more than stopping short-term damage; it’s also about
restoring an organization’s long-term health and reputation as well as preventing reoccurrences.
Rebuilding trust and brand loyalty often require going beyond immediate action. Operational and
cultural changes may be required to ensure a similar situation does not happen again. Ongoing
communication regarding organization-wide changes is an important part of demonstrating
responsiveness and continued commitment to making things right post-crisis.
In terms of preparing for a crisis, the following situations were identified as most likely to cause, or
signal the beginning of a social media crisis for Speakman Press:
• Content published in Speakman Press is interpreted as offensive, and receives
negative attention on social media
• Content in Speakman Press is accused of being plagiarized
• A conversation about the origins of Speakman Press, specifically the historical ties
to John Speakman, erupts on social media and Speakman Press is bombarded with
questions and concerns related to the publication’s historical backstory and whether
it aligns with MSVU values
18

19. Pre-crisis:
In this phase, Speakman Press will engage in on-going media monitoring, especially following the
release of new content in both digital and print formats. The social media manager will look for
discussion related to content in Speakman Press and will flag any negative feedback. If negative
comments and feedback about content are identified, the social media manager will then determine
if the feedback has “crisis potential” by determining the nature of the complaint and whether it has
the following characteristics:
Crisis:
If the complaints are deemed to have some or all of the above qualities, the Speakman Press team
must then respond as quickly as possible, possibly using pre-prepared statements. When preparing
to respond, it is important to select the appropriate person to make a statement.
For example, a crisis situation where many people, including the president of the university voice
complaints about content in Speakman Press, may require the editorial director to assume the
position of spokesperson, and they may even sign the end of a response statement on Speakman
Press’s website. This lends credibility to the response, as this person is likely in a leadership role
and can take responsibility. However, at times it may be more appropriate for the media/social
media manager to distribute the message.
Post-crisis:
It is crucial to reassure our audiences that we are doing everything possible to solve the problem
both immediately and in the long-term. This may include implementing changes include changes in
the culture or operations, or it may mean a reinforcing current values and standards stronger than
before. Speakman Press’ current value for inclusivity is the first step for avoiding this type of conflict.
Conclusion
Social media is an important tool for Speakman Press. It is not only ideal for communicating with
our audience, it could also assist use in issue and crisis management. With a strategic plan in
place, Speakman Press’ will use social media to our full advantage to achieve communication and
organizational objectives
• Legitimacy - Does the feedback appear to be voicing a legitimate concern regarding
the offensiveness of the content, or is it based on personal opinion?
• Attention/Exposure - Is the feedback receiving attention, shares/likes and other
forms of validation from other stakeholders voicing similar concerns?
• Credibility - Does the person or person voicing concern appear to have credibility,
or is it a “troll” account looking to argue
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20. References
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Your Crisis Communications Strategy [Web log post]. Retrieved April 8, 2016, from http://prcouncil.net/
wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Affect_Social_Media_Crisis_Management_White_Paper.pdf
Brown, R. (2009). Public Relations and the Social Web: How to use social media and web 2.0 in
communications. London.
Facebook. (2016). Facebook Info. Retrieved April 8, 2016, from https://www.facebook.com/facebook/in-
fo/?tab=page_info
Instagram. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved April 14, 2016, from https://www.instagram.com/about/us/
Kent, G. (2014). Key messages: The prime communicators of your brand | The Buzz Factoree. Retrieved
April 5, 2016, from http://www.thebuzzfactoree.com/key-messages-the-prime-communicators-of-your-
brand/
Oostveen, L. (2016, February 22). , Social Media 101. Lecture presented in Mount Saint Vincent University,
Halifax. PowerPoint Presentation
Socialmetrix. (n/d). Ultimate guide to using Social Media Analytics: How to get insights from quantitative data
to improve your social media performance. Retrieved April 8, 2016, from http://moodle233.msvu.ca/m23/
pluginfile.php/299187/mod_resource/content/1/social media analytics.pdf
Speakman Press. (2016). About. Retrieved April 9, 2016, from https://speakmanpress.com/about-2/
Taweel, T. (2016, March 21). March 21 Presentation: Crisis Communication. Lecture presented in Mount
Saint Vincent University, Halifax.
PowerPoint Presentation
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