crisis communications: manage (and avoid) crises with media monitoring

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS: MANAGE (AND AVOID) CRISES WITH MEDIA

MONITORING

TODAY’S PRESENTERS

Shel Holtz

Principal, Holtz Communication + Technology

Jennifer Zingsheim Phillips

Founder, 4L Strategies

What is a Crisis?• The public is risk-averse

• The public attaches little credibility to business advocates

• Media’s role is based on conflict

• Advocacy groups will exploit your crisis to their own purposes

• Emotion, not logic, is at issue

• Crises are characterized by symbols

BEFORE A CRISIS

Planning for Potential Crises

• It’s not feasible to plan for every possible crisis

• Planning for problems your organization may likely encounter is best practice.

Pre-Crisis Monitoring

• Use monitoring tools to track what your audience is saying about your brand.

• These tools allow you to monitor for unusual spikes in mentions.

• A spike in mentions could mean a problem is on the horizon.

WHEN A CRISIS HITS

Responding to a Crisis

• Organize into teams to handle the various aspects of a crisis.

• PR professionals/communicators and legal teams typically have different objectives.

• Respond quickly and with transparency.

• Prioritize your stakeholders.

• Protect your customers first.

Pay Attention to Social

• Social media adds another layer of complication for crisis management.

• News- and outrage- travels fast• The multitude of voices can spread rumors• Crises are turned into memes, compounding a

company’s problems

Continue to Monitor

• In the flurry of activity, don’t neglect your monitoring tools.

• Refine keywords, if necessary, to collect the most relevant coverage.

• Use the collected coverage to help structure responses.

FOLLOWING UP AFTER A CRISIS

Your Crisis is Over- Now What?

• Use monitoring tools to conduct sentiment analysis of coverage.

• How did the crisis affect your organization’s reputation?

• Use the information gleaned from this analysis to plan and prevent future crises.

Q&A

www.carma.com@CARMA

@CARMA_US

Shel Holtzshel@holtz.com

Jennifer Zingsheim Phillipsjennifer@4lstrategies.com