marketing 2.0: crisis communications in the social media era

Crisis Communicationsin the Social Media World

Shel Holtz, ABC

Baseline: What is a PR crisis?

An unanticipated event or disclosurethat threatens your organization’s/client’sreputation

The conundrum

Nothing’s changed Crisis principles remain unaffected

Everything’s changed Solution:

Apply crisis basics to Web 2.0 crises

Crisis basics

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 ends Emotion, not logic, is at issue

If you engage in debate, you’ll be seen as defensive

Crises are characterized by symbols

Exxon Valdez

Enron

Ford Explorer/Firestone Tires

FEMA/Katrina

Key crisis goals Survive the crisis Present/maintain positive image Maintain constituent support Monitor / listen (a given)

Address misperceptions and misinformation Eliminate or alter the symbols

Tylenol (at first)

Tylenol (long-term)

Let’s talk for a minute about your

Evidence: Oxford study

Share values of companies responding well: Initial 4% drop Rebound Finish year 7% above pre-crisis close

Share values of companies responding poorly: Initial 10% drop Prices remain down Finish year 15% below pre-crisis close

ThatThat’’s a 22% difference!s a 22% difference!

Evidence:Stanford Graduate School of Business

Organizations taking responsibility outperformed those that placed blame elsewhere by 14-19%

Strategies

Respond quickly, accurately, professionally, with care

Be transparent and accessible Treat perceptions as fact Acknowledge mistakes Tailor messages to address the “angry”

party Note other side’s concerns Make no public confrontations Emphasize existing relationships

The reality of crises today

Erupt with unprecedented speed An insatiable thirst for news Anyone can break news Porous boundaries between social &

mainstream media

How fast does news break?

What is news?

Not just major announcements or milestones Instead: Frequent, regular updates

We’re in meetings discussing it New information is emerging

These updates will drive the 140-character news cycle Without them, other content will

Original Blog Post or TweetOriginal Blog Post or Tweet

ReTweetReTweet Blog Blog PostPost

VideoVideo DeliciousDelicious DiggDiggBlog Blog PostPost

ReTweetReTweet

ReTweetReTweet

Blog PostBlog Post

VideoVideo

DeliciousDelicious

DiggDigg

Blog PostBlog Post

ReTweetReTweet

ReTweetReTweet

Blog PostBlog Post

VideoVideo

DeliciousDelicious

DiggDigg

Blog PostBlog Post

ReTweetReTweet

ReTweetReTweet

Blog PostBlog Post

VideoVideo

DeliciousDelicious

DiggDigg

Blog PostBlog Post

ReTweetReTweet

ReTweetReTweet VideoVideo

DeliciousDelicious

DiggDigg

Blog PostBlog Post

ReTweetReTweet

ReTweetReTweet

Blog PostBlog Post

VideoVideo

DeliciousDelicious

DiggDigg

Blog PostBlog Post

ReTweetReTweetBlog PostBlog Post

Mainstream MediaMainstream Media

Why use social media in a crisis?

It’s where people increasingly go for information Online social interaction centers around the

"emergency period" of an event – University of Colorado at Boulder

Instant updating Human voice

Accommodates public’s emotional response Produce a record Two-way communication is more credible

Why a blog is a prerequisite

Media follow them Your critical publics read them Serves as “hub” in a hub-and-spoke model

Publish once, distribute to multiple properties

138 total tweets138 total tweetsto 32,000-plusto 32,000-plus

A Case Study

Scott & White (Temple, TX) Primary intake for Ft. Hood shooting victims Blood donation efforts Phones jammed with inquiries from…

Media Families Community

Release assets into the wild

Core facts Photos on Flickr Videos on YouTube Documents on Scribd Presentations on SlideShare

Leverage your existing relationships

Acknowledge mistakes

Don’t: Filter the Negative

The 100% illusion

of our publics are happy with us of the time

Copyright applies to this document – some rights reserved.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-non commercial-share alike 3.0 licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Questions?

Shel Holtz, ABC

Phone: 415.367.3820Email: shel@holtz.comWeb: www.holtz.com Blog: blog.holtz.comPodcast: www.forimmediaterelease.bizLifestream: www.shelholtz.comSkype: shelholtzTwitter: @shelholtz2nd Life: Shel WitteFriendfeed: shelholtz