crisis communications on the social web
DESCRIPTION
A primer on crisis pr for the social web by Now Is Gone Author Geoff Livingston.TRANSCRIPT
Crisis Communications for the Social WebOctober 28, 2008
Trust in Online
• 41 percent trust Internet news according to (HarrisInteractive)
• From Searchers: Do you trust your search engine with your information? No say 62% (hakia)
• 44% of searchers regularly use just one engine, and another 48% use just two or three (Pew/Internet)
• Marketshare (ComScore):– Google 61%– Yahoo 20%– Microsoft 8%
09 f9 11 02
Song by Keith Burgmun, www.dinosaurlightning.comLicense: http://www.archive.org/details/OhNineEffNine
Not Only Do Posts Occur, They Create Conversations & Memes
Time Moves Quickly on the Internet
Crisis PR: Time Is of the Essence
• Traditional crisis tenets apply• Like crisis, messaging must not stray from facts• Timely reactions are critical to stymie crisis• Big blogs, social network users prompt immediate
reaction• Never overpromise (coal miners)!• Even small blogs, social network users should be
responded to w/in 24 hours• Media “crowdsources” stories from blogs, socnets
Influence As Pictured by Simon Collister
jetBlue Crisis
“This Target ad is senselessly subversive on so many levels that it begs pointing out this article in the U.K. Telegraph headlined, Girls Being Brainwashed to Be Promiscuous featuring Carol Platt Liebau’s new book about how our sex-obsessed culture damages girls.”
Amy Jussel, Founder Executive Director, Shaping Youth
Off Target
Target’s e-mail response:
“Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.”
Have a Plan, Items in Place
• Worst case scenarios such as downed plane, terrorist attack, etc:– Have messaging in place– Communication guidelines in place – In some cases, prepared statements
• Emotions involved get shared socially across the Internet, making it a community loss: It’s about them
• Prepare to provide regular updates on a public schedule, even if there is no update
Advance Work
• Pre-select and train your social media team• Have an in-bound blogger relations contact• Make sure there are monitoring and fielding processes in
place• Do the executives understand the immediacy of online?
Preordained executive contacts necessary• Similarly, having legal buy-in beforehand is critical
Social Media Tools for Crisis
• Launching a blog before crisis • Blog dark site for major issues that involve human lives• Social network accounts: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube• Integrate social activities into traditional media room
CRITICAL: Don’t Forget to Be Human
• Yes, communicate facts, etc, but it is Social Media– Genuine emotions– Authentic tone– Real conversations
• Transparency does not mean give away the house, dirty laundry
Central Park Sheep Meadow by New York808 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/newyork808/181896227/
Admitting Fault
• Key to Dell Hell turnaround: Listening• Acknowledging• Doing something about it• If you can’t or shouldn’t fix it, acknowledge
remarks• Use your social tools• Don’t apologize and do it again: Change!
Southwest Airlines Seating Policy
Dell Learns to Listen
From Hell To Heaven
Diacetyl Crisis
Image by Sage - http://tinyurl.com/3jptva
Where the Wild Things Are
Negative Comments and Trolls
• Identify through search, previous incidents
• Don’t answer every post
• >20 authority are musts• Avoid attention seekers• Don’t feed the trolls!• Blog: State your facts,
link back
Questions?
Additional reading: http://tinyurl.com/4g8bug
Contact: Geoff [email protected]: geoffliving