The  catalyst  effect  of  social  media  in  crisis  communication  management  

 Mariana  Victorino  

Catholic  University,  Portugal  Managing  Director  of  Porter  Novelli  Portugal  (Omnicom  Group)  

   

3rd  International  Consumer    Brand  Relationship  Colloquium  

26-­‐28  September,  2013,  Winter  Park  (Orlando),  Florida,  USA  

Table  of  Contents  

 Introduction  Research  problem  description  Research  question  &  hypothesis  Theoretical  framework  Research  methodology  Case  Study:  Ensitel  social  media  crisis  Results  and  discussion  Conclusion  

 

Why  crisis  communication  &  social  media?  

         often  results  in  the  practice  of  public  relations  getting  ahead  of  research.  The  practice  of  crisis  communication  is  ahead  of  research  in  terms  of  social  

 Coombs,  W.  Timothy  and  Holladay,  S.,  2008.  Comparing  apology  to  equivalent  crisis  response  strategies:  Clarifying  apology's  role  and  value  in  crisis  communication.    Public  Relations  Review.  Volume  34,  Issue  3,  September  2008,  Pages  252 257  

Why  crisis  communication  &  social  media?  

     social  media  in  public  relations  professional  publications,  research  is  still  needed  to  provide  evidence-­‐based  guidelines  to  make  the  business  case  for  integrating  social  media  into  crisis  management  practices    

Jin,  Y.,  Liu,  B.F.  &  Austin,  L.L.,  2011.  Examining   the  Role  of  Social  Media   in  Effective  Crisis  Management:  The  Effects  of  Crisis   Origin,   Information   Form,   and   Source   on     Crisis   Responses.   Communication   Research.   Available   at:  http://crx.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/0093650211423918  [Accessed  November  19,  2012].  

Research  problem  description  

Research  question  

Complementary  questions  

Hypothesis  definition  

Research  question  

 

of  social  media  acting  as  a  catalyst  to  the  

strategy  to  manage  situations  that  threaten    

Are  brands  prepared  to  manage  situations  that  may  have  a  negative  impact  in  their  reputation,  in  the  context  of  social  media  massive  use?  

Are  brands  aware  of  the  risks  and  consequences  of  not  being  prepared?  

What  methods  and  procedures  do  they  use  in  order  to  be  prepared?  

Did  social  media  contribute  to  change  the  way  brands  relate  to  their  stakeholders  in  the  context  of  a  reputational  threat?  

Complementary  Questions  

Did  crisis  communication  management  paradigm  change  in  result  of  social  media  dissemination?  

Did  social  media  bring  about  added  difficulties  or  challenges  for  crisis  communication  management?  

How  can  brands  manage  crisis  communication  in  Web  2.0  context?  

Do  brands  need  new  strategies  to  manage  effectively  their  crisis  communication  strategies?  Which  strategies?  

Complementary  Questions  

Hipo

thesis  1    

The  massive  use  of  social  media  entails  a  larger  

exposure  to  threats  for  the    reputation,  

demanding  the  definition  and  implementation  of  new  

and  adjusted  crisis  communication  practises.  

Hipo

thesis  2    

Brands  did  not  have  established  practises  for  

managing  crisis  communication  and,  due  to  the  massive  use  of  social  

media,  they  are  experiencing  increasing  threats  to  their  reputation,  which  is  leading  

them  to  develop  and  implement  these  methodologies.  

Hypothesis  Definition  

Argenti,  Barnett,  Chun,  Davies,  Doorley,  Dowling,    Fombrun,  Gaines-­‐Ross,  Greyser,  Griffin,  Jermier,  Lafferty,  Ollefs,  Shanley,  Van  

 

Corporate  Reputation  

Barton,  Coombs,  Fowler,  Gonzales-­‐Herrero,  Goodman,  Holladay,  Kling,  Larson,  Marcus,  Mersham,  Mittroff,  Penrose,  Pratt,  Seeger,  Sellnow  

Crisis  Communication  

Argenti  ,  Austin,  Baron,  Cardoso,  Jin,  Johnson,  Jordan-­‐Meier,  Kang,  Levinson,  Lister,  Liu,  Manovich,  Metzgar,  Perry,  Sweetser  

Social  Media  (applied  to  Crisis  Communication)  

Theoretical  framework  

Corporate  Reputation  Reputation  as  an  asset  (intangible,  but  manageable  by  the  brand);  as  an  assessment  (a  value  judgement  by  the    stakeholders);  uma  awareness  (global  perception,  collective  representation    Barnett  &  Lafferty  (2006)  Reputation  as  a  combination  of  an  economic  asset  (reputation-­‐capital),  a  representation  (image)  and  a  judgement  (reputation)    Fombrun  (2001)  

 

Table  1  -­‐  Barnett  &  Lafferty  (2006)  

Goal:  to  establish  the  relevance  of  defending  corporate  reputation  from  possible  threats  that  may  affect  brands,  through  crisis  communication  strategies  which  are  

adjusted  to  the  context  of  the  new  media.  

Crisis  Communication  

Crisis  Communication  

Definitions  

Models  

Acceptance  

Approaches  

Situational  Crisis  Communication  Theory  Coombs  (2007)  

 Learning  Barrier  Model  &  Mindful  Leaning  Model  

 Veil  (2010)    

Interdisciplinary  Normative  Theories  Ulmer  (2012)  

Crisis  Communication  (cont.)    Situational  Crisis  Communication  Theory    Coombs  (2004,  2007)  

Crisis  Responsibility       Crisis  History  Organizational  Reputation     Prior  relationship  reputation  Behavioral  intentions       Crisis  response  strategies    

   

Learning  Barrier  Model  &  Mindful  Leaning  Model    Veil  (2010)  Incorporate  learning  Importance  of  the  warning  signals    

Influence  

Deepen  the  knowledge  of  the  new  media  

Postman  (2011):  creation  of  online  contents;  easy  ways  ro  comment,  complete  and  share;  develop  relatioships  with  others  which  are  doing  the  same.  

Understand  the  role  of  social  media  for  brands  

Bradley  (2011):  enbrace  its  use,  like  a  decade  ago  the  use  of  internet  was  embraced.  Without  internet  the  brand    exist.  

Anticipate  the  impact  of  social  media  on  brands crisis  

communication  strategies  

Jin  et  al.  (2011):  public  increasingly  use  social  media  during  crises  and  consequently  crisis  communication  professionals  need  to  understand  how  to  act  strategically  to  optimize  these  tools.  

Social  Media  

Social  Media  (cont.)  Social-­‐Mediated  Crisis  Communication  Model  -­‐    Jin,  Liu  &  Austin  (2011)  

   

Methodology  Interviews  with  experts  in  this  field  (communication  professionals  and  academics,  communication  and  marketing  directors  and  journalists)    direct  qualitative  data;  

Interviews  with  representatives  from  brands  affected  by  crisis  situations  triggered  by  social  media  between  2010  and  2013    direct  qualitative  data;  

Identification  and  qualitative  analysis  of  situations  triggered  by  -­‐

based  situations  to  determine  which  theories,  mechanisms  and  tools  provide  the  most  effective  approaches.  

Secondary  quantitative  data  (European  Crisis  Communication  Barometer    Quadriga  University  -­‐  Germany;  Companies  and  crisis  in  social  media    Spirituc/  Guess  What  PR  

Ensitel  Case  Study  

Ensitel  Social  Media  Crisis  The  Turning  point  of  a    communication  strategy  

February  2009  Customer  intent  to  exchange  a  damaged  mobile  phone  is  

denied  by  Ensitel.  Starts  to  post  in  her  blog  

repporting  her  bad  experience.  

May  2010  Customer  sues  Ensitel    but  

looses  the  case.  Posts  in  her  blog  become  

more  negative  and  frequent,  putting  the  blog  in  first  place  

in  search  engines.  

December  2010  Ensitel  sues  the  client  with  the  aim  to  intimate  her  to  delete  the  negative  posts  

from  the  blog.  

During  December  2010  A  wave  of  solidarity  towards  the  

blogger  is  generated  and  hundreds  of  supportive  comments  and    messages  are  sent  to  her.  Groups  to  boycott  Ensitel  are  created  on  Facebook.  

The  online  crisis  transpires  to  the  tradicional  media  with  the  accusation  

of  Ensitel  trying  to  limitate  the  blogger's  freedom  of  expression.  Ensitel  deletes  negative  comments  

from  its  Facebook  page.  

Hundreds  of  negative  comments  appear  in  Ensitel's  Facebook  page.  The  brand  decides  to  withdraw  the  lawsuit  and  apologizes  to  the  client.  Ensitel  realizes  it  had  totally  lost  

control  over  communication  and  hires  a  PR  agency.  

January  2011  After  online  and  offline  negative  news  had  exploded,  as  well  as  the  reactions  in  social  media,  a  new  approach  to    the  brand's  communication  strategy  is  

agreed  among  the  company's  board.  

August  2011  The  online  and  offline  media  coverage  reverted  from  55  

negative  articles  in  January  to  18  positive  ones  en  August.  

A  totally  new  communication  approach  was  consolidated.  

Results  and  discussion  

Social  Media  

24  posts  in  the    blog  575  negative  comments  on  

 facebook  page  3  boycott  groups  created  on  facebook  Search  interest  on  Google  rose  from  60%  for  Ensitel  and  100%  for  the    blog  Creation  of  a  Wikipedia  entry  with  links  to  the  blog,  traditional  media  articles  and  relating  to  the  Streisand-­‐effect.  

Traditional  Media  

113  negative  articles  about  the  issue  were  published  afterwards  46%  on  print  media;  48%  online  media;  5%  on  TV  

0  10  20  30  40  50  60  

Jan  

Feb  

Mar  

Apr  

May  

Jun   Jul  

Aug  

Sep  

Oct  

Nov  

Dec  

3   3  8   8  

14   14   11  18  

1   4   7   7  

55  

12  8   6   7   4   2   0  

4   7   7   4  

Ensitel  -­‐  Media  Coverage  2011  

Positive  

Negative  

Results  and  discussion  (cont.)  

Interview  with    Managing  Director:  Prior  to  the  event  he    have  hired  a  PR  agency  Ensitel  had  a  slow  and  inadequate  reaction  due  to  total  inexperience  to  deal  with  social  media,  but  also  to  manage  communication  

 regognition  of  its  mistakes  contributed  to  regain  the  clients and  preference  The  help  of  crisis  communication  experts  was  crucial  The  brand  learnt  and  changed  for  the  better  

Preliminary  conclusions  Brands  are  often  unprepared  to  deal  with  crisis  situations  that  involve  social  media  Role  of  specialists  in  the  education  of  brands  to  deal  with  social  media  Social  media  are  leading  to  changes  in  the  way  brands  relate  to  their  stakeholders  Social  media  brought  added  difficulties  to  crisis  communication  management  Social  media  entail  a  larger  exposure  of  threats  

and  demands  for  the  definition  and  implementation  of  new  and  adjusted  crisis  communication  practices  

To  sum  up  

Embracing  a  proactive  attitude  towards  the  integration  of  the  digital  media  in  brands'communication  strategies  

Developing  an  articulated  crisis  communication  strategies  in  online  and  offline  media  

Mapping  the  stakeholders  involved  and  definition  about  ways  of  engagement  in  a  transparency  and  openness  assumption  attitude  

Learning  from  negative  experiences  and  extracting  the  consequent  key  learnings  and  corrective  measures  

Consider  reputational  and  communicational  impacts  and  not  only  technical  or  legal  ones  

Changing  leadership  mentalities  concerning  the  use  of  social  media  and  the  importance  of  crisis  communication  

Some  principles  which  support  the  importance  of  defining  crisis  communication  strategies  in  the  context  of  the  rise  and  dissemination  of  social  media: