All of the meat processing companies have been slow to grapple with the growing pink-slime hullabaloo, even though there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that their products are particularly unhealthy, said Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food safety and food poisoning cases.”My only complaint about this product is I think they could have been more up-front with the public,” Marler said. “When companies are not open about what their product is and what it contains, positive and negative, people get concerned and assume the worst.”
The meat industry failed itself by not staying abreast of social media and online forums for signs of trouble, said Jonathan Bernstein of Bernstein Crisis Management in Sierra Madre.
“They lost control of the message,” he said. “Perception is everything. If enough people perceive that something is wrong, it’s wrong. Reassurances that something’s safe from groups that are now distrusted are useless at this point.”
One of the most overlooked disciplines in any Integrated Marketing Communications plan is crisis. Without a crisis management and communications plan all of the other elements of IMC can become meaningless. When a crisis strikes, the most comprehensive programs in advertising, public relations, marketing and sales promotion can become useless. A crisis can strike anytime, anyplace and anywhere, and generally when least expected.
Unfortunately, many companies and organizations are just not prepared to immediately respond. The longer the delay, the more the incident becomes a crisis and the more the crisis exacerbates. You would think after so many classic crises that every company would have a crisis plan as a management priority. So many provide an excellent historical reference B Exxon Valdez, Bhopal, Three Mile Island, Tylenol, “Mad Cow” disease and Firestone/Bridgestone-Ford are among scores of crises from which any manager can learn..
Even 9/11 did not get the attention of some executives. Some 200 CEOs surveyed by the public relations firm of Burson-Marsteller and PR Week magazine after the terrorist attack said that their existing crisis plans were inadequate. However, two months later, only 63 percent of these CEOs had readdressed their existing plans. How vulnerable are the other 37 percent? And why no action?
A major problem today is that too many CEOs are in denial. They believe they are indestructible and don=t need a crisis plan B that is until they have a crisis. For many senior executives, a crisis management and communications plan could be considered job insurance. Any CEO who believes he or she is immune to a crisis is most vulnerable. If a company or organization cannot protect its image and reputation, it soon will no longer be in business.
The most catastrophic of crises happens when people die after using a company=s product. One company that didn’t make it was Bon Vivant, a producer of high quality, gourmet soups. People died after eating Bon Vivant soup. The company had no response plan and soon went out of business. Johnson & Johnson faced a similar crisis when people died from sabotaged Tylenol. However, the company responded immediately using all of its IMC techniques and rebuilt consumer trust.
Pepsi responded within hours after a customer charged that he found a syringe in a can of the soft drink. Within hours, the company sent video news releases to network, local and cable television stations showing the manufacturing process and graphically refuting how such an incident would be impossible.
The Hong Kong Tourist Promotion Bureau certainly was not prepared when it launched its campaign slogan “Hong Kong B it will take your breath away” only to have an outbreak of SARS just days later.
The objective of crisis communications is to contain and resolve the problem as quickly as possible. You want immediate closure, not continuing media dialog. A comprehensive crisis management and communications plan must be a part of IMC. Representatives from each of the IMC disciplines need to be part of an organization=s crisis team. Other members of the team should include the CEO or his representative, the general counsel and heads of human resources and security.
When preparing the plan, the team needs to anticipate every possible crisis and then develop a communications plan for each. The plan should spell out who says what and when so you can prepare to respond immediately. It will include details regarding the organization=s use of all of its logistical, personnel and financial resources.
Some companies even draft generic news releases for anticipated crises so there is no delay in responding. Everything can be signed off by legal and management before there is a crisis. When a crisis strikes, saying “no comment” or stonewalling a response is only raising a red flag for the media and general public. It furthers distrust when management needs to build trust. Forty percent of the public believes a company already is hiding something or is guilty and this jumps to 60 percent when litigation is involved. Always tell the truth and correct misinformation and incorrect statements. Where victims are involved it is important to show compassion, sympathy and remorse for the victims and their families. It is not against the law to do so and this is often where the public relations counsel conflicts with the attorneys.
The plan will detail methods for internal and external communication. It will describe the location and alternates for the communications command post. The document must be a living document and changed and updated on a periodic basis. The crisis team should meet at least semi-annually, if not more often.
In addition to “what if?” crisis situations specific to any organization or company and its line of products and services, there are five generic situations plans must address:
1. Violence in the workplace. This is the leading cause of death in the workplace and where one of six violent crimes is committed. Even the best of plans cannot prevent this from happening.
2. Sexual harassment and discrimination. Regardless how hard an organization tries, how many seminars and education classes there are, you cannot prevent crises in this area. It is always embarrassing to the leadership when it happens.
3. Terrorism. This was a problem before 9/11 and not all terrorism is of the Taliban or Al-Quada type. There are extreme, radical environmental groups that have set fire to new model homes in housing developments hoping to prevent growth. Radical animal rights groups have destroyed research laboratories.
4. Acts of Mother Nature. Here many companies may have a logistics plan in place for problems created by weather, but is there a communications plan? Violent weather is creating serious problems all over the U.S.
5. Environmental pollution. Do you want to be called a polluter? Or how can you justify the penalty and fine to shareholders and customers?
I have always recommended that my clients be proactive, aggressive and out in front on all issues. This is the only way to control the message and say what you want heard. As soon as the crisis is over, the crisis team should meet, review the plan and make necessary updates. Always be prepared, because the same crisis can happen again.
Rene A. Henry is a consultant and author of six books including Marketing Public Relations B the hows that make it work! and one of the best-selling books on crisis management and communications, You=d Better Have A Hose If You Want to Put Out the Fire.
This opinion piece by Rene A. Henry was originally written for and published in the Summer 2003 issue of IMC Comminique, a publication of The Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University.
Here are five points to help you develop a flexible crisis management plan because, without the ability to quickly mobilize the appropriate staff and other resources, the crisis can easily escalate beyond the level necessary. Here are my recommendations:
- Have listening and/or social media monitoring tools in place. These analytical instruments can provide critical information regarding how prospects, customers and the general public are reacting to and talking about your brands and/or company. It’s important to pay attention when the tone and content of the conversation changes. Scott recommends incorporating company data analysis that monitors the combination of social media activity with real time news and website and other company related volumes.
- Need to have the appropriate personnel plugged in across your organization. This group must work together as a team both internally and externally. This includes senior executives and their assistants, human resources, legal, marketing, customer services, PR or marketing communications, technology, website support, investor relations (if your firm is publically traded) and customer facing jobs like retail and sales. There must be a list of electronic as well as voice contact information, including off hours contact numbers.
- Create a process to enable people, especially senior management and PR, to react quickly regardless of the day and time since crises can happen on holidays or weekends. Further, there should be an understanding of how decisions will be made and whose approval is needed.
When mistakes are made, fight the urge to defend and minimize. Spinning and shaping a message to look “positive,” only makes a leader look weak, evasive and less than honest.
Realize that no matter how hard your organization works, mistakes will be made. Most people understand this. You won’t get points for it, but you won’t be vilified if you communicate in a straight up fashion: “We screwed up. This never should have happened. We’ve got to get this right. The stakes are too high. We apologize to the American people.”
Final advice: “Go with your gut when communicating under pressure.
Ask yourself, “If I were on the other end of this message, would it seem credible to me? Would I believe the person saying it?”
If your answer is no, you can be confident your communication strategy is on a very dangerous path.”
Steve Adubato speaks and coaches on leadership and communication. He is the author of the book, “What Were They thinking? Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad and the Totally Clueless.”
When mistakes are made, fight the urge to defend and minimize. Spinning and shaping a message to look “positive,” only makes a leader look weak, evasive and less than honest.
Realize that no matter how hard your organization works, mistakes will be made. Most people understand this. You won’t get points for it, but you won’t be vilified if you communicate in a straight up fashion: “We screwed up. This never should have happened. We’ve got to get this right. The stakes are too high. We apologize to the American people.”
Final advice: “Go with your gut when communicating under pressure.
Ask yourself, “If I were on the other end of this message, would it seem credible to me? Would I believe the person saying it?”
If your answer is no, you can be confident your communication strategy is on a very dangerous path.”
Steve Adubato speaks and coaches on leadership and communication. He is the author of the book, “What Were They thinking? Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad and the Totally Clueless.”
Sometimes questions are more important than answers. In a crisis situation, you need to know the questions to ask before you have answers to questions.
This starts with the many “What ifs” that need to be asked as you develop the crisis plan or plans for your company, institution or organization. Never rush in believing you have all of the answers. You may have overlooked some important questions that need to be asked.
Fred Thompson, former managing partner of the Earle Palmer Brown public relations firm, says when you think you are in a crisis you need to ask yourself three questions:
- “Who has the most to gain or lose in this situation?” Prioritize the issues.
- “Is there a fundamental misunderstanding?” A basic misunderstanding might be resolved by an explanation or presentation of the facts.
- “Can this be ended with an apology, admission or wrongdoing or simply saying ‘we screwed up’?” This could create conflict with the legal counsel who may want to avoid any such admission or statement of regret.
Thompson believes answers to these questions will define the strategy to best deal with a situation before it turns into a crisis.
Andrew Stern, chair of Sunwest Communications, Dallas, believes in asking a number of questions before a crisis as part of being prepared. “If a crisis is ready to happen, you don’t have time to go through steps one through four. You must be prepared in advance. The plan should have a scenario so that when a potential crisis is ready to happen, every member of the team knows instinctively what to do,” says Stern. Here are some questions he asks:
- Does the situation stand the risk of escalating in intensity?
- How intensive can it become and how quickly?
- What can we endure?
- Does it present hazards to people off-site (away from the workplace)?
- To what extent will the situation be reported by the news media?
- To what extent will the media coverage be monitored by government agencies?
- Will local news media call to inquire?
- Will there be regional, national or international coverage?
- Does the organization typically report whatever kinds of incidents occur to local, state or federal government agencies or officials?
- Are injuries or deaths involved?
- Will the crisis interfere with operations?
- Will business be conducted as usual despite the situation?
- Will people be interrupted in doing their normal duties?
- Will work come to a halt?
- Will outside organizations be affected?
- Will this crisis affect the reputation and good image the company has with customers and the public?
- Will it affect the confidence people have in the institution?
- Will sales or products or services be impacted?
- Did the crisis happen because of anything the company did? Or did it just happen?
- Is the company the victim of external forces and events beyond its control?
- What extent could the company be injured financially? Politically? Sales and profits?”
Start making a list of questions you need to ask.
Note: Rene A. Henry is vice president-public relations for Innovative Communication Corporation, a privately owned telecom and media company with operations throughout the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Belize, France, Sint Maarten, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe and Martinique. He also is the author of six books including “You’d Better Have A Hose If You Want To Put Out the Fire – the complete guide to crisis and risk communications,” “Marketing Public Relations – the hows that make it work!” and “Offsides! – Fred Wyant’s provocative look inside the National Football League.”
Sometimes questions are more important than answers. In a crisis situation, you need to know the questions to ask before you have answers to questions.
This starts with the many “What ifs” that need to be asked as you develop the crisis plan or plans for your company, institution or organization. Never rush in believing you have all of the answers. You may have overlooked some important questions that need to be asked.
Fred Thompson, former managing partner of the Earle Palmer Brown public relations firm, says when you think you are in a crisis you need to ask yourself three questions:
- “Who has the most to gain or lose in this situation?” Prioritize the issues.
- “Is there a fundamental misunderstanding?” A basic misunderstanding might be resolved by an explanation or presentation of the facts.
- “Can this be ended with an apology, admission or wrongdoing or simply saying ‘we screwed up’?” This could create conflict with the legal counsel who may want to avoid any such admission or statement of regret.
Thompson believes answers to these questions will define the strategy to best deal with a situation before it turns into a crisis.
Andrew Stern, chair of Sunwest Communications, Dallas, believes in asking a number of questions before a crisis as part of being prepared. “If a crisis is ready to happen, you don’t have time to go through steps one through four. You must be prepared in advance. The plan should have a scenario so that when a potential crisis is ready to happen, every member of the team knows instinctively what to do,” says Stern. Here are some questions he asks:
- Does the situation stand the risk of escalating in intensity?
- How intensive can it become and how quickly?
- What can we endure?
- Does it present hazards to people off-site (away from the workplace)?
- To what extent will the situation be reported by the news media?
- To what extent will the media coverage be monitored by government agencies?
- Will local news media call to inquire?
- Will there be regional, national or international coverage?
- Does the organization typically report whatever kinds of incidents occur to local, state or federal government agencies or officials?
- Are injuries or deaths involved?
- Will the crisis interfere with operations?
- Will business be conducted as usual despite the situation?
- Will people be interrupted in doing their normal duties?
- Will work come to a halt?
- Will outside organizations be affected?
- Will this crisis affect the reputation and good image the company has with customers and the public?
- Will it affect the confidence people have in the institution?
- Will sales or products or services be impacted?
- Did the crisis happen because of anything the company did? Or did it just happen?
- Is the company the victim of external forces and events beyond its control?
- What extent could the company be injured financially? Politically? Sales and profits?”
Start making a list of questions you need to ask.
Note: Rene A. Henry is vice president-public relations for Innovative Communication Corporation, a privately owned telecom and media company with operations throughout the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Belize, France, Sint Maarten, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe and Martinique. He also is the author of six books including “You’d Better Have A Hose If You Want To Put Out the Fire – the complete guide to crisis and risk communications,” “Marketing Public Relations – the hows that make it work!” and “Offsides! – Fred Wyant’s provocative look inside the National Football League.”
by Rene A. Henry, Fellow PRSA, © 2001
6-14-5
My second job was in a large corporate environment, and I had been given the responsibility to produce the employee magazine. I was writing a typical article about a committee’s planning efforts so that everyone in the organization had a feel for what was happening. I asked what the team was doing, who was on the team and when they expected to finish the work, and I got a blank stare from the manager who was my source. She said she didn’t want to put a date out there because the team might be held accountable to that date.
That’s when I first learned the truth about truth: it’s a moving target. And it’s why so many brands are so bland. When there’s no truth – no authenticity – there’s no focus, there’s no goal, there’s no accountability to the brand.
It’s happened time and time again since that day…a client, for example, will boldly make a claim that is different and relevant, only to back down when it’s put in writing for all to see. “I’m not comfortable with that” is the common response (usually during the second or third round of the approval process, just before the piece goes to print) because they realize they can’t guarantee the claim operationally.
As communicators – as brand warriors – we have only one choice: speak up, loudly and often, and demand our co-workers or clients be true to the brand. It’s the T in a D.I.R.T.Y. brand. And it’s what will help us move out of the tactical conversations and be part of the strategy conversations in our organizations.
A few years ago, I was facilitating a brand discernment process with a group of employees at a small bank client, when the receptionist asked if she’s supposed to hold the vice-president accountable to the brand. I said “absolutely” and the whole room went quiet. A smile slowly crept over the face of the vice-president, a quiet man who completely bought into the premise, and he said “yes, you should.”
It’s difficult to demand authenticity across an organization. If the brand is understood by everyone, positive brand management examples are shared with everyone, and there’s buy-in at the top of the organizational chart, however, it’s easy to be a brand warrior.
And there’s nobody more empowered to be the brand warrior than the communications professional. You can use your skills to:
• thoroughly explain the brand,
• demonstrate how others are living the brand,
• help the leadership craft a brand story and
• take it to the market.
And keep telling the story so others know how to tell the story, too.
By Mark True
Don’t forget Baush & Lomb… head back into this earlier article to see updates.
Also —
Here is some additional information that may interest you as we follow this communications case.
Take a look at what some business school profs said about this
case in BusinessWeek Online in April
“Bausch & Lomb: Crisis Management 101”
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/apr2006/pi20060417_741558.htm
News Analysis
By Phil Mintz and Francesca Di Meglio
Visit http://www.bausch.com/en_US/ep/general/general/backgrounder.pdf
Here you can review Bausch & Lomb’s own summary of their communications response to this issue. This lengthy overview is in pdf format.
Deloitte LLP has posted its third annual chairman’s Ethics and Workplace Survey. I say that there are serious implications for the PR professional.
The intro to their news release reads:
NEW YORK, May 18, 2009 — According to the third annual Deloitte LLP Ethics & Workplace survey, 60 percent of business executives believe they have a right to know how employees portray themselves and their organizations in online social networks. However, employees disagree, as more than half (53 percent) say their social networking pages are not an employer’s concern. This fact is especially true among younger workers, with 63 percent of 18–34 year old respondents stating employers have no business monitoring their online activity.
The release continues:
“With the explosive growth of online social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, rapidly blurring the lines between professional and private lives, these virtual communities have increased the potential of reputational risk for many organizations and their brands,” said Sharon Allen, chairman of the board, Deloitte LLP. “While the decision to post videos, pictures, thoughts, experiences and observations is personal, a single act can create far reaching ethical consequences for individuals as well as employers. Therefore, it is important for executives to be mindful of the implications of this connected world and to elevate the discussion about the risks associated with it to the highest levels of leadership.”
Well, okay… how does that apply to PR, you say? I say plenty. It’s about our reputations!
The release goes on to say, “employees appear to have a clear understanding of the risks involved in using online social networks, as 74 percent of respondents believe they make it easier to damage a company’s reputation.”
“One-third of employees surveyed never consider what their boss or customers might think before posting material online,” Allen continued. “This fact alone reinforces how vulnerable brands are as a result of the increased use of social networks. As business leaders, it is critical that we continue to foster solid values-based cultures that encourage employees to behave ethically regardless of the venue.”
How about these specifics from Deloitte’s survey?
- 74% of employees surveyed say it’s easy to damage a company’s reputation on social media. 34% said they rarely or never consider what their clients would think. 15% said that it their employer did something they didn’t agree with, they would comment about it on line.
- 61% of employees say that even if employers are monitoring their social networking profiles or activities, they won’t change what they’re doing online.
And finally, consider this from the study:
“Fifty-eight percent of executives agree that reputational risk and social networking should be a board room issue, but only 15% say it actually is. How are executives working to mitigate the risks of social networking media?”
1) “Our executive team regularly discusses how we can best leverage social networks to our advantage while mitigating risks.” 27%“
2) My company has formal policies that dictate how employees can use social networking tools.” 22%
3) “Our senior leadership team addresses issues related to companywide social networking.” 22%
4) “My company has a program dedicated to monitoring and mitigating risks related to social networks.” 17%
The Deloitte conclusions include this advice:
“Therefore, attempts to mitigate reputational risk in these online communities should include an emphasis on culture, values, and ethics within an organization. By reinforcing these fundamental elements, business leaders will have the opportunity to encourage good decisionmaking in virtual social networking environments.”
What are you doing about educating your employees about their use of social media sites?
Deloitte LLP has posted its third annual chairman’s Ethics and Workplace Survey. I say that there are serious implications for the PR professional.
The intro to their news release reads:
NEW YORK, May 18, 2009 — According to the third annual Deloitte LLP Ethics & Workplace survey, 60 percent of business executives believe they have a right to know how employees portray themselves and their organizations in online social networks. However, employees disagree, as more than half (53 percent) say their social networking pages are not an employer’s concern. This fact is especially true among younger workers, with 63 percent of 18–34 year old respondents stating employers have no business monitoring their online activity.
The release continues:
“With the explosive growth of online social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, rapidly blurring the lines between professional and private lives, these virtual communities have increased the potential of reputational risk for many organizations and their brands,” said Sharon Allen, chairman of the board, Deloitte LLP. “While the decision to post videos, pictures, thoughts, experiences and observations is personal, a single act can create far reaching ethical consequences for individuals as well as employers. Therefore, it is important for executives to be mindful of the implications of this connected world and to elevate the discussion about the risks associated with it to the highest levels of leadership.”
Well, okay… how does that apply to PR, you say? I say plenty. It’s about our reputations!
The release goes on to say, “employees appear to have a clear understanding of the risks involved in using online social networks, as 74 percent of respondents believe they make it easier to damage a company’s reputation.”
“One-third of employees surveyed never consider what their boss or customers might think before posting material online,” Allen continued. “This fact alone reinforces how vulnerable brands are as a result of the increased use of social networks. As business leaders, it is critical that we continue to foster solid values-based cultures that encourage employees to behave ethically regardless of the venue.”
How about these specifics from Deloitte’s survey?
- 74% of employees surveyed say it’s easy to damage a company’s reputation on social media. 34% said they rarely or never consider what their clients would think. 15% said that it their employer did something they didn’t agree with, they would comment about it on line.
- 61% of employees say that even if employers are monitoring their social networking profiles or activities, they won’t change what they’re doing online.
And finally, consider this from the study:
“Fifty-eight percent of executives agree that reputational risk and social networking should be a board room issue, but only 15% say it actually is. How are executives working to mitigate the risks of social networking media?”
1) “Our executive team regularly discusses how we can best leverage social networks to our advantage while mitigating risks.” 27%“
2) My company has formal policies that dictate how employees can use social networking tools.” 22%
3) “Our senior leadership team addresses issues related to companywide social networking.” 22%
4) “My company has a program dedicated to monitoring and mitigating risks related to social networks.” 17%
The Deloitte conclusions include this advice:
“Therefore, attempts to mitigate reputational risk in these online communities should include an emphasis on culture, values, and ethics within an organization. By reinforcing these fundamental elements, business leaders will have the opportunity to encourage good decisionmaking in virtual social networking environments.”
What are you doing about educating your employees about their use of social media sites?
I’ve quoted my friend and mentor, David Berlo, numerous times in this column. Here’s one of his more curious gems. “The key to being effective is sincerity,” he said, “and if you can learn how to fake that, you’ve really got it made.” He was joking, of course. But like the old saying goes, there’s a bit of truth in every joke.
Key to Leadership
I was reminded of David’s quip recently when I attended a presentation on a report entitled “The Authentic Enterprise.” It was published two years ago by the Arthur W. Page Society from a study that examined the role of senior communicators in the 21st century.
Based on comments from numerous CEOs and chief communications officers, the report summed up the study’s pivotal finding like this – “In a word, authenticity will be the coin of the realm for successful corporations and for those who lead them.” The report goes on to say, “Demands for transparency are at an all-time high, and give no sign of ebbing.”
Reality is Fabulous
Perhaps it’s not surprising that businesses have struggled with the elemental need to be straight shooters. It’s certainly not new – just look at what Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden more than 150 years ago …
“Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous. If men would observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, music and poetry would resound along the streets. Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks, which we can call reality.”
Despite the apparent yearning for greater authenticity … or sincerity … or reality, some skeptics think it’s mostly a hoax. They argue that when stakeholders – inside or out – say they want more authenticity, all they’re really looking for is consistency. I guess they haven’t run into as many consistently inauthentic “spinners” as I have.
A Choice and a Voice
Still, the remark made me examine what I mean when I use the word authentic. It was easier to grasp its significance by describing what I mean by IN-authentic. Here are some words and phrases that come to mind – doubletalk … misdirection … sanitizing bad news … glamorizing good news … manipulating the truth … distorting the facts … empty jargon … phony platitudes. It’s rarely an outright lie – just an artful shading of reality. Sound familiar? From where I stand, that’s a whole lot more sinister and unsavory than merely being inconsistent.
Professional communicators have a choice and a voice. We can play along and help our organizations engage in “shams and delusions” that strain credibility – or we can be champions of authenticity. Promoting the latter, the Page report says, “If we choose this path, we can transform our profession, open up new and meaningful responsibility and learning, and create exciting new career paths for communications professionals.” Now that’s something to look forward to – sincerely.
Les Landes, Landes & Associates
Buy Les’s webinar replay: Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement
“In preparing for battle, I have always
found that plans are useless, but
planning is indispensable.”– Dwight David Eisenhower
President Eisenhower could well have uttered the same quote about Crisis Communications. Developing a crisis communications plan is more about planning to mobilize for a potential crisis, than it is about writing step-by-step actions for specific pre-ordained scenarios. And this is what causes so many management teams to be confused about exactly what the components of a good crisis communication plan actually are. Here are five “Crisis Plan Essentials” to consider in order to get your team ready to communicate in a crisis.
1) Identify the Crisis Team
It’s important that the right people from the appropriate functional areas of the organization are ready to respond at a moment’s notice to a crisis and understand their responsibilities as members of the team. Along with the CEO and CFO, the team should include key people from public relations, corporate communications, investor relations, human resources, public affairs, sales and marketing. Make sure that at least two members of the crisis team have been media trained. A major crisis is no time to get your feet wet in media relations.
2) Constantly Assess Your Primary Risks
Forward-thinking companies take a strategic approach to crisis communications by continuously assessing the risks associated with their businesses. The key to this effort is to establish a risk-aware culture and a process whereby employees can funnel their ideas about potential risks through management to an appointed member of the crisis communications team. For each risk, the team should assign responsibility for continuous monitoring and assessment, taking actions to mitigate risk when possible.
Organizations and businesses that don’t plan for crisis will be left behind when the inevitable happens. Thorough crisis plans don’t have to be 50 pages long, but you need to have one. Your organization’s crisis plan should include a social piece in the communications section. Real-time is the fastest way to join the conversation, provide help and information, and direct the messages. Social helps you be your own media. So, how can social media play a positive role in crisis? Here are five social media must-haves in crisis:
1. Emergency website home page or news page: Your website developer will be able to set this template up and keep it ready to go for a time of crisis. You can either re-direct your URL (depending on the severity of the crisis and need for real-time information), or just have it as a prominent link from the home page. If the crisis is severe enough, for instance involving public safety or tragedy of some kind, it might be worth having a home page re-direct for the first 24 hours of the event. Recently, Missouri University of Science and Technology initiated their “Emergency Home Page” when there was a shooter on campus. You can see the template and details here.
Emergency websites should include (above the fold) necessary contact information for the public, those involved or with family involved, and press. If you have a press room on your regular website, the link should be prominent in contrasting color in crisis time. Press may need background information, bios, pictures, fast facts, news releases and much more. If you have an online press room available, they won’t need to call or email for the basic info. The press room should also include a schedule of upcoming releases and press conferences. Icon links to social media platforms where crisis info is available should be above the fold and in contrasting color to backgrounds. News stories related to the crisis should be listed in chronological order with date and time in headline.
2. Main Facebook page: If you have one main Facebook page that engages on behalf of the organization, it should take on a newsroom feel temporarily. I would recommend posting the news releases and also a link to the main page occasionally where people can get more information. Use your social channels to push people to your main website in a crisis. Be sure and address internally who will post, when posts will be made, who will monitor, when to take a conversation offline, and how any associated pages will be handled (see #5 below). If there is more than one admin, I would recommend assigning one person/one voice to craft the posts, even though multiple admins can post the actual messages. Admins can be trained to respond to inquiries. Maintain good communication between all the admins–put your heads together and keep internal staff well-informed.
3. Main Twitter feed: The guiding principles here should be the same as above–business as usual on Twitter should be suspended for a specified period of time in order to deal with questions, concerns, and to push out news releases and contact info. Be careful not to post too often, as you could create panic by an obviously irregular amount of posts. Discuss frequency in your social media policy. The initial time period that Twitter deals with the crisis-only should be determined by the energy of the crisis. Don’t add fuel to the fire, but actively work on managing it and putting out the blaze.
Bausch and Lomb has some savvy PR folks cranking out the message these days. As a contact lens wearer myself, I was very surprised to find this:
Important message about ReNu(R)
in my email inbox.
May 15, 2006 |
|
CEO: Safety is Our No. 1 Priority | |
Chairman & CEO Ron Zarrella announces Bausch & Lomb is permanently taking MoistureLoc contact lens solution off the global market immediately. Runs: 2:10 |
How’d they know where to find me? Oh, I remember. I ordered that new lens solution over the web — the one that is being tied to eye fungus and is all over the news. Well, here’s what the B & L Chairman and CEO Ron Zarella told me personally in my email.
Dear loyal ReNu consumer,
As indicated in our previous email, we stopped selling our MoistureLoc® formulation more than a month ago. Despite exhaustive testing, we are unable to eliminate the possibility of a link to an apparent increase of a rare eye infection. Therefore, we will not reintroduce the MoistureLoc® formula. Follow this link to view a video message from Bausch & Lomb CEO, Ron Zarrella. Our goal is to provide you with the most reliable information so that you have a clear understanding of how this situation affects you and the Bausch & Lomb ReNu solutions you use. |
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We want to make following your eye care professional’s recommendations easier. That’s why we created the Bausch & Lomb Wear&Care™ Program. This program provides you with the information and products you need for healthy contact lens wear, and best of all it’s FREE — so get started today.
If you have not yet requested your coupon for a FREE 12-oz. bottle of ReNu MultiPlus solution, please follow this link. So, this is terrific… a streaming video message straight from the CEO and they created this Wear and Care “club” (healthy contact lens care program) just for consumers such as ME! Wow! They’ve got my attention. They are giving me lots of free eye stuff. Thank you for your understanding and continued support. Then, I’m watching television the same night and there is Mr. Zarella giving the same video message I’d just heard on my computer that afternoon. My first reaction was, “Hey, I know that guy!” You can read this message by visiting a pdf document on their website at http://www.bausch.com/5_15_message.pdf A quick Google news search on May 18, shows all of this reaction to the B & L issue. It will be interesting to follow this case and see what editorials pop up later on. It’s a classic PR case in the making, for sure. Tricia Bishop is covering this for the Baltimore Sun. A sampling of other coverage is linked below.
MORE NEWS ON THIS CASE POSTED AUGUST 7, 2006 One Wall Street Journal article by Sylvia Pagan Westphal, boasting line graph entitled “Eye Sore,” reveals that studies showed as long as nine years ago that there might be problems related to serious fungal eye infections in the U.S. and Asia because of multi-purpose solutions. The author claims that then the manufacturers downplayed concerns, blaming problems not on the product, but on how it was being used. So, do you think the company has an obligation to push proper lens care more fervently than it already did back then? Where does personal responsibility come into play? Okay, so what else is new with this case? The August 1 issue of the Wall Street Journal includes a compelling story by Zacahry M.Seward, headlined “Contact Lens Wearers Seek Solutions.” Great pun in the headline, there. The subhead reads: “As infection worries widen, dorctors offer some safey tips; a hydrogen-peroxide solution.” So, as the science confuses more than resolves the infection issues, doctors are recommending a return to the old days. Much is made about personal efforts and hygiene to keep these lenses CLEAN. Isn’t that common sense? The American Optometric Association weighs in: “We’re seeing much more vigilance, and patients are asking what they can do to prevent these infections.” While the Bausch & Lomb incident created some alarm, most wearers simply switched brands without waiting to understand that it’s not Bausch & Lomb that’s at issue — it’s multi-purpose solutions and cleaning habits. The case continues to unfold. |
Penn State couldn’t control whether its leadership participated in criminal conduct — or whether they covered up crimes — but it could control how it handled the fall-out.
Let’s face it: any situation revealing that your leadership’s moral center is located in its football team’s win/loss record isn’t ever going to be good news, no matter what the issue. But it needn’t have tarnished the school as a whole, alienated the student body, or made the school’s supporters ashamed of it.
In other words, the situation didn’t have to turn into a media circus.
Really? No crisis management plan?!
Astonishingly, it seems that the school didn’t have a communications plan in place to intercept this crisis at any stage: from the initial revelations of possible criminal conduct, to the numerous lapses of judgment by its leadership, to the disovery of the abject failure of moral leadership, to Jerry Sandusky’s arrest, to the firing of Joe Paterno, to the student demonstrations that followed.
In fact, Penn State continues to move forward in a completely reactive mode. It seems to have entirely abdicated any effort to shape the conversation around these stupefying events — ironic in light of the fact that its College of Communications offers a robust course of study on the mechanics and ethics of advertising and PR.
In other words, any second-year Penn State communications student could have offered the university some basic rules of thumb that would have helped them join the conversation rather than becoming the object of it.
Mostly, it’s about keeping it real
There are numerous lessons in the many ways Penn State has bungled its crisis communications. Here are the top four missed opportunities:
#1 Have a plan. Seriously. Penn State spent two years conducting an investigation on possible criminal conduct, yet somehow failed to plan for what might happen if the allegations came to light, much less if they prove true.
So make a plan, then review it at least twice a year. When the time comes, implement. Moving forward, incorporate your learnings and refine.
#2 Be transparent. Answer questions honestly. Especially the tough ones. No matter how bad the issue may be, trying to cover it up will make it worse. Learn from history: it was a cover-up that escalated a third-rate burglary into a scandal that brought down a presidency.
#3 Deliver your message. State it, restate it, then reinforce it yet again. Defining your message defines the shape of the discussion around your issue. Fail here, and the media will create the message for you.
Penn State didn’t just fail to answer any questions — they also made all of their decisions in closed-session meetings and then cancelled a press conference. Citing “the on-going legal circumstances surrounding the recent allegations and charges” — the very thing they needed to respond to — they left over 200 media outlets with nothing to report other than speculation, opinion and innuendo.
#4 Be part of the solution. Emerging successfully from a crisis isn’t about convincing anyone you were perfect. This is where transparency, sincerity and good intentions really pay off. No matter how badly you may have screwed up, truly trying to make things right goes a long way. That’s not just good PR — it’s good karma.
Think of several crises that may befall your organization: a leaked YouTube video of an off the cuff comment made by your CEO, a racist comment made by a member of your staff to a client or customer, a product defect that injured or poisoned a consumer, or an ill advised post that went viral (see KitchenAid post). In any of these cases the response would be different based on the specific issue, the seriousness of the claim, or the staff members involved.
Here are 10 tips to help you through an online crisis when time counts and coordination of your message is key:
Smooth Approval Process
In a social media crisis you must have a smooth approval process for posting information. Depending on the structure of your organization you may have a multi-tiered process. Organizations with multiple locations and duplicate sub-departments may either choose to empower local staff members to make final decisions or await a strategy from headquarters. A lengthy system of checks and balances may make you feel safe however the minutes that turn to hours reviewing a single post can make your organization appear confused or in the midst of a cover up.
Raise a Flag
At the first hint of an online issue the designated crisis coordinator should be alerted. This staff member will then decide the severity of the issue and alert key staff members if need be. Be sure to cast a wide net to those who interact with the media or may encounter questions regarding this news. You never want your senior management to be caught unaware. I am frequently the crisis coordinator, since I oversee internal and external communications, allowing my organizations to feel comfortable with a process centralized by a trained spokesperson that underwent crisis training.
The Manual
To prevent an internal crisis within your process you need to have a manual dictating various scenarios. Who do you contact if the crisis coordinator was “hit by a bus”? What happens if the CEO is unavailable for a statement? How does your call center coordinate responses with your social media team? These inevitable questions need to be considered and planned for as far in advance as possible.
Move Quickly
Once a crisis coordinator has been alerted he or she can ensure that all key members of your staff as well as outside consultants are aware of the situation and begin to formulate a strategy and response. As a crisis coordinator I frequently use email only for consensus data at this point and begin having office discussions or call a quick meeting/teleconference. This helps the process move quickly and keeps everyone in the loop.
Strategy
The staff member who originally raised the issue may be eager to post a response. In some cases you may decide that a response is necessary to let the public know that you are aware of the issue and to thank all involved for bringing it to your attention. In other cases you may wish to wait until you know a few more facts and post a response. In my experience I have found that an initial response thanking the poster works well. If you wait too long before your first post you may appear uncaring or out of touch.
If your employees are inevitably going to play such a major role at such a critical time for your company, how do you protect yourself and make sure that it doesn’t come back to cripple you even further?
There are some specific preliminary strategies for you to put into effect before a crisis, that will turn this potentially unpleasant reality into an efficient opportunity to regain control of the crisis quicker, resolve it sooner and come out of it in one very complete piece.
Step #1: Have a crisis plan in place
It all starts here. Your crisis plan is what will get you through a crisis quickly, efficiently and above all else, smoothly. If you skip this step, well, never mind worrying about your employees, because without a social media crisis plan, that’ll be the least of your worries!Step #2: Train your staff
Your crisis communication plan is your secret weapon, but should in no way be kept a secret. – Melissa Agnes
Once you have a crisis plan in place, it does no good unless all members of your staff understand it and know what’s expected of them – and there’s only one way to make sure of this: you need to tell them and show them. Your employees need to be directed and guided before a crisis strikes, so that just like you, they’re prepared and understand the rules of the game.
Step #3: Practice makes perfect
As a fire drill secures the safety of everybody within your building in the event of a fire, the same goes for your social media crisis plan. Once your entire team understands their role and what’s expected of them, it’s time to put them to the test and practice each scenario. The more you practice the higher your chances of coming out of the crisis in speedy time and with limited repercussions to your brand.Step #4: Be open and honest with every member of your staff throughout a crisis
Many companies make the mistake of not sharing all information with their staff, and in many cases this leads to more complications, misunderstandings and consequences that could have easily been avoided. It’s very important that you make all information regarding the crisis accessible to all. A great way to go about doing this is to set up some kind of an internal communication platform before a crisis presents itself. This could be by means of an internal blog, intranet, forum or any other communication platform that allows for real-time updates as they unfold, and two-way conversations between each member of your staff.
I’ve worked as a journalist for more than 15 years and one of my greatest fears, for which I’ve realized, is simply getting information wrong. I try really hard not to make those mistakes, but with so many moving parts it’s often inevitable that mistakes will happen.
Sometimes journalists are not on the top of their game. And sometimes they’re just no good.
Whatever the situation is with a journalist that’s interviewing you, there is a way to make your experience go well.
What follows are some techniques to making sure your story gets recorded correctly, and with the tone you expect. I can’t guarantee that the journalist will write the story in the manner you want, but these tips will definitely reduce the number of errors, so you won’t have one of those, “Uggh, that’s not what I said. It’s all wrong!” experiences.
The real-time Web has opened an opportunity for anybody to inject ideas into a breaking news story and generate tons of media coverage. I’ve been a communicator for two decades now, and I have never seen a technique as powerful as newsjacking. But it has primarily come up under the radar because it relies on a new communication speed that most organizations reserve only for crisis communications. I’ve noticed corporate communicators in large organizations unwilling to understand and take advantage of real-time communications, often becoming prey to smaller more nimble players.
As journalists scramble to cover breaking news, the basic facts — who/what/when/where — are often fairly easy to find, either on a corporate website or in competitors’ copy. That’s what goes in the first paragraph of any news story.
The challenge for reporters is to get the “why” and the implications of the event (which often goes into the second and additional paragraphs). Why is the company closing its plant? The corporate website may offer some bogus excuse like “because it wants to spend more time with its family.” Competitors may quote some expert’s speculation on the real reason, but a reporter can’t cite that without adding something self-demeaning like “according to an expert quoted in the New York Times.” Journalists need original content — and fast.
If you are clever enough to react to breaking news very quickly, providing credible content in a blog post, tweet, or media alert that features the keyword of the moment, you may be rewarded with a bonanza of media attention.
Paris Hilton was arrested with her boyfriend in Las Vegas in August 2010, he on misdemeanor DUI charges, she on felony drug-possession charges.
In a tweet to fans on September 1, Hilton said: “These rumors going around are so ridiculous, untrue and cruel. I’m not going to even pay attention to them, because I know the truth.”
Whatever, Paris. I could not care less about the perils of being Paris, except for what happened soon after the story broke — which I absolutely love.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne told the Associated Press that Hilton was to be barred from Wynn Resorts properties, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.
Newsjacking.
For all the praise that brand advertisers have for social media, they must be aware that it’s very much a double-edged sword. And for all the free marketing, advertising and brand promotion via Facebook , Twitter, Foursquare and other platforms used to help build an identity and relationship with your customers, it can just as quickly turn on you and your brand.
Social media disasters occur for a number of reasons, the first being that your company probably messed up. It may not have been intentional, but something, somewhere down the line, went wrong enough for someone to complain and it was enough for others to vocalize that complaint en masse. One mistake is all it takes for social media to turn against your brand.
No one is perfect and you can’t expect to please everyone all the time, so the best trick is to be prepared for how to handle things if your company finds itself under attack in the social realm. Here are three examples of companies who were attacked by social media and how they handled, or should have handled the situation. Learn from their mistakes or successes so you can stay on social media’s good side.