Author: Jonathan & Erik Bernstein

Seizing social media opportunities creates crisis management benefits

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it many, many more times – it pays to be in touch with social media.

Last November, a young Brit named Thomas Cook thought it would be funny to ask travel agency Thomas Cook UK to donate a weekend in Paris to him due to the fact that they’ve shared a name for many years.

The travel agency quite stuffily denied his request, but a week later Mr. Cook was shocked to find a message in his inbox from one of Thomas Cook UK’s competitors in the UK travel scene, Lowcostholidays.com. What did this message contain? Besides a few comedic jabs at their competition, it also held an offer for a weekend in Paris for two!

We frequently refer to social media as being word-of-mouth amplified, and there is no better example than this. When Thomas finally took his trip to Paris this month, he posted the story complete with screenshots and a photo at the Eiffel Tower to Reddit (one of the world’s fastest growing social media sites, 42.9 million unique visitors per month and climbing), where it skyrocketed to the front page and drew over 2,000 comments and 56,000+ “up votes,” similar to “Likes” on Facebook.

How is this linked to crisis management, you might ask? It’s simple – the more goodwill you bank before a crisis hits, the larger the cushion your reputation has to fall back on. By doing things that make your customers, potential customers, or any stakeholders happy, you create a positive association with your brand that will tilt their opinion when a negative crisis does occur. In other words, they are more likely to think, “this is a good company that’s run into a bad problem,” rather than, “this company doesn’t care about anything, it’s no surprise they’re in this mess.”

With the greatest losses in crisis management history coming in the court of public opinion, it’s critical to take every opportunity to keep your reputation positive. Thomas Cook UK missed out, but we’d be willing to bet that Lowcostholidays.com is seeing a boom in sales right now, which means more opportunity to create lifetime customers and extra black ink on those financial reports.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Quick reaction and the right moves pay off

UK mobile provider O2 found itself experiencing a bit of deja vu when, just months after a 24-hour service disruption left hundreds of thousands without a cellular connection, yet another widespread outage hit its system late last week.

The company actually came out of that incident fairly clean, having issued a quick and public apology, as well as handling the situation in a relatively small time frame. They even successfully redirected stakeholders seeking information to the company Facebook and Twitter feeds when the main website crashed due to overwhelming traffic volume.

Would a second bout of network crisis management knock O2 off course? From the looks of it, not even close. The company was the least complained-about UK mobile network in Q1 of 2012 according to the telecoms regulators at Ofcom, and with complaint about cellular service being honed almost to an art by many, that’s no small achievement.

Although a disruption in any valued service, from cell phone or internet to closed highways, will raise some outraged voices, the vast majority just want to be informed, and for you to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. Once again, O2 pulled through with a near-instant mea culpa, followed up by strong social media customer service. Not to ignore the traditional media, the company also had press spokesmen working hard to answer any questions the major news outlets had.

Improving on this summer’s outages, O2 managed to keep its website live, and even published a running Q&A that used relatively plain terminology to explain quite thoroughly what had caused the outage, and what was being done to fix it.

The dust is still settling from this one, but we feel confident in saying that O2 made the right moves, and despite the brief flare of anger that many customers surely felt, the majority will come out pleased with the level of communication and information coming from the company in the midst of crisis.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Modern technology creates crisis management risk

While our never-ending quest for modernization has simplified many common tasks, it’s also spawned a new breed of crises related specifically to vulnerabilities in technology. The most common involve computer hacking, either as straight out attacks or a means of professional or amateur espionage, but it’s easy to forget that much more than PC’s and laptops are run on processors and microchips these days.

Take your average hotel room for example. When’s the last time you used a physical key in your door? Now all of the locks are operated via electronic keycard, which makes it very easy for ownership to replace or recode for guests as needed. You might think this is even more secure system as well, no keys for nefarious types to copy and return with later, but check out this quote from a Forbes article by Andy Greenberg and see if you still feel the same way:

A trio of hackers have built a tool that appears to be an innocent dry erase marker, but when inserted into the port on the bottom of a common form of hotel room keycard lock triggers the lock’s open mechanism in a fraction of a second.

“I guess we wanted to show that this sort of attack can happen with a very small, concealable device,” says Matthew Jakubowski, one of the three hotel lock hackers and a security researcher with the consultancy Trustwave. “Someone using this could be searched and even then it wouldn’t be obvious that this isn’t just a pen.”

The device is literally encased inside the shell of an Expo dry erase marker, the same type found in just about any conference room, and its only tell is that instead of the standard tip under the cap, there is a metal connector.

Obviously, this has serious financial implications for the hotel industry, which is looking at having to replace or upgrade millions of locks. It also raises major reputation concerns. A break-in with this device would look no different than if a maid or other employee had simply entered the room and taken someone’s belongings, and even if it is caught by cameras, affected customers will blame the hotel as much or more than they do the thief for not keeping their establishment safe and secure.

E-vulnerabilities are a fact of business today, and often the fixes are going to cost. Our advice is to bite the bullet and pay to keep your business and your stakeholders protected, the up-front cost will not even scratch the surface of the expenses should you be found at fault in neglecting proper crisis management.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

What needs to be removed, and how to do it without creating a crisis

We often espouse the importance of allowing stakeholders to share their opinions and experiences, whether positive or negative, on your social media pages. Overprotective admins seeking to guard their company’s online image have sent more than one organization rushing into crisis management mode when hasty use of that “delete” button in reaction to a few agitated posters attracted the web equivalent of a torch-carrying mob.

Sometimes, however, there are completely legitimate, even compelling, reasons to wipe a post from existence. If you’re unclear on where that fine line lies, it might be a good idea to print and distribute the following list, from a Edelman digital blog post by Phil Gomes:

1. You Used Foul Language or Imagery

This one is pretty obvious, so I’ll get it out of the way first. It surprises me how shocked (SHOCKED!) people are when they find that their profanity-laden diatribe “goes 404,” that is, gets deleted. Too many drive-by commenters appear to confirm in the 21st century what Captain Kirk observed of 20th-century language in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: “Nobody pays attention to you unless you swear every other word.” Anger, though often persuasive, is not an argument.

2. You Spammed

That acrid smell wafting from Prineville, Oregon comes from the servers melting down at Facebook’s data center after you, a group of you, or a bot cut-and-pasted the same angry shot-off-the-bow over and over again. The community and the community manager got your point the first 174 times. Thanks.

3. The Audience is There for Different Reasons Than You Are

The members of the Facebook page for Gretsch Family Farms Rhubarb Co. are probably just there to talk about rhubarb, share recipes and maybe even snag a coupon or two. Granted, some community managers take the overly heavy-handed approach of deleting any such post that isn’t “on-brand” or responding angrily or sarcastically–an approach that certainly deserves some amount of ridicule. The best community managers, however, recognize a responsibility to the audience. They balance the ideal of maintaining an open forum with providing an experience commensurate with the expectations of the community members. At a certain point, the community will expect that the community manager will start to bring things back to “business as usual.”

4. You Violated Clearly, Narrowly Drawn Rules

For reasons ranging from regulatory matters to the lack of hours in a day, many community managers will post a series of guidelines that describe what will trigger a deletion, suspension or outright ban. Their page, their rules. Such rules might include prohibiting comments that violate the privacy of a non-public individual. For a health-related company, it could include any discussion of the off-label use of a drug or medical device, or even mentions of speculative science way outside of the mainstream. For a technology hardware company, it may be the description of activities that could cause physical harm or violate warranty terms.

5. You Violated Facebook’s Terms-of-Service

Superseding the company’s rules for its Facebook page are, of course, Facebook’s own terms-of-service. These terms have plenty of language around “Safety” and “Protecting Other People’s Rights.”

Realistically speaking, regardless of why you delete a post, the author will be upset about it. The difference is that if their post is really out of line, the bandwagon won’t jump on their cause and ignite a bigger scene.

One suggestion that we would offer is that when you know a deluge of upset folks are about to hit your page – as in any time a crisis goes public – throw some guidelines for discussion up in a visible location. Acknowledge the public’s right to comment and converse, and clearly indicate what type of behavior will call for deletion. Just as in other online reputation management situations, be up front, communicative, and use a good mix of brain and heart for judgement. It will show in your results.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Don’t slack on this essential crisis management step

Crisis management has really come a long way in a short time. It wasn’t more than a few years ago that the standard corporate reaction to “at fault” crises was to zip your lips and lawyer up. Now, it’s pretty well accepted that one of the most important aspects of resolving a crisis is admitting your faults and delivering a meaningful apology.

Although author Chris Mittelstaedt used the quite-unlikely scenario of an escaped circus elephant destroying a citizen’s rose bushes in the following quote from an Inc. article, his suggestions are very much on point. How do you avoid having your apology feel like a vague corporate brush off? Read on…

Get specific about your actions. Affirm your commitment to a long-term positive outcome.

Immediately: Replacement of rosebushes. I would like to bring in a rosebush specialist to meet with you tomorrow and work with you on choosing replacement bushes to be installed next week. Our team of gophers are experts in digging and planting, and we are asking our ladybug department to stay behind for an extra week to make sure that no aphids take root after our planting.

End of the month: Follow-up. At the end of the month, after the bushes have had time to root down and become adjusted to your soil, I would like to send in a team of sparrows to conduct aerial viewings and to test the pliability of the rose stems as a final inspection. Once this is approved, please let us know that all is well in your garden.

Long-term commitment to customer happiness: If in the future you have issues with your roses, I would be happy to follow up with one of our experts to see how we can help make sure that your plants stay healthy.

Take a close look at those steps, because they go far beyond what pretty much anyone out there is doing. It doesn’t stop at “we’re sorry,” it doesn’t even stop at how they’ll set things right. When an organization goes out of its way to literally ensure that the crisis it caused will never create further stress for you, how could you stay mad? You won’t, and that’s the whole point. Give your apologies meaning, and even when you do mess up, you’ll leave people talking about how great your organization really is.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Editor’s Note: The following apology email, sent by GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner after customers lost service for some six hours earlier this month, is the second seriously high quality piece of online reputation management that we’ve shared with you recently. His plain language, paired with a more-than-generous full month’s credit for GoDaddy’s web hosting services, far surpassed stakeholder’s expectations and stopped complaints from upset customers in their tracks. While it may not be entirely surprising coming from an innovative firm like GoDaddy, fact is that millions of dollars in revenue are lost every year by companies who refuse to take the steps necessary to protect their most valuable asset – reputation.

Dear XXXX,

We owe you a big apology for the intermittent service outages we experienced on September 10 that may have impacted your website, your email and other Go Daddy services.

We let you down and we know it. We take our responsibilities – and the trust you place in us – very seriously. I cannot express how sorry I am to those of you who were inconvenienced.

The service outage was due to a series of internal network events that corrupted router data tables. Once the issues were identified, we took corrective actions to restore services for our customers and GoDaddy.com. We have implemented a series of immediate measures to fix the problem.

At no time was any sensitive customer information, including credit card data, passwords or names and addresses, compromised.

Throughout our history, we have provided 99.999% uptime in our DNS infrastructure. This is the level of performance we expect from ourselves. Monday, we fell short of these expectations. We have learned from this event and will use it to drive improvement in our services.

As a result of this disruption, you will receive 30% off any new product or renewal.* This offer will be available to you for the next 7 days. Simply place source code Apology4a in your cart or mention the code when you call 480-505-8877.

It’s an honour to serve you. As always, please call us 24/7 at 480-505-8877 – anytime, for any reason.

Sincerely,

Scott Wagner
CEO
GoDaddy.com

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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Editor’s note: Author Rick Amme’s own words best sum up the focus of this important guest article – “Unpleasant as this is, it is something you have to think about in a position of leadership: prevention, not just response, when it comes to shootings in the workplace.”

Worried About Mass Shootings? Think Prevention

As a leader, you worry that your employees can respond to a disaster, especially a mass shooting. Active shooter responses such as, in priority order, RUN – HIDE – FIGHT can save lives. But you may overlook something terribly important when it comes to planning for these rare, but awful, events: prevention – a fact made frighteningly clear in a seminar led by August Vernon, operations officer for the Forsyth County (NC) Office of Emergency Management.

Get this. According to the FBI, 81% of the time before a mass shooting the shooter gives clues to others of what he is planning. Vernon says there is NOT a single profile that fits the shooters, but there IS one thing they have in common: similar behaviors. If your organization knows this pre-shooting conduct then you have a better chance of identifying the attacker before he acts. That takes on added importance when you realize that most of these shooters plan their assaults and do not act impulsively.

Common behaviors of potential shooters in the business world are these:

• Problem employee
• History of violent behavior
• Intimidates others
• Substance abuse
• Open or veiled threats
• Obsessed with the job but is not a good employee
• Loner
• Us vs. them attitude
• Can’t take criticism
• Holds a grudge
• Preoccupied with guns and gun publications
• Shows weapons to friends
• Interested in past acts of violence
• Tends to be a white male between 30 and 50 years old

The characteristics are similar for school student shooters and, like adults, 8 out of 10 of them plan to die during their attack. Vernon said they tend to strike during the first hour or period or at lunch.

Post-incident interviews reveal many are mistaken about the shooter:

• “He just snapped” – rarely is that so
• “No one knew” – almost never the case
• “He didn’t fit the profile” – there is no profile
• “Most kids have issues” – true, but shooters have severe difficulty coping
• “We did everything to help him” – no
• “He never touched a gun” – most shooters’ weapons come from home
• “He planned it alone” – others often help
• “If only the SWAT team had been there or we had a metal detector” – most shootings are over before SWAT arrives, metal detectors have not deterred determined shooters.

August Vernon said that the best deterrence of violence at schools comes from having School Resource Officers, armed officers, and a zero tolerance for bullying. He questioned the automatic tendency of schools to lock down when there’s a threat report. He said that if his own children were aware of shooting in their school he would want them to run for their lives and not hide under desks where they’d be sitting ducks.

Finally, why do these mass shooters do it? Vernon says it’s usually anger or revenge over perceived persecutions, slights, and injustice combined with the desire for fame and recognition.

In the years I have worked in crisis management almost all the comments by clients about shooters have been about how they would respond. Unless I brought it up I can’t recall anyone talking about how they would try to avoid violence in the first place. After this seminar, prevention is going to be on my mind more than ever. After this article, hopefully yours.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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Rick Amme is president of Amme & Associates, a media/crisis management company in Winston-Salem. He is also a member of the Business Journal’s Editorial Board of Contributors. Reach him via www.amme.com, rick@amme.com or (336) 631-1855.

Leaked video raises reputation issues for presidential hopeful

The tape of Mitt Romney slamming Obama supporters at a private donor dinner is one of those situations that there really is no explaining your way out of. Full of reputation-wrecking quotes like this one, discussing his own father, “Had he been born of Mexican parents, I’d have a better shot of winning this,” and the following, in reference to the 47% of the U.S. population that supports Obama, “My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility,” it’s a crisis management nightmare of epic proportions.

Besides providing plenty of fodder for The Daily Show, the viral rampage of this video serves as a reminder to anyone seeking to maintain their positive reputation. It doesn’t take a trained spy or experienced journalist to capture video of you in your most candid moments. Whether you’re discussing bribing the safety inspector or how wild the company party was last night, the prevalence of cell phones and easy availability of Bond-esque cameras made to look like everything from pens to designer watches, means that your “private” conversation could be on the web mere minutes after you leave the room.

When literally anything you do could be caught on tape, what can be done to protect your reputation? Well, the easiest part of crisis prevention for this risk is to not say or do things that you’re ashamed of, or that violate company policy/legal boundaries. In addition, if you’re a business, ensure that all employees are properly educated regarding company policies on recording devices, as well as consequences for sharing confidential information or conversations.

If you do get caught with your figurative pants down, the best choice is to fall back on Crisis Management 101. Admit your mistake, deliver a heartfelt mea culpa, and explain how you will work to prevent a similar situation from happening again. This doesn’t mean your video won’t still be the topic du jour, but with a proper apology the public can be surprisingly forgiving. As far as Romney, he’s chosen to embrace the comments and plow ahead as if he had planned the leak all along. Now, there is the possibility that his choice was the right one, but with overwhelmingly negative sentiment surrounding the video sweeping the nation we’re guessing that it’s not going to help come November.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Astute PR moves from both sides in a contemporary crisis

Savvy parties have been using the court of public opinion to sway disagreements to their side for years, so why not the two sides facing off in the Chicago Teacher’s Union strike? With both teachers and city leadership jockeying for position with what could only be carefully planned and coordinated moves, they’ve got a real war of reputation on their hands.

A PRDaily article by Michael Sebastian and Matt Wilson shared a bit of the tack each side is taking:

“I think they’re both playing their cards right,” Jamie Izaks, president of All Points Public Relations, told PR Daily. “It’s remarkable how savvy both sides are at this.”

On Monday morning, teachers established picket lines outside of their schools before thousands of them gathered in downtown Chicago to march alongside parents and other supporters. They vowed to stick together until a fair contract is reached.

“[The union] has a good sense of what the media wants,” said Wes Bleed, vice president of Mack Communications in Naperville, Ill., and former WGN radio anchor. “They know how to tell their story. At the rallies, they’re getting big numbers. They’re organized.”

While teachers’ marched, the mayor held a press conference at one of the churches where students can gather during the strike.

“Don’t take it out on the kids of Chicago if you have a problem with me,” Emanuel said while standing in front of a group of children—a savvy PR move on his part, according to Thom Serafin, CEO of Serafin and Associates in Chicago.

Indeed, the sometimes abrasive Emanuel, who’s known to square off with reporters, seems to be gaining points with the public.

“I think he’s becoming a little more of a sympathetic character in this whole thing,” said Bleed, who also noted one failing of the mayor. “I don’t think he did a great job of explaining why they couldn’t come to terms.”

As with just about everything else these days, the battle also spilled over into social media, complete with celebs Tweeting their support of one side or another and a whole slew of hashtags allowing the public to track the conversation.

This situation, perhaps the first truly modern teacher’s strike, should serve as a warning to employers of all kinds. No longer will there be quiet picketing that goes unnoticed by all but a few local media outlets, gone are the days of low-attendance meetings at the local head office.

To be successful, contemporary crisis management for labor disputes will have to embrace the reality that the entire drama can and will be played out across social media, and in this way (if the story is juicy enough, at least) gain a reach that could only be imagined a few years ago. In order to navigate the crisis and return to business as usual, employers will have to not only appease disgruntled employees, but also convince the public that they’ve done the right thing. No easy task, to be sure.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Google squashes rumors of coming Apple clash

Apple’s $1 billion legal victory over Samsung didn’t just raise Apple stock, but also questions about the future of the operating system that poses a direct threat to Apple’s (thus-far) dominant iOS, Google’s Android.

After all, the Samsung devices Judge Lucy Koh determined to be intentional copies of Apple products were powered by Android, as are the vast majority of popular non-Apple phones. With industry speculators, well…speculating about the potential negative impact on the future of Android, now was no time to let the rumor and innuendo fly. So, did Google step up to the crisis management plate? Check out this quote, from a Motley Fool blog post by Rita Chattaraj:

Google has been very clear about the entire incident and said the features in dispute are not a part of the core Android operating system, thus making Android complication free. Samsung, Motorola, Sony, HTC – all players add new distinct features, widgets, apps to the Android platform and thus Samsung being accused of patent infringement does not necessarily mean trouble for others since each player offers different add-on features. Still, just the way Samsung’s product offerings were scrutinized by the jury; Google’s Android offering will be further analyzed. This, however, isn’t a matter of concern as the offering is likely to come out free from disputes. Unlike Samsung, Google has made sure that it keeps its offerings distinguishable from that of its peers. May be the reason is Google never wanted consumers to confuse its products with that from the others.

In just one paragraph, you can see both Google’s solid reputation management strategy and the fact that it has had the desired effect of convincing stakeholders that there is no cause for concern. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that if Apple does decide to go after Android in a court of law, the court of public opinion will already be tilted to Google’s side. By biting swirling rumors in the bud before they have a chance to create a crisis of reputation, Google has helped ensure the continued success of its platform as well as preventing possible financial losses.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]