Author: Jonathan & Erik Bernstein

Crisis management via social media

Both before and during Hurricane Irene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) set an example of how to effectively use social media to disperse information in a crisis situation. Continuity Central examined its methods in a case study and provided several examples to boot:

To augment traditional communications methods FEMA emailed all its emergency planning partners with the following message, which made it very easy for partners to utilize their own social networks to disseminate urgent information:

Dear Partner,

As Hurricane Irene threatens much of the East Coast, we are seeking your assistance to cross-promote various preparedness resources on your websites and in social media.

FEMA offers hurricane preparedness information here:
http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/hurricanes.html

In addition, please follow / amplify
the @fema, @CraigatFEMA, @readydotgov, @DHSJournal, and any state/local emergency management agencies that are posting updates. We’ve also created a list of Twitter accounts posting updates, so feel free to promote that as well: http://twitter.com/fema/irene.

Key messages/potential social media posts for Saturday August 27th:

 

Aug 27: #Irene may cause flooding or flash flooding – avoid flooded areas & roads. Turn around, don’t drown. cc: @fema

 

If you may be affected by #Irene, follow the direction of local officials & avoid flooded areas. Safety tips on your phone: http://m.fema.gov

 

Aug 27: For severe weather watches/warnings in your area
–http://www.weather.gov or on your phone at http://mobile.weather.gov#Irene

 

Receive text msg updates f/ @Twitter accounts posting #Irene updates.
Text follow + their acct name to 40404 (@Twitter’s number)

 

Aug 27: Bookmark useful mobile sites- #hurricane safety tips
http://m.fema.gov . Your local forecast http://mobile.weather.gov#Irene

The good thing about social media is that simply being a useful resource makes your page or feed a popular place to visit and recommend by word of mouth – both virtual and real-world.

Directing partners in how to assist and actively disseminating useful information to the public made FEMA a leader in the face of an oncoming crisis, which made it all the easier for the organization to get its message across.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Social media has changed how we do crisis management

When I say as I have repeatedly in presentations recently, that the role of the JIC (ed. note: Journalist in Charge) has shifted to being the first and best source of information about the event to one of rumor management, this is what I mean. The official source of information, that is the response itself, has to be impeccably accurate and completely truthful. It must be seen as the final word, the participant in the conversation that has the best and most complete information. Not necessarily the first, but the best and most complete. It must play that role, and this is where I have seen most of these efforts fail in the recent past. They pump out their information as if it is still “Before” but they refuse to counter the plenty of false information out there. Aggressive rumor management is not only the only significant role left for the the official source, it is in my mind a serious obligation. “A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth,” and it doesn’t have to be a lie. It can be media reporting that is seriously off-base, it may be agenda-driven untruths perpetuated on the internet, it may be simple fear-driven inaccuracies. These must be quickly identified and corrected with impeccably accurate information.

This image and quote, from Gerald Baron’s Emergency Management blog, does an excellent job of representing the way the role of crisis managers has shifted due to the advent of social media.

“Aggressive rumor management” is the perfect term for what we do using Twitter, Facebook, and press releases (yes, they’re still around). Whereas before the company was usually the one to bring the story to the press, now it’s not uncommon for an organization’s leadership to be completely unaware of a crisis before it’s plastered all over their computer monitors.

Today, good crisis management involves a LOT of monitoring on the Web. This means not only setting programs to search for specific keywords popping up, but actively checking out conversations regarding your organization wherever they occur, and taking action to setting straight any rumor, speculation, or downright untruths.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Honesty pays off in crisis management

Following a crisis, many businesses try to paint nasty incidents in a brighter light. It’s a natural reaction, but it’s not the right one. In a Ragan.com article, marketing expert Dan Harvey gave some advice on how to do the responsible thing, and in the process keep your reputation intact:

Be open

Don’t try to put a positive spin on a crisis situation or deny responsibility when your organization is clearly at fault. Even the slightest hint that you might be hiding the truth will greatly damage your credibility.

The public has always been expert at spotting dishonesty. The difference now with social media is that your dishonesty will be discussed in great detail by thousands of people.

In addition, don’t be afraid to let your emotions show. If you are genuinely upset by a crisis, let people see that. It is always a good thing to show that you are human, too.

You need only check the trending topics on Twitter to see examples of this on a daily basis. If the public does somehow miss your dishonesty, the media will be more than happy to point it out, over, and over, and over and…you get the point.

Be honest about mistakes, and make sure to let everyone know what you’re doing to fix them. Stick to that, and you’ll be on the right road for 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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Shift attitudes to match the situation

We primarily think of crisis communications in terms of events that happen to our business, things like lawsuits, faulty machinery, or employee unrest. When dealing with events such as violence or death in the workplace, however, it’s wise to slightly alter your approach.

In a PR Daily article by Gil Rudawsky, Ramonna Robinson, VP of GroundFloor Media and law enforcement media contact for the Columbine shooting, offered her advice on how to cope with tragedy:

1. Your first priority is to the victims. They should get the information first, whenever possible.
2. Be professional with the media, but don’t be afraid to show emotion. The media can be removed from the tragedy and focused on covering the news. That doesn’t mean you have to be.
3. Work as a team with other law enforcement agencies. Everyone should be providing consistent information at the same time.
4. Zip up the leaks. This will keep media from playing sources off one another.
5. Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know or “that’s confidential” at this time.
6. And provide a briefing schedule and stick to it. Consistency helps build confidence.

How you conduct yourself in the wake of tragic events will have a major impact on your reputation. Moreso, it will have an impact on those involved, and their families and loved ones. Plan thoroughly, and tread carefully.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Don’t make these common mistakes

Many companies, having delayed their entry into the Twitterverse, are rushing to join the party. The problem here is the old adage “haste makes waste.” To help prevent your feed from becoming a no-fly zone, check out these tips on how not to use Twitter from the B2C blog of Jeff Androsko:

1. Having a Poor Follower / Followed By Ratio Check out the amount of people you follow and how many followers you have. Is the scale tipped in favor of those you follow? Though this may go unnoticed to you, it may not to others. They’re going to ask, “Why does this person have 17 followers but follows 839?” This golden ratio may turn your reputation into a spammer and turn off potential followers. Be careful.
2. Feed Clogging (it’s for the birds) Hey megaphone! Don’t tweet everything that pops into your head. If your followers start seeing tweet after tweet about your upcoming trip to Comic Con, guess what… you’re going to lose a few folks.
3. Becoming Carlos Mencia with Tweets A grand way to fulfill your Twitter jerk status is to bite off of other people’s tweets (like Carlos Mencia with jokes). The retweet feature (RT) is there for a reason. It’s great to like other’s contributions, but give credit by mentioning them if you’re going to share it with your followers.
4. URL and Hashtag Vomit Want to share that YouTube video with the URL which contains 28,000 characters? Tighten it up! Free services like TinyURL and Bit.ly will help you not look like such a n00b… because let’s face it… no one wants to be a n00b. Hashtags (#hashtags) are ways to share common interests and related tweets. Just use these sparingly. The general habit is to find a trend you like and tweet every 20 seconds. #slowdowntiger
5. Having a Potty Mouth Just like any other social network, anything you say can and will be held against you… in a court of Robocop. Keep your tweets intriguing, professional yet relaxed, innovative and friendly.

Remember that, while Twitter is a strong marketing platform, you’re trying to build relationships here. You can’t treat your feed like a 140-character billboard. Talk only about yourself, and you’ll soon find there’s nobody there to listen.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Extinguish customer concerns

Citibank, like many others, was a victim of the recent flurry of computer hacking attacks that left customers confused and worried that their personal information and bank accounts were at risk. While several affected companies chose to focus on sending traditional paper mail statements regarding the attacks, Citibank went social, as described in this quote from a Walker Sands blog post by Meghan Reilly:

Like many other Citibank victims, I turned to Twitter to relieve some frustration. I composed a tweet about the fraudulent purchases on my credit card, and also mentioned my disappointment with Citibank’s fraud prevention efforts. Ten minutes later, I received a mention from @AskCiti, the official Twitter ID for Citi Customer Service:

“@MeghanReilly314, Saw ur tweet re: fraud & I’d like to ensure everything is being handled. Pls DM ur ph# & best time to talk.”

I was pleasantly surprised that Citibank was managing Twitter as a customer service and crisis management tool. This tweet immediately changed my perception of Citibank, as well as how I felt about the identity theft I experienced from their data breach. I was confident that everything would work out and Citibank had the attack under control.

Most people just want to know they’ve been heard. Taking to Twitter not only allows you to acknowledge this, but to move the conversation from public to private with ease, where you can then direct each issue individually, making for better service and more satisfied customers.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Keep it flowing both ways

In the midst of using multiple media channels, it’s easy to get stuck in “transmit-only” mode, posting your own messages and not interacting with stakeholders. Doing this is a mistake though, especially when it comes time for crisis management. Instead, you should be striving to achieve as much two-way communication as possible, as this quote from a blog post by Ogilvy PR’s Laura Halsch explains:

Engage: In a crisis, Twitter provides another venue for you to answer questions, raise issues and engage in a dialogue. Respond to questions and comments from customers, influencers and media, and especially those people who have been directly impacted. Your Twittering employees should be briefed on the issues, and if they can’t address a specific question, they should be equipped to send complaints to someone who can.

Twitter presents a huge opportunity because your responses can be 100% visible to the public, making for great PR when the world sees you’re doing the right thing.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Text messages warn students, spread crisis response advice

In May of last year, Boston residents were plunged into the midst of their own crisis when a major water pipe burst, disrupting water service and potentially contaminating public water sources. Luckily for residents, local officials were prepared, and spread the word quickly using various technologies combined with word of mouth.

One of the strongest responses came from nearby Tufts University, which chose to focus on the use of text messaging to keep students and faculty informed. In an article for the KevinMD blog, Tufts teacher Lisa Gualtieri, PhD, ScM, described the tactics used:

While Tufts considered preparing messages in advance, it didn’t seem possible to anticipate every situation. Instead they created “Strunk and White” guidelines for crisis communication. Their three guiding principles for creating initial messages are:

1. What is happening
2. What you need to know
3. Where to go for more information
   

 

 

Messages must be succinct because of cell phone screen size and to increase the likelihood people read them, avoid jargon and abbreviations, and be composed for easy conversion into speech. While the Tufts community is tech-savvy, they are aware that not everyone is connected all the time therefore some messaging includes spreading the word. For many emergencies, especially life-threatening ones like violent criminal incident or tornado warning, content is pre-scripted by Tufts using sources such as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Other public offices used Twitter and Facebook to great effect, but Tufts maintains an actual phone listing of students, and, with the chances of a college student being more than one square foot away from their cell phone being approximately zero, that technology makes for a very powerful crisis management tool.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Meet critics where the conversation started

When a social media based crisis hits, the strongest tool in your crisis management arsenal is…social media.

Sounds great, but what the heck does it mean? What it means is that you go straight back to where you took the damage with your apology, amends, or solution. Facebook users formed a group to protest a new product? Your video response is going right on their page.

In a recent blog post, the pros at Position 2 gave a solid set of tips to take this idea further:

• Have Seasoned Social Media Experts Handle a Crisis: Having a junior intern handle your social media activities simply because ‘they get social media’ may not always be the best approach. A well assembled social media disaster management team, comprising of a community manager, a PR and a senior management representative, ensures that your company is always prepared to successfully handle an unforeseen situation. Besides managing large amount of content and conversations online, the disaster management team will know a) when to respond b) what to say c) how much to say and d) when to remain silent. Social media experts know how to handle crisis without breaking sweat; and this is vital for restoring your company’s image online.

• Turn Crisis into Opportunity: Yes! A PR crisis can be converted into positive online buzz. The most apt example in this case involves fashion retailer Gap and how the company turned its logo debacle into a social media opportunity. Instead of playing the blame game after their own version was severely criticized across Facebook and Twitter, Gap smartly decided to offer its fans the chance to redesign its logo online. By doing this, the company a) acknowledged the problem b) made customers feel involved c) shifted the focus from the actual issue by converting it into an exciting social media campaign and d) managed to improve its reputation.

• Talk about it: By apologizing on Facebook or tweeting that you’re sorry, you have managed to mollify disgruntled fans; what next? Believe it or not, your customers want to hear what happened. Discussing the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the situation shows that the PR representatives and social media experts are doing more than just their job. Using a personal, human voice when communicating via social media channels re-establishes trust with customers, making them believe that your company has more than just an organizational presence. Talking about an issue not only promotes trust and commitment, but also leads to a favorable brand image.

While a lot has changed, the fact that audiences still appreciate direct and genuine conversation remains the same. Even if you have nothing more complex to say than, “we screwed up, this is the sequence of events, this is what we’ve done to prevent it,” the honest communication will help to create a valuable connection.

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]

Great resource, or powerful enemy?

In crisis management, the media is a double-edged sword. While they can be a great help in transmitting your desired message, journalists are in the business of delivering subscriptions (or, more likely these days, page views) and want a scoop regardless of whether it damages your reputation or not.

In a recent article for EvanCarmichael.com, PR pro Georgina Dunkley gave her advice on how to make sure the relationship between business and media is beneficial to both parties:

Maintain a relationship with the journalist – if you have promised a statement or an interview with a journalist by a certain date or time, then ensure that you get it to them in that time. You will certainly lose brownie points for not supplying the right detail to them for the deadline. If you work within their parameters they are certainly likely to be fairer with you.

 

Nurture the journalist relationship – most journalists will write a balanced story, provided they have been given sufficient insight into the crisis. In this case, all that you can hope for is a balanced argument which puts forward both sides of the story. Once the story has aired contact the journalist and thank them for the piece. This is a great way to form a relationship with a journalist for when you have some good news to share.

As with most relationships, the one between business and reporter is based on honesty and good etiquette. Cause a reporter to take a reaming at the office for missing a deadline, and you’ve likely made a powerful enemy. Pass on an exclusive interview explaining your side of a crisis situation, and guess who will be ready to write up your next charity event?

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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, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]