Before Disaster Strikes: Creating an Effective Crisis Communications Plan

Sandra Fathi President, Affect Email: sfathi@affect.com tweet: @sandrafathi web: affect.com blog: techaffect.com #RaganDisney

3rd Annual Ragan Social Media for PR & Corporate Communications Conference at Disney World

Before Disaster Strikes: Creating an Effective Crisis Communications Plan

Sandra Fathi President, Affect Email: sfathi@affect.com tweet: @sandrafathi web: affect.com blog: techaffect.com #RaganDisney

3rd Annual Ragan Social Media for PR & Corporate Communications Conference at Disney World

PRESENTER BIO

SANDRA  FATHI  

•  Founder and president of Affect, a public relations and social media firm specializing in technology, healthcare and professional services

o  Immediate Past Tri-State District Chair, PRSA o  Past President, PRSA-NY Chapter o  Past President, PRSA Technology Section

sfathi@affect.com    @sandrafathi  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

CORE  CONCEPTS  

4 Phases of Crisis Communications

•  Readiness

•  Response

•  Reassurance

•  Recovery

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

RECOGNIZING  CRISES  

Internal

•  Employees

•  Facilities

•  Vendors/Suppliers

•  Distributors/Resellers

•  Product

External

•  Acts of Nature

•  Market

•  Legal Restrictions/Law

•  Customers

•  Advocacy Groups

Anticipating & Understanding Threats to a Business

People, Products, Facilities, Environment

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

CRISIS  SCENARIOS  

1.  Senior manager accused of inappropriate conduct including lewd photos with employee – Now on Instagram

2.  Employee arrested for hit and run accident – Now Appearing in Google Search

3.  Employee abusing drugs – Now Posted on his Facebook Profile

4.  Customer credit card details leaked – Now On Twitter 5.  Employee posts rant on company and exposes confidential information –

Now on YouTube 6.  Company accused of making children’s toys with poisonous lead paint –

Now on a Mommy Blog

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXERCISE  #1  

Create A Chart: Potential Threats to Your Business

People   Products/

Services  Facili3es/Opera3ons  

Environment  

Rank Order

High Alert to

Low Alert

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

READINESS  

Anticipating a Crisis

1.  Crisis Mapping (SWOT Analysis)

2.  Policies and Procedures (Prevention)

3.  Crisis Monitoring

4.  Crisis Communications Plan

5.  Crisis Action Plan

6.  Crisis Standard Communications Template

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

RESPONSE  TIMES  

How long before the $@!& hits the fan?

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  GENERAL  MOTORS  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  GENERAL  MOTORS  

1. Develop materials: •  Messages/FAQ •  Prepared statements •  Press release template •  Customer letters 2.  Train employees •  Awareness •  Anticipation •  Organizational Preparation

3. Prepare channels: •  Hotline •  Dark site •  Social Media

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

RESPONSE:  CRISIS  TOOLKIT  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

RESPONSE  

Preparing a Response

1.  Don’t delay 2.  Acknowledge situation 3.  Acknowledge impact and ‘victims’ 4.  Commit to investigate 5.  Commit to sharing information and cooperation with relevant parties 6.  Share corrective action plan if available 7.  Respond in the format in which the crisis was received**

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  1800  FLOWERS  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXERCISE  #2  

Prepare a Template Crisis Response:

1.  What happened? 2.  What do we know about it? 3.  Who/what was impacted? 4.  How do we feel about it? (How should we feel?) 5.  What are we going to do about it? 6.  When are we going to do it? 7.  When/how will we communicate next?

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

REASSURANCE  

Who to Reassure? How to Reassure?

1.  Develop full response plan 2.  Put plan into action: Immediate remedy 3.  Communicate results of plan and impact 4.  Reaffirm commitment to correction 5.  Demonstrate results of program

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

RECOVERY  

Preparing a Long-term Recovery Plan

1.  Review need for operational, regulatory, environmental and employee changes

2.  Develop long-term plan including policies and prevention tactics 3.  Reassess crisis plan 4.  Regain customer/public trust

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  PAPER  MAGAZINE  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  PAPER  MAGAZINE  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  ConEd  &  MTA  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

Hurricane Sandy Social Media Facts: Con Edison •  6,500 Twitter Followers to 23,000 within 2 Weeks •  25 videos posted on pre-Sandy preparation •  100,000+ views and multiple broadcast airings of videos •  2500 Press Release RTs •  140,000 Flickr restoration image views

EXAMPLE:  ConEd  &  MTA  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  ConEd  &  MTA  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

Hurricane Sandy Social Media Facts: MTA •  Empower street crews •  Empower consumers •  Update MTA.info, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, FaceBook •  Utilize Urban Digital Panels •  Email/Text Alerts

MTA’s 4 Categories of Media Shared: •  Before: Preparation •  During: Storm Hits •  Aftermath 1: Damage •  Aftermath 2: Restoration

EXAMPLE:  ConEd  &  MTA  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  ConEd  &  MTA  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  MICROSOFT    

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  MICROSOFT  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  AMERICAN  APPAREL  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  AMERICAN  APPAREL  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  AMERICAN  APPAREL  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  TIDE  LAUNDRY  PODS  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  TIDE  LAUNDRY  PODS  

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  SONY  HACK  •  Day 1: 11/24 – Computer screen takeover and threatening message to reveal all internal data

•  Day 2: 11/25 – All Sony Computers shut down in NY, Hollywood and international. Sony claims to be ‘Investigating an IT Matter”

•  Day 3: 11/26 – Still no computers, email or voicemail

•  Day 4: 11/27 – 5 Sony films (not yet releases) dumped online on file-sharing hubs

•  Days 5, 6, 7 – Stories swirl about North Korean involvement

•  Day 8: 12/1 - Sony hires a cyber security firm, FBI launches investigation

•  Day 9: 12/2 – Sony chiefs Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal issue company-wide alert to employees about the attack

•  ......

•  Day 22: 12/6th – Cyberterrorists threaten to attack movie theaters that show The Interview

•  All hell breaks loose

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXAMPLE:  SONY  HACK  

1.  Men are paid more than women (stars and

executives) 2.  Quid pro quo at play (with journalists) 3.  Ugly side of business (Angelina Jolie ‘minimally

talented spoiled brat’ and racially charged jokes about Obama’s taste in movies)

4.  Tracking detailed medical costs and health information about employees

5.  Revealing celebrity aliases

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

EXERCISE  #3  

WWYD: What Would You Do?

At each stage of the crisis, SONY seems to have made major mistakes. What would you have done differently for each stage? 1.  Readiness 2.  Response 3.  Reassurance 4.  Recovery

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

10  THINGS  TO  KNOW    

1.  Implement Policies to Address Potential

Vulnerabilities

2.  Use Social Media as a Tool for Crisis Monitoring

3.  Understand the Response-ability of Social Media

4.  Establish a Framework for Response

5.  Build a Social Media Crisis Toolkit

6.  Know Where to Respond

7.  Prepare Your Employees in Advance

8.  Establish the Proper Tone

9.  Kill the Automation Switch

10.  Be Honest, Be Transparent

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

10  THINGS  TO  KNOW    

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

RESOURCES  

White Paper:

Crisis Communications in the Social Media Age

Download at: Affect.com

How to Create an Effective Crisis Communications Plan Before Disaster Strikes

Sandra Fathi President, Affect Email: sfathi@affect.com tweet: @sandrafathi web: affect.com blog: techaffect.com

Slides Available: Slideshare.net/sfathi

#RaganDisney