Social Media and Crisis Communications (Revisited)

Shel Holtz, ABCApril 27, 2009

Baseline: What is a PR crisis? An unanticipated event or disclosure

that threatens your organization’s/client’sreputation

The conundrum Nothing’s changed

Crisis principles remain unaffected Everything’s changed Solution:

Apply crisis basics to Web 2.0 crises

Crisis basics The public is risk-averse The public attaches little credibility to

business advocates Media’s role is based on conflict Advocacy groups will exploit your crisis to

their own ends Emotion, not logic, is at issue

If you engage in debate, you’ll be seen as defensive

Crises are characterized by symbols

Exxon Valdez

Enron

Ford Explorer/Firestone Tires

Key crisis goals Survive the crisis Present/maintain positive image Maintain constituent support Monitor / listen (a given)

Address misperceptions and misinformation Eliminate or alter the symbols

Tylenol (at first)

Tylenol (long-term)

Strategies Respond quickly, accurately,

professionally, with care Be transparent and accessible Treat perceptions as fact Acknowledge mistakes Tailor messages to address the “angry”

party Note other side’s concerns Make no public confrontations Emphasize existing relationships

The reality of crises today Erupt with unprecedented speed An insatiable thirst for news Anyone can break news Porous boundaries between social &

mainstream media

How fast does news break?

What is news? Not just major announcements or milestones Instead: Frequent, regular updates

We’re in meetings discussing it New information is emerging

These updates will drive the 140-character news cycle Without them, other content will

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Mainstream MediaMainstream Media

Three case studies MotrinMoms AmazonFAIL Domino’s Pizza

Motrin video http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=BmykFKjNpdY

MotrinMoms

Motrin parody video http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=TpqpAGLS2t4

AmazonFAIL Began with a single blog post

Why Amazon failed No apology Insisted it was just a “glitch” Never acknowledged aggrieved parties

Domino’s

Domino’s preliminary response AdAge:

Don’t add fuel to the fire Ragan.com:

It hasn’t spread to mainstream media

Is the Dominos symbol changing?

Why use social media in a crisis? It’s where people increasingly go for

information Online social interaction centers around the

"emergency period" of an event – University of Colorado at Boulder

Instant updating Human voice

Accommodates public’s emotional response Produce a record Two-way communication is more credible

Richard Edelmanand the Trust Barometeron “FIR Live:” http://tinyurl.com/asq52d

Why a blog is a prerequisite Media follows them Your critical publics read them

Engage!

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138 total tweets138 total tweetsto 32,000-plusto 32,000-plus

Release assets into the wild Core facts Photos on Flickr Videos on YouTube Documents on Scribd Presentations on SlideShare

Leverage your existing relationships

Acknowledge mistakes

How about right now?

Don’t: Filter the Negative

The 100% illusion

of our publics are happy with us of the time

Key things I didn’t have time for…

Use your employeesDrill!The key: Stick to your values

Copyright applies to this document – some rights reserved.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-non commercial-share alike 3.0 licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Questions?

Shel Holtz, ABCPhone: 415.367.3820Email: shel@holtz.comWeb: www.holtz.com Blog: blog.holtz.comPodcast: www.forimmediaterelease.bizSkype: shelholtzTwitter: www.twitter.com/shel2nd Life: Shel WitteFriendfeed: shelholtz