Social media channels provide many opportunities for brands but they also pose significant threats: cyber attacks, product recalls and issues of integrity to name a few. When a crisis strikes, the speed of online media can be paralysing. How can marketers safeguard brand reputation and recover from threats that are beyond direct control?
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6. WHY CRISES MATTER
Data from Oxford Metrica
Within any 5 year period, there is an 80% chance of a company losing
at least 20% of its value over and above the market in a single month
7. MANAGING CRISES WELL MAKES A DIFFERENCE
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260
Event Trading Day
ValueReactionTM
(%)
Data from Oxford Metrica
ValueReaction
Companies with successful crisis
response
Companies with unsuccessful crisis
response
8. CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPANIES WITH SUCCESSFUL CRISIS RESPONSE
• Robust prevention and mitigation systems
• Well-tuned crisis response program
• Balanced reputation recovery
o Effective crisis planning and the design of the response
infrastructure enables:
• Crisis avoidance
• Speed of response
• Decisive decision making
• Message consistency
• Responses that are truly aligned with stakeholder expectations,
thereby mitigating reputational damage and speeding recovery
9. DEFINING A CRISIS
A crisis is any event or series of events
that seriously threaten an organization's
reputation and business future
A crisis is also a negative event or
series of events, that, if handled well,
can burnish the reputation of an
organization
10. CRISIS TYPES
Financial Fraud Data Privacy Breaches Natural Disasters
Product Failure Workplace
Misdemeanors
Marketing/Customer
Service Mistakes
11. WHAT HAPPENS IN A CRISIS
Spreading
Reputational
Damage
Flawed and
hasty
decision-
making
Freeze up
and no
decision-
making
Failure to
see the big
picture
beyond the
threat to the
organization
12. THREE PILLARS OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Crisis Prevention
Crisis Response
Crisis Recovery
16. ISSUES MAPPING
This process involves mapping
your business value chain against
trends in four forces --
demographics, technology,
economics and culture
The process identifies emerging
trends just over the horizon that
could create problems
17. CRISIS PREVENTION AND MITIGATION
Issues Mapping
Issues Management Infrastructure
Crisis Response Process and Logistics
18. CRISIS RESPONSE PROCESS AND LOGISTICS
Cross-functional Crisis Council
Crisis Triage Process
Off-site response capabilities
Pre-approved digital "shells”
21. OUR JOB IN A CRISIS
Gather and analyze
incoming data and
reports
Provide an outsider’s
perspective on the
story arc
Promote calm and
rational decision-
making
Help organize work
flows so that the
right things get done
in the right order
Help triage media
flow
Document
22. PRIORITY WORKFLOWS
Holding Statement
Team and sub-team set
up
Fact finding
Monitoring
Outreach to authorities
when appropriate
Usually not much more than known
facts, expressions of compassion and
commitments to collaboration
23. LEADERSHIP AND TEAM FORMATION
Critical to appoint crisis team leader and sub-team leaders
Sub-teams should be organized by stakeholder group
Crisis Team Leader
Monitoring Media Outreach Fact Finding
Liaison Between
Sub-teams
Documentation
Communications
Creation*
Scenario Planning
*Including social media
and web activities
24. THE FIRST WAVE
Intense internal fact-finding
Identifying worst case scenarios
Predicting the story arc
Identifying heroes, villains, accelerants and retardants
25. THE RESPONSE
Absolutely no rush to judgment or
to find scapegoats
Focus completely on those who
have been hurt or damaged,
organization comes later
Examine causation: stupidity or
evil? In other words, did a process
fail or was deliberate bad behavior
involved?
Choose spokespeople and
communications methodology --
focus on facts, actions and express
concern about those affected
26. BEYOND THE FIRST WAVE
Suspension of affected
business activities or
individuals pending
investigation
Independent panel of
experts
Collaboration with
authorities
Policy change Compensation/Make
goods
Continuous
communication
Depending on process failure or individual
culpability, there are a range of options
27. WHAT TO DISCLOSE
There is no moral obligation to be
completely transparent
However, your level of
transparency (within legal
limitations) should correspond to
what a reasonable person would
want to know about what has
happened and what you are doing
about it. This varies by situation
Your disclosures should neither
cause panic nor create false
confidence
28. WHEN TO DECLINE
When there is no new information
(you can communicate this)
When the media is simply looking
for more color to write a second
day story
Even if you have favorable news,
consider that your first priority is
to starve the story of oxygen
29. WHERE TO PLAY: YOUR WEB PAGES
If it’s an ongoing issue for you
You need to regularly update
Your position on the issue is frequently distorted
30. WHERE TO PLAY: SOCIAL COMMUNITIES
If you can sustain the outreach:
Best for lower temperature but sustained issues
Requires a lighter tone
Willingness to cede some control
If you run the community, you must publish everything not obviously crude or defamatory
31. WHERE TO PLAY: ACTIVIST SITES
Best for high temperature issues you have chosen to engage on in other media
Expect to be disrespected (your target is the waverers)
Don’t attempt “one-off” interventions
Engage the organization off-line as well
32. WHERE TO PLAY: YOUR BLOGS
Once up, always running
Weekly frequency is lowest threshold
Best for ongoing stakeholder issues
33. WHERE TO PLAY: OPINION-FORMING BLOGS
No sock puppets!
Expect your PR efforts to be treated as part of the dialogue
Best used when your issues are part of a louder public debate
Practice mainstream news level verifiability
34. CROSS PLATFORM LINKS AND INTEGRATION
Website to YouTube
Twitter to blog
Facebook page to industry links
Linkedin group to podcast
Cross platform tagging
35. SPOTTING BOTS
Bots make up 52% of all web traffic
They post a lot
Bots love anonymity
Bots live to amplify
Ben Nimmo, Sr. Fellow,
Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab
37. CRISIS RECOVERY
Don't declare a crisis over prematurely
When a crisis goes to the heart of an
organization's reason for being,
recovery requires a new relationship
with stakeholders
The deeper crisis, the longer you must
appear to be engaged with it,
sometimes for years
Disengage gradually but explain each
step
Don't forget your employees need to
heal too
38. THE 7 PRINCIPLES
(Almost) every crisis is preventable
Speak to the “pain,” not just the “harm”
Social is your friend, not foe
The arc of a crisis is predictable
Be human
It’s not over when you say it’s over
Be patient