By Dominic Cockram
“But we deal with crises every day!”
If I had a pound for every time I heard this phrase… It usually follows my suggestion that an in-house PR team would benefit from putting together a crisis communications plan so that there are some procedures, processes and team structure in place, so they’d be prepared for when a real crisis hit them.
Cue: “We don’t need one. We know what to do.”
Our recent blog posts on the crises faced at NatWest, Ulster Bank, O2 and Progressive Insurance highlighted just how important communications can be during and after a crisis. In a crisis, perception can be more powerful than reality and emotions can become facts: no matter how well your company responds to and resolves an issue, if stakeholders and the public don’t hear this (with a healthy slice of humble pie on the side), your reputation can suffer the consequences.
Part 2 – Yes
After reading Sarah’s response to this question earlier this week, I have to disagree with her conclusions. I think that social media has changed many aspects of a strategic-level response. However, there are many layers of complexity to this and it is never as straightforward as it seems.
Firstly, it depends on your brand and business. If you are in retail and fashion then there is a huge shift in the way the strategic team now responds when driven by a social media storm. Firstly they feel they now need to get decisions out there quickly and show action taking place, they are now listening to what they hear (or they should be) from their detractors and their supporters and using that information to drive and inform their decisions in many cases. For them, crisis response has undergone a significant change as a direct consequence of social media.
By Sarah Nicholas
Part 1 – No
Social media may have changed the nature of crises, and the speed required for a successful crisis response – but has the advent of Twitter and co. really changed the key tenets of crisis management and core roles and requirements of a top-level, strategic crisis response ‘gold’ team.
I don’t think it has. Controversial, perhaps, but let me explain:
Last week we shared our top tips for preparing your social media for crisis response. This week we take a look at two recent corporate crises and how they approached social media as part of their crisis communications strategy, and decide who came out on top.
In the blue corner we have O2’s network blackout in July, which left O2, GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile customers across the UK unable to call, text or use data services for 24 hours. And in the red corner we have Progressive Insurance, who suffered a major reputational blow when Matt Fisher’s Tumblr entitled “My sister paid Progressive Insurance to defend her killer in court” went viral. This post claimed that the under-insured driver who killed Katie Fisher in a car accident was represented in court by a Progressive attorney so that the insurance company could avoid paying $75,000 of life insurance.
O2 began slow and steady, replying to individual Tweets in a cautious ‘sorry for the inconvenience’ style. However, the gloves quickly came off and the rulebook was thrown out the window as O2 began favouring humour and wit over grovelling tweets in reply to the thousands of angry customers taking to Twitter. These shocked many into admiration, and the funniest replies were re-tweeted across the network. Here are a couple of personal favourites:
There are numerous ways in which social media can (and will) play an integral role for your organisation during a crisis. Social media has been known to both amplify and even start incidents that may result in reputational damage. However, if managed appropriately, it can also be used to communicate with customers and mould public perception.
This guide covers the key points you should consider when engaging with social media during a crisis.
Number 1: HAVE A PLAN
Think how many times you’ve rehearsed for a tangible crisis, a bomb drill, a fire evacuation. Like it or not, social media is now an integral part of life and business. If you use any aspects of social media ensure it is included in your Crisis Communications Plan and rehearsed to trouble-shoot any pitfalls. Continue reading
Never has the need for a thoroughly planned, well-rehearsed, comprehensive crisis communications plan been more apparent: the recent incidents involving NatWest, O2 and Barclays (to name just a few) have amply demonstrated the complexity involved in achieving a ‘good’ crisis communications response when under considerable pressure both internally, and under the scrutiny of the press and general public.
The delivery of any successful crisis management response is reliant on excellent communications: a rehearsed, effective, integrated and ready-to-go crisis communications plan is essential. This involves much more than the day-to-day communications strategy. The plan should: Continue reading
By Dominic Cockram
What is it that companies fear most when a crisis hits? Or to put it another way, what do companies value most as a core asset?
Reputation.
We can see it in Barclay’s recent response to the Libor rate-fixing scandal. We regularly hear it first-hand from our clients going through crisis management and crisis communications training.
Crises present a unique opportunity for corporate reputations to be bolstered or battered, and with the vox populi stronger than ever, protecting reputation rightly finds itself among the top priorities of any corporate crisis response team.
Crisis Thinking 