…yes, social media is scary but stop freaking out, it will be okay…

Tall Ships America Conference 2015

Kathleen Moore, Ph.D.

FROM CRISIS COMMUNICATION TO

CRISIS CONVERSATION

THIS PRESENTATION

• Crisis Types

• Impacts

• Stakeholders

• Function/Goal of Crisis Communication

• Traditional Methods/Mediums

• New Methods/Mediums

• “Paracrisis” & Engagement

• Questions

CRISIS TYPES

• Faux Pas

• Poor communication

• Accidents

• Involving person or property

• Transgressions

• Product or service inflicts harm

• External Events

• Terrorism

• All have varying degrees of intention

• Every crisis is a unique event

CRISIS IMPACTS

• Reputation

• Daily business activities

• Threat to future business & operations

• Threat to industry

• Temporally

• Immediate

• Escalate

• Ripple

• Secondary disaster/Communication disasters

CRISES ARE MULTIFACETED

• About more than just your company

• Consider all stakeholders

CRISIS IS OCCURRING – NOW WHAT?

• Damage control, which online is always about reputation

• Instructive information for physical safety

• Correcting information

• Affective information for emotional guidance

• Reputation in context

• Is a form of capital, a necessary resource

• Built thru good works: offline/online

• No matter fault, image is at risk & must be repaired

• Crises spend capital, how much is up to you

…but WHY does this happen…?

WHY DOES THE PUBLIC BEHAVE AS THEY DO?

• Attribution = Individual/Collective cognition

• Sensemaking

• In crisis events the human mind hyper-organizes, hyper-analyzes

• Seeks explanation

• Fallout – to place blame, to attribute

• Attributions are perfectly normal – not a judgment

• Influence affect and behavior towards organization and reputation

…and they will not be ignored…!

Proper response strategy is paramount

Improper response result in Secondary Disasters, Communication Crises

TRADITIONAL COMMAND & CONTROL

• Ideal crisis platform model

• Not the reality of small businesses

Management HR

PR Operations

Employee 1

TRADITIONAL MEANS, TRADITIONAL MEDIUM

• Radio, TV, News Paper, Press Conference, Web 1.0

• Lag time

• Afforded time to craft message

• Time to respond

• Controlled message

• Specified and public spokesperson

• Static response

• Can pick and choose who to respond to

• Public comments are largely sequestered

Organization

Radio

TV

Newspaper

Press Conference

NEW MEANS, NEW MEDIUMS

• Social Media!

• Multiple Platforms

• Relentless 24/7/365 Global News Cycle

• Everyone has a voice

• Disembodied Spokesperson

• Dynamic Text

• Conversation is everywhere!

• Social media itself serves as a news source

Organization

Website

Twitter

Forums

Traditional Media

Facebook

• Realize you have NO control -control is a myth

• No one has the resources to control the internet, so stop trying

• You do not define the space

• “Fairness” does not apply, illusory at best

• Embrace the chaos

• Keep all stakeholders in mind

• Troll vs. Stakeholder

• Feeling loss of control

• Confrontational public criticism

• Temporal spacing

• Transmutation of message

• Lack of context

• Reinterpretation

• Perception vs. Truth

• Perception is everything

WHAT MAKES SM SO SCARY IN A CRISIS?

What it Feels Like What You Should Do

TIME TO ENGAGE

• Crisis = Opportunities

• Crisis events see the rise of the altruistic community

• SM enhanced social bonds

• Perception of your organization

• Org + Accuser

• Org + Supporters

• Org + General Public

• Org + Investigators

• If the mere existence of a crisis = loss of reputation/social capital, then engaging with

accusers helps to rebuild social bond & trust

FACE THE MUSIC…

• First: Attitude Check

• Become Switzerland – Remain Neutral

• Emotionally

• Strong emotions speak to perceived lack of control in SM

• Politically

• Those posting in SM are “faceless” - lack credibility

• Disembodied voices are perceived as less than trustworthy

• Remain Secular

• Strong religious overtones result in perceived lack of authority

CALL IN THE VOLUNTEERS

• Direct Response

• Scripted

• Engagement

• Monitoring

• Environmental scanning

• Many eyes lightens load

• Third Party SM management applications work wonders

CIVIL INDIFFERENCE

• Follow scripted crisis responses

• Under no circumstances:

• Provide inaccurate information

• Attack, Insult accusers

• Be Careful of timing

• Resist urge to immediately post

• When in doubt, pass it by another

• Respond in neutral fashion, but RESPOND!

• Don’t be afraid to let your “community” respond for you

• Be sure to LEAD & SHEPHERD the response

PARACRISES

• Social Media creates a fertile space for communication disasters

• Paracrisis = “Crisis Lite”

• Usually unpredictable or “left field”

• Can look like a crisis w/out being full-blown

• Requires organization response

• Can easily escalate

• Provides opportunity to build trust

• Types:

• Innocuous posts

• Cumulative posts prior to events

• Inappropriate picture/text

• Unanswered questions/criticisms

SHEPHERD THE CONVERSATION: EXAMPLE 1

• “Your product sucks and I’m never doing business with you again!”

• Bad Response: “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

• Worse Response: Delete comment

• Good Response: “I’m sorry you had a poor experience. We would like to discuss your

experience with our product/service and would be happy to refund your money.”

• Civilly accepting blame (whether true or not), engaging the accuser, being open to

discussion, and offering a solution shows good faith not only towards accuser but allows

others viewing the conversation to discern that you care not only about the quality of your

product/service but people’s experience in interacting with your organization

SHEPHERDING: EXAMPLE 2

• Accuser: “This is the worst organization to deal with, no one should have anything to do with them!”

• Supporter: “Hey, Accuser, you freakin’ idiot, take your !@#@! elsewhere!”

• Bad Response: Ignore the situation

• Worse Response: “Thanks, Supporter!”

• Good Response: “While we are unhappy to hear that anyone had a bad experience, and we appreciate that our supporters giving us benefit of the doubt, we hope that all our customers will show civility to each other until we can assess this situation.”

• Ignoring the situation creates a hostile communication environment – may alienate supporters. Condoning bad behavior on behalf of supporters creates more hostility. Lead the conversation by acknowledging an accuser being upset, that you value support, but maintain credibility by demanding civility.

TO DELETE OR NOT TO DELETE?

• Social Media has numerous social norms

• Transparency

• Egalitarianism

• DO NOT DELETE!

• Violating social norms

• Perception:

• Hiding something

• Reinforces opinion of wrongdoing

• “Swarmball” attack by those on the fence

• Drives the conversation away where you cannot monitor it!

• MISSED OPPORTUNITY

• Always exceptions that prove the rule

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

• Culling response medium

• If you have multiple platforms of use consider directing traffic to one

• DO NOT forget about your website!

• Provide access to static, crafted message on the front page

• INCREASE BANDWIDTH

• Call in the Pros

• High stress = high emotions

• Business managers not always best crisis communicators

• PR firms, crisis managers

SO MANY EXAMPLES….

• The Good

• Toyota 2009

• “Brake” crisis led to future engagement via storytelling and increased sales

• The Bad

• Delta Airlines 2011

• Confluence of events led to paracrisis, poor response, “black eye”

• The Ugly

• Applebee’s 2013

• Refusal to acknowledge criticism, doubling-down on policy, multi-million PR disaster

• The Unusual and Exceptional

• Dominos 2009

• PR disaster used to crowdsource innovation and drastically increase sales

WILD WILD WEST?

• Unfortunately, sometimes, yes

• Offline social norms sometimes disjunct with online norms

• Traditional crisis comm can be enhanced by SM

• Disasters can be exacerbated by SM

• Successful online crisis comm requires an attitude check

• Most important aspect of good online crisis comm is ENGAGEMENT

• Be present

• BE CIVIL

• Lead, Shepherd, Guide

• CONVERSE!

THANK YOU!!

QUESTIONS?