Crisis Averted:Preparation Strategies

to Stop a Social Blowup

AN ACTION PLAN FROM 7 CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PROS

0:08UNTIL

DETONATION

CRISIS AVERTED: TABLE OF CONTENTS

01

Crises of all kinds could hit your brand at any moment.

Planning for the worst has become crucial—with social media

playing a major role in your crisis communications e�orts. To ensure

longevity and success for your brand, your organization must think

through its entire strategy by solidifying social media as fundamental

to crisis management, developing a holistic plan that involves all

team members, knowing how to activate your plan if needed and

looking at ways to manage the aftermath.

If that sounds burdensome, fear not. We've gathered insights

from seven practitioners in the field to help you fortify a social

media-focused crisis communications plan.

01 Meet the Crisis Com Pros

02 Solidify Social’s Role in Crisis Communications

03 Develop an Integrated Plan

04 Activate Your Plan as Necessary

05 Manage the Aftermath

06 Breathe Easy

Product Recalls.Website Hacks.Distasteful Tweets.

02

Meet the Crisis Com ProsFrom hijacked hashtags to Twitter takedowns, these crisis com experts

have seen it all and in the process built a name for themselves protecting

their clients. Each of these experts agrees that today, regardless of

industry, social can make or break a brand.

Steve Christensen

Director of Communication

Loyola University Chicago

Thomas Graham

President and CEO

Crosswind Media & Public Relations

Shannon Wilkinson

CEO, Reputation Communications

Shawn Zanotti

CEO, Exact Publicity

Melissa Logan

Director of Communications

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Jason Mudd

CEO and Principal

Axia Public Relations

Deb Hileman

President and CEO

Institute for Crisis Management

CRISIS AVERTED: MEET THE CRISIS COM PROS

01

CRISIS AVERTED: SOLIDIFY SOCIAL’S ROLE IN CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

03

Solidify Social’s Role in Crisis CommunicationsAs a result of social media’s prevalence, today most issues start and live

online. With that in mind, it’s important that every level and function of

your organization understands the power of social media for managing

a crisis.

“Most crises ignite on social media,” said Shannon Wilkinson, CEO of

Reputation Communications. “They are amplified there…and can go viral,

reaching major mainstream media outlets like national TV news programs.”

From your executive team to your social team, the first step in social crisis

communications planning is to integrate your entire organization into your

e�orts with a clear understanding of the potential benefits and pitfalls of

today’s leading communications channel.

IT’S FAST

“The speed at which a message, or a series of messages,

spreads on social media can be both a huge benefit and a

massive challenge,” said Steve Christensen of Loyola

University Chicago.

IT’S DIRECT

Jason Mudd of Axia Public Relations champions social’s

“ability to share your message unfiltered, in your own words,

without someone else interpreting,” thus building trust and

laying the groundwork for a much faster recovery.

IT’S A FIRST TOUCH POINT

Social is where many people first hear about a crisis and,

ideally, its resolution. In fact, according to the Pew Research

Center, half of Facebook and Twitter users treat these

platforms as their primary news source.

IT’S EVERYWHERE

Facebook’s monthly active users exceed 1.2 billion. Twitter

has more than 288 million, and Snapchat is up to 100 million.

Out of all those social users, 1.68 billion carry their networks

with them everywhere on a mobile device.

02

Why Use Social for Crisis Com?

04

Develop an Integrated PlanWhen something goes awry at your organization, the initial reaction may

be to hope it just blows over. In our highly connected world, that is one of

the worst things you can do.

“The No. 1 thing companies can do is address the issue and get in front

of it,” Mudd said.

Having a plan in place is key and will save your organization money in

the long run. As Deb Hileman, President and CEO of the Institute for

Crisis Management, said, “It is much easier—and cheaper—to prepare

and prevent than it is to repair and repent!”

“Don’t be like an ostrich

and stick your head in

the sand, because then

you just show your rear.”

Jason Mudd

AXIA Public Relations

03

average cost of social media mistakes for major corporationsSource: Symantec

$4,300,000

CRISIS AVERTED: DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED PLAN

In fact, according to a survey by Symantec, social media mistakes cost

major corporations an average $4.3 million a year. Other implications

include reduced stock price, lost revenue, litigation costs and damaged

brand reputation.

CRISIS AVERTED: DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED PLAN

05

While the best social crisis communications plan is one you never

have to use, o�ense remains the best defense. As you work

through every scenario possible, consider these elements.

PRE-WRITTEN MESSAGES

“Between fielding calls from the media, counseling your top decision

makers and perhaps even pushing emergency notifications, you won’t

have time to think about your social media posts and if you need a

comma before the conjunction,” said Melissa Logan, Director of

Communications at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

This is especially true at enterprise-level companies, where publishing a

social media post can take several days and layers of approval.

Remember: Five minutes can feel like five days to your audience. Prepare

a log of emergency messages that can be customized, and arm your

social team with these as a first level of response.

Your responses should cover a range of potential issues and be

designed to allay concerns among your followers, showing them you are

aware of the situation, handling it appropriately and keeping them

apprised of any developments. Having prepared responses could also

give you a little wiggle room to handle the larger logistical issues at hand.

“Pre-approved initial communications facilitate faster response while

buying time to assess the situation, gather facts and prepare more

detailed communications,” Hileman said.

Key Plan Elements

Consequences of

Social Media Mistakes:

• Reduced stock price

• Lost revenue

• Litigation costs

• Damaged brand reputation

Source: Symantec

KEY PLAN ELEMENTS, CONTINUED

CRISIS AVERTED: DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED PLAN

06

CONTACT INFORMATION

It’s unlikely a crisis will happen when everyone is in

the o�ce, so a tool that captures everyone’s

contact information is a must. This will streamline

the communications process and get all the major

players on the same page right away.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Confusion only serves to exacerbate an

emergency. Eliminate as much uncertainty as

possible by tracking who tackles what, who their

backups are and who has responded to what.

“In the event one of my team members was

unavailable, other members of the university’s

marketing sta� could step in pretty easily and assist

with distribution of information,” Christensen said.

POLICIES & PROCEDURES

Who has the password to the Twitter account?

What’s the two-step verification code for the main

o�ce computer? Where do you respond if your

main communications channels are compromised?

Build a central repository of policies, procedures

and other documentation for an extra layer of

security. You won’t be relying only on somebody’s

memory in a high-pressure situation and you

aren’t stalled if a team member can’t be reached.

An Exercise in Disaster

Do you have a response plan if:

• Your organization had to pull a distasteful ad?

• A senior executive made an o�ensive remark?

• Someone was hurt at one of your facilities?

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

BREAK GLASS

07

Activate Your Plan as NecessaryWhen the chips are down, keep your chin up. After all, your job is

to find a resolution and put your audience at ease. Here’s how to

reach that goal.

REMAIN FLEXIBLE

A social crisis communications plan, of course, should cover the most

crucial steps, but your team should also feel empowered to take actions

that best suit the challenge at hand. Just keep all stakeholders in the

loop if you deviate from the plan.

“Pre-planning really only goes so far,” said Shawn Zanotti, CEO of Exact

Publicity. “It can give you a foundation, but when the crisis strikes, it is hit

or miss.”

Indeed, if a company could anticipate every aspect of an emergency, we

wouldn’t hear so much about disasters in the news. Expect your plan to

be in regular flux.

“Any time our client or one of their competitors is in the midst of a crisis

or addressing something that could potentially become a crisis, we are

reviewing the crisis plan, refining and enhancing it, and tweaking

messages accordingly,” Mudd said.

This flexibility extends to how you handle your scheduled messages as

well. Many brands have their social posts queued several days or weeks

in advance to promote an ongoing campaign or to provide a signal boost

to evergreen content. When an emergency hits, turn o� any scheduled

messages. It doesn’t reflect well on a business to share serious

information about a product recall, then have a funny Tweet go out

an hour later.

04

“Any tool that allows you to

schedule/update your

social media sites in one

easy-to-use location and

then monitor the social

media conversation that

follows is an invaluable tool

to the issues management

communication process.”

Steve Christensen

Loyola University Chicago

CRISIS AVERTED: ACTIVATE YOUR PLAN AS NECESSARY

CRISIS AVERTED: ACTIVATE YOUR PLAN AS NECESSARY

08

KNOW YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKS

Depending on the crisis at hand and the field you’re in, di�erent social

platforms may be better for distributing your messages. Know where

your core audience is—and it may not just be on the biggest platforms.

For instance, Christensen noted that universities may want to monitor Yik

Yak, where small chatter can carry over into bigger discourse on the

leading networks.

“This channel is increasingly popular on university campuses and can

give important insight into what the students on campus are thinking at

the moment,” he said.

The social networks of choice should also make sense for the situation.

“If a fire will halt operations at your facility, it’s best to let your customers

know through Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram,” Logan said.

“Pinterest, Snapchat and LinkedIn certainly aren’t the right source.”

No matter how sound your crisis response is, the message won’t

accomplish anything if it doesn’t get to the desired people.

“Without that type of outreach, a company can’t tell its side of the

story—or convey the important facts and assistance that may be

necessary,” Wilkinson said.

Regardless of how many networks you’re using, it’s ine�cient to log in to

every platform and type out a response during a crisis. It’s much more

e�ective to have one tool that unifies all of your team’s engagement

e�orts and provides clear visibility across all of your major platforms.

Also, in an emergency situation, one message distributed to many

networks will free you up to focus on other important tasks.

“While many subject matter experts may provide information to assist in

a response, it is important to centrally manage all public communications

to ensure consistency in the messaging and information being shared

with all stakeholders, regardless of the medium,” Hileman said.

“Ideally, the com team is

already well engaged in

social media monitoring

and engagement long

before a crisis strikes.”

Deb Hileman

Institute for Crisis Management

CRISIS AVERTED: ACTIVATE YOUR PLAN AS NECESSARY

09

Enter a keyword

Chicago

Twitter

Facebook

NEAR THIS PL ACE

NAME KEY WORD

Improve Twitter search results

with search operators

EX AMPLE

[brand] :(monitor negative sentiments

Add Keyword

Within 5 ▼ mi ▼

SAVE KEY WORD

MONITOR KEYWORDS

To mitigate major issues before or as they arise,

have a solid monitoring process in place. Through

active listening, you will be alerted of social

discussions directly or indirectly involving your

organization.

For example, if you are a car dealer, watch for

negative customer feedback related to

malfunctioning mechanics, car accidents or

product recalls. Setting up Twitter search

operators—like “[car brand name] hate” or “[car

model] :(”—could alert you of a potential issue.

This will enable you to tackle the challenge head

on before it catches fire with a wider audience or

gets picked up by the news.

“A smart organization is regularly monitoring its

brand and reputation health, so incidents can be

tracked for their influence on the overall

reputation,” said Thomas Graham, President and

CEO of Crosswind Media & Public Relations.

This is a must in your day-to-day operations as a

smart social business, but keyword monitoring

strikes a more alarming chord during a crisis.

“Are people asking for more information than

you’re providing? Are they asking more often than

you’re posting? Are they inferring information and

starting rumors because you’re not e�ectively

communicating what’s happening? These are

certainly signs that you need to increase your

e�orts,” Logan said.

The tone of discussions around your brand can

guide your response and soften any outrage.

CRISIS AVERTED: ACTIVATE YOUR PLAN AS NECESSARY

10

THINK MOBILE

A lightning storm cuts the power. A flood blocks

entry to your o�ce. Your Internet connection

decides to take a nap just as your heart is racing.

All sorts of emergencies can take away your

computer access, so arm your team with

smartphone apps for social media management

when they’re out in the field or just need backup.

In addition to sending out public messages, a good

mobile app makes it easy to communicate with your

team internally—pulling up conversation histories

with customers, tasking items that require action

and seeing where a response has been issued.

11

Manage the AftermathWhether a small hiccup or a big snafu, you should analyze your

wholesale response. A report that quickly shows you impressions,

shares, comments and average response time to critical questions will

enable you to measure your success and outline areas for improvement

moving forward.

“Hopefully you have already pre-identified the objectives of the crisis

plan and identified what you will measure against,” Mudd said.

The big signs of how a crisis was handled might not show up until much

later in the form of decreased revenue or customer loss. But a social

savvy organization can track customer sentiment in real time and

leverage analytics to show how well a situation was handled. Remember

that your success isn’t just about the numbers—it’s how well you

connected with your audience.

Indeed, the number of social messages that require a brand response

has increased 77% in the last year—while a staggering five out of six of

these go unanswered. Especially in an emergency, you need to actively

listen to your followers and engage with them at every stage.

Christensen emphasized the idea of watching the direction as much as

the volume of social messages.

“If there was initially a lot of bad information spreading before, has that

slowed down or stopped? Are your facts and messaging now the

information that’s being shared, or is it negative commentary from

third-parties that is dominating the conversation?” he said.

Ideally, you will want to set the dates for what you measure so that you

can see your brand’s baseline performance at a normal time, then how

data points changed at the beginning, middle and end of a problem.

05

CRISIS AVERTED: MANAGE THE AFTERMATH

increase in social messages

requiring a brand response

in the past year

77%

5 of 6social messages that

go unanswered

0:03CRISISAVERTED

12

Breathe EasyCrises may be overwhelming and worrying. But just as the best o�ense

is a good defense, taking the time to prepare for emergencies can

alleviate a good portion of the mental strain. With sound strategies in

place and the right tools at your side, you are ready to fight any battle

that comes your way. Of course, just by getting your entire organization

to think social, keeping communication open, and actively listening and

responding to the conversations that matter most, your brand will already

have emerged victorious.

06

CRISIS AVERTED: BREATH EASY

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