Social Media killed the spin: online comms in a crisis

Today I went to a great IABC talk on Crisis and Reputation. PR gurus Barbara Sharp (Pax Populus) and Sam North (Ogilvy Public Relations) gave us some really great insights about recent crisis situations to hit Australian businesses and how they were handled from a communications view-point.

I wanted to share a few of the take-home pointers that I noted down during their talk.

Messaging

During a crisis, messaging is obviously key. Both Barb and Sam discussed identifying stakeholders and ensuring that the right messages go to them on the right channels. An interesting point that Barb also raised, was that the most important message you can convey is the action. What are you doing about the crisis? Assure everyone immediately that you are doing something about the situation, then start tailoring your personalised messages to stakeholder groups.,

Reputation is key

We all think about crisis communication as putting out the spot fires that arise during a crisis situation. What can we do to assist damage control measures before a crisis hits?

Reputation.

A good reputation will give you goodwill with stakeholders and they are more likely to allow you leeway for error. They used BP as an example of a company with a terrible public image. When they stuff up, there is no forgiveness, simply because they have a poor reputation and have mismanaged crisis situations in the past.

Reputation building provides strength in the face of adversity, but it doesn’t come overnight. Communications and brand managers should be working on an organisation’s reputation as part of a much bigger strategy. Don’t wait for things to hit the fan before you tell people the good you are doing to fix things.

Be honest and be confident in your position

Don’t be afraid to apologise for the inconvenience your crisis has caused. People want to see remorse and believe that you did not intentionally cause them any harm. However, don’t apologise for your decisions. Be confident and back up your arguments. NEVER go out with false pretences and spin, or you will fail. Not being able to believe your argument will cause you nothing but grief. Honesty will always pay off in the long term. Again, it’s about reputation and trust.

Social Media killed ‘spin’

Online communications scares a lot of people in the profession, because there is no element of control. However, a solid reputation, clear communications and long-term engagement can work in your favour both offline and online.

Investing in online communications by having an engaging presence and actively supporting your audience is a key factor in reputation building in the online space. People that have had good interactions with you are more likely to defend you and act as advocates during a crisis or when being targeted by criticism.

This is also where being confident and truthful is of vital importance. People can (and will) catch out liars and it has a tendency to spread like wildfire. If you have been caught out, don’t fight the position. Admit to mistakes and rebuild your reputation by being honest.

A great example given was the Twitter Faux Pas from Red Cross. A rogue personal tweet on the company account put the organisation in a bad light. Instead of behaving in a defensive manner, they corrected the situation in a light-hearted manner, acknowledged their mistake and posted an apology.

Honesty is an investment

Spin is dead, so invest in honesty. You may take a hit in the short term, but an honest response will help you rebuild your credibility in the future.