Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “crisis communication”
Be prepared to help your community When natural disasters get bad, they often take out wired communication sources, namely cable and telephone lines. In these times, people look to anyone they can for information about the outside world. If you are a service provider, be it electricity or firefighting, you …
Make media and the public your allies against crisis It is vital to keep the media and public on your side. Ideally, this process will have started before any crisis occurs, through fostering relationships with journalists, bloggers and, of course, your customers. Once the crisis has occurred, you keep them …
Take the conversation to your customers The Toyota recall of 2010 was perhaps one of the most devastating crises in terms of sheer logistics and media pressure that we’ve seen in recent history. The media pressure was made especially powerful because social media users latched onto the story, with bad …
Over-preparation is the best path With memories of devastating storms still fresh and painful in the minds of many, the coming of Hurricane Irene was nothing short of scary. Public safety officials leapt into action, just as they had been criticized for not doing in the past, but when the …
Proof that you need to be prepared Social media crises are on the rise, but 76% of those that occurred since 2001 could have been diminished or averted with the proper social media investments, according to a report by Altimeter Group released on Wednesday. For the report, entitled “Social Business …
Ignoring crisis prevention costs Last week, retailer WH Smiths learned about the wrath of social media. A Twitter user in Leamington Spa tweeted a photograph appearing to show that the retailer had moved its copies of Gay Times and Attitude, apparently in an attempt to keep them out of sight. …
Crisis management is simpler than it seems To control a crisis, organizations must be able to respond quickly as well as effectively. Delay in response erodes credibility. A bad scenario takes on additional dimensions until it just gets worse and worse. Indeed, the first fundamental rule is to take the …
Trouble isn’t over for Murdoch and Co. The downfall of The News of the World was one of the biggest crisis management mishaps this year, and thanks to emerging information we’re finding the entire circus may not be over yet. A quote, from the Guardian UK: Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch …
Weak response hurts pizza giant’s reputation Early this month, Ken Wieczerza went to reheat a piece of his Pizza Hut from the night before, only to (allegedly) find a used, bloody bandage. Obviously dismayed, Wieczerza claims to have sought a private resolution, but was forced public by Pizza Hut’s own …
Creative thinking makes for stronger crisis planning Some crises, natural disasters for instance, are almost a given. There is no way someone is going to overlook the fact that California is known for earthquakes, or that their company headquarters is located smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley. Others …
Don’t be caught off guard You’ve signed up on Twitter and things are going well. You’re posting links to events, useful information, and company blogs, perhaps even beginning to interact with some active stakeholders when suddenly you notice your company name and #FAIL are appearing in many of the same …
Back in 2008, I suggested that an eyewitness tag on Twitter, such as #EW, would help people identify relevant material from the vast torrent of tweets that were being posted about Mumbai. In 2011, Twitter users have taken things beyond my rather simple idea by organising a number of separate …
Stop the spread of negative corporate culture The spectacular collapse of the News of the World following the exposure of a multitude of criminal actions within the organization holds many lessons, perhaps one of the greatest of which was discussed by Jonathan Hemus in an Insignia Talks blog post: Your …
Your reputation is at risk when negative posts start to appear A new study is backing up a precept that crisis management professionals have been talking about for years – negative online comments have a measurable effect on an organization’s reputation. PR Daily recently interviewed the study’s organizer, doctoral student …
Negative communication culture leads to public blowup I have lost confidence. While I hide it at work, my passion has been sapped. I know I am not alone — the sentiment is widespread and it includes people within your own teams. Mike and Jim, please take the time to really …
