30 Lessons from 30 Years of Crisis Management Jonathan Bernstein got his start in crisis management when he helped launch one of the earliest crisis communications practices in the U.S. as part of a national PR office. Branching off to form Bernstein Communications, which would later become Bernstein Crisis Management, …
False CNN iReport on “Deadly” Asteroid Causes Panic
Allowing its name and logo on unvetted content leads to trouble for CNN CNN’s iReport is an attempt to put reporting in the hands of the people, but looked at from a crisis management standpoint, it’s full of reputation dangers for the network. CNN’s iReport allows amateur e-reporters to publish …
Antivirus Maker’s Crisis Management for Data Breach
More proof that nobody is invulnerable to cyber attacks In the last Crisis Manager of 2013, we predicted cyber crises would explode this year, and explode they have. What was once a fringe crime that often went unnoticed by both victims and the media has become big business, and it …
Responding to Social Media Crises
How you react can make all the difference Let’s be real here – no matter how hard you try to avoid trouble, it’s not only possible, but also quite likely, that you’ll eventually encounter the need to do a bit of social media crisis management. Considering that the way you …
Reputation Management Tips from the Financial Industry
A push for change in the world of finance holds lessons for other industries Preventing reputation threats caused by customer dissatisfaction is a common goal of crisis management, and for the financial world (and many other tightly regulated industries) it has the added benefit of helping you avoid running afoul …
Improve Your Online Reputation this Summer
A strong online reputation has quite a few benefits Getting serious about online reputation management is a win on many fronts. You’ll draw in more customers, head of crises before they can get started, and build a cushion of goodwill that will protect you from the impact of negative incidents. …
5 Steps to Monitoring Your Online Reputation
A key component to any Internet reputation management plan Without a doubt, reputation is your most valuable asset, and these days the fate of that asset will be decided online. Before you can even begin to consider how to best protect and grow your reputation, you need to get familiar …
#myNYPD and Why Social Media Managers Need #CrisisPR Training
A dangerously overlooked aspect of social media management Twitter hashtag hijackings have been happening faster than we can cover them. The shellacking the New York Police Department took as a result of attempting to employ the #myNYPD hashtag was just the latest in a string of incidents that, quite frankly, …
Emerging Info Weakens GM’s Crisis Management Effort
How should the embattled automaker react? What do you think is one of the most damaging pieces of information that could emerge when you’re in the midst of crisis management for a massive mistake? If you said evidence that you’ve made that same mistake more than once, you must be …
Crisis Management Quotables on…Nobody Likes a Lecture
Communication is a two-way street Many of our Quotables come from celebrities or famous philosophers, but how about one from a man who’s been in the trenches of the crisis management field for decades? Communication that isn’t interactive is lecturing — Jonathan Bernstein Already reconsidering the value of your past …
Mary Barra, the Woman in the Hot Seat
[Editor’s note: The following guest post comes to us from the always-brilliant Merrie Spaeth, President of Spaeth Communications and creator of the infamous BIMBO Memo.] Mary Barra, GM’s new CEO, and the first woman to head a major car company, is scheduled to testify before Congress this week. The topic …
Execs Neglecting Social Media Crisis Management
Dangerous lack of concern for social media issues among company leadership creates reputation risk Situations like the recent Hot Pockets recall, where a supply chain problem spiraled quickly into a crisis on Facebook and Twitter, are proof of the new reality – every negative incident has the potential to create …
How to Plan for Any Crisis Management Scenario
Having crisis plans in place will immensely increase your chances of coming out in one piece While we’re seeing an increase in the number of organizations that have crisis management plans, the vast majority of those plans are still woefully inadequate. In a recent interview, NFIB.com’s Adam Wren asked our …
We’d Take Mike Rowe on our Crisis Team
[Editor’s note: A big thank you to frequent contributor Kim May for sending this case our way! If you spot a story you think would be a good fit for our blogs, email [email protected]] Whether you agree with his position or not, it’s undeniable that Rowe has natural crisis management …
Social Media Crisis Management: When Do We Respond?
If you haven’t found yourself asking this question already, it’s coming To respond, or not to respond, and how the heck are we supposed to respond anyways? This is a question posed by those faced with a need for social media crisis management on a daily basis, and one to …