When life hands you lemons… Every business makes mistakes, and at some point or another the media’s going to pounce on one of yours. When this happens, it will be your reaction that determines whether your reputation bounces back or takes a pounding. In every case you should apologize and …
Protect Your Rep
Safeguard this valuable asset Reputation matters. People are Googling companies before they buy product, invest, or attend events. Heck, it’s not unusual for us to use our smartphones to assess a manufacturer while literally standing in a store looking at one of its products. The question this should raise for …
The Shape of Crisis Communication
How much has the game changed? The rise of social media was said by some to indicate the beginning of a reclusive state, where communication was done from our individual devices while everyone stayed at home, or in the office. While it’s true that most of us have our nose …
Watch Your Step with Social Media
Get prepared before trouble finds you As social media becomes more and more prevalent in our lives, so too do social media based crises. Just looking at the pages of this blog you’ll find story after story of runaway Twitter posts and customer-alienating Facebook gaffes. How, then, does the novice …
Crisis Management in the Real World
Fictional story prompts real talk A new movie, “Margin Call,” seeks to give audiences a glimpse into the world of fast paced, high level crisis management. While it misses the mark in terms of reality, Forbes business writer Coeli Carr saw the film as a perfect opportunity to talk with …
He Wrote WHAT?
Hot tempered exec crosses the line We’ve seen crises caused by errant emails, we’ve seen crises caused by potty-mouthed execs, but throw both of those at a blogger that has well over 100,000 followers and you’ve got a truly spectacular mess on your hands. Check out this quote about the …
VYou!
BCM gets involved in conversational video As Crisis Manager readers already know, we’ve been playing with a new toy for the past few days. VYou, a social media startup that accurately describes its service as “conversational video,” allows users to submit questions to an expert, which the expert then answers …
Social Disaster Management
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 …
BofA Skips Crisis Management 101
Poor preparation results in reputation damage Bank of America caused a major uproar early this month when it announced that the majority of its customers will be charged $5 per month for debit card use. The reasoning behind this, at least according to BofA, is that new regulations have raised …
Helping Them, Helps 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 …
Rebuilding Reputation
Do the right thing and the public will forgive Whether in daily life or business, negative situations bring a negative reaction. It’s how we behave after the fact that shapes the way we are perceived. Attempt to cover up the facts, and people smell a rat. Take the high road …
Toyota’s Social Crisis Management
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 …
There Is No Overkill
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 …
Social Media Crises on the Rise
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 …
Lack of Preparation
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. …