New study shows pervasive lack of preparedness
Burson-Marsteller, the global public relations firm, has just released a study surveying corporate perceptions of the state of crisis communications in the age of social and digital media. It amounts to a wake-up call for business leaders who defend reputations and brand equity in today’s digitally connected marketplace.
The survey canvassed more than 800 business leaders in the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. An overwhelming majority of them—79%—said they believe their company is less than 12 months away from as potential “bet the company” crisis moment. Most of them believe that that crisis will arise from within the online space. Corporate leaders in nearly every industry, regardless of size or geography,- acknowledge that the dark clouds of impending digitally fueled crises are gathering. They also believe they know with some certainty how soon a crisis will occur—within the next year.
Yet, despite that conviction, most are still totally unprepared to manage and emerge successfully from crises fueled by a digitally powered news cycle. Nearly half of those surveyed said they lack even a basic form of effective online reputation monitoring. Not only are they not prepared, they don’t even have the most rudimentary tools to know if their reputations are under assault.
This quote, from an excellent Forbes blog post by global digital strategist Dallas Lawrence, gives telling insight into attitudes involving digital crises. Polls and studies have long revealed the fact that, while most organizations understand the need for crisis management, far fewer actually put it into action, and apparently the rise of social media hasn’t changed that much.
The study mentioned, available at the Burson-Masteller website, goes on to reveal many more contrasts between understanding and action, such as 66% stating they “believe new media has significantly increased the potential cost of a crisis,” while only 47% have increased internal resources for crisis response.
If you were told someone would break into your home within the next year, would you up the security? Looking at these figures, a lot of business owners would just sit and wait for it to happen.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/