Fighting crime with social media His Twitter account is so popular that, he says, even the thieves in his village follow him. One night his phone rang at 4am warning him that thieves were invading a school teacher’s house. He tweeted the message – and within minutes, villagers had gathered …
The Ryan Braun Saga: Part Two
The following is a guest article from frequent contributor and director of crisis communications for Triad Strategies, Rick Kelly. If you missed Part One of this story, head here first. The Ryan Braun Saga: Part Two We who practice crisis communications for a living are intimately and sometimes painfully familiar …
Crisis Management at Claire’s
Don’t go corporate in a crisis The blog post came Wednesday. Tatty Devine, a handmade jewelry company in England, posted photos of its own designs next to designs sold at international affordable jewelry retailer Claire’s. The response was explosive. More than 200 people commented before Tatty Devine closed the comments, …
Get the Right Story Out
Does Inaccurate Information Require Crisis Management? If information is not accurate does a company still need to address it? The answer is a resounding “yes”. The days of ignoring something and hoping it goes away are long gone. Today, if an issue is ignored it is considered true until proven …
What To Do When People Hate You
Use negative attention to create positive content When Ragan.com went looking for comment from companies on 24/7 Wall Street’s most-hated companies in America list, seven of ten either declined to comment or literally didn’t respond. Writer Matt Wilson asked several crisis management professionals why this might be, and BCM president …
The First 24 Hours
Sometimes you can’t prevent a crisis The combination of social media influence and a breakneck media cycle has made the first 24 hours after a crisis breaks more critical than ever. On March 1, Jonathan Bernstein will present, “Communicating in Crisis: The First 24 Hours,” a Communitelligence webinar. Focusing on …
Loose Lips
Don’t sink your own ship! Never interrupt your elders. 60 Minutes last night aired an interview with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Correspondent Leslie Stahl was questioning the Congressman about the need for bi-partisan cooperation and said even Cantor’s hero, Ronald Reagan, compromised and raised taxes. At that point, Cantor’s …
Improve Your Credibility
Lose people’s trust, and you lose it all. Credibility is everything when it comes to business and reputation. If people can believe what you say about yourself or your product, then you’ll have an easy time selling. Start lying, however, and you throw that right in the garbage. If a …
FedEx Gets Crisis Management Right
High marks for reputation management via YouTube Early last month, FedEx came under fire when video of a deliveryman literally hurling a computer monitor over a customer’s fence went viral. Although the video drew millions of hits almost instantly, FedEx’s crisis management team wasn’t far behind. Taking the sage path …
Crisis Management 101: Assess the Reaction to What You Do
We saw just how well quickly implemented changes work with Bank of America’s recent debit card fee debacle, but obviously leadership at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation didn’t catch the memo before sparking its own crisis management situation. The people have spoken, though, and following a massive …
Get Your Story Straight
Lying is a slippery slope Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray wrecked his state-owned Crown Victoria sedan on November 2nd. Initially Murray said he was driving within the speed limit and wearing a seat belt when he hit some black ice. According to the Boston Globe Murray said he was out …
Emergency Business Check-Up
The following is a very helpful mailing from FEMA, which has dramatically improved its communications since the Katrina debacle. It’s January and Time for Your Business Emergency Check-Up! Hello from the FEMA Private Sector Representative Desk! Before the holidays we sent you a message introducing me as the new FEMA-PSR, …
Technical Support Needs Technical Support: Time Warner is Good for a Laugh
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS S**T UP Yesterday, for reasons unknown, my Internet broadband speed dropped by roughly 2/3, so I attempted to get Time Warner Cable support via their Live Chat option. That required, first, that I provide my name and contact information, summarize the issue, and indicate what type …
Managing a Crisis in the Social Media Wilderness
Crisis management 101 pays off for gaming company Crisis management professionals are very much aware of the reputation issues that negative discussions on Twitter, Facebook, and certain forum communities can bring. When gaming company N-Control ran afoul of its stakeholders via a marketing consultant’s short temper (Quote: “We do value …
A Different Kind of Pie
this one will help your crisis management Communication is the cornerstone not only of crisis management, but also much of business. In order to bring stakeholders the answer, product, or service that they want, you need to understand WHY they want it. This can be difficult to explain, which makes an …