This article is part our series about reputation management, a major concern for business leaders in today’s digital age. In our first installment, we explored the role of CEOs in preserving a company’s good online reputation. Here, we take a look at how to proactively protect your brand in a crisis situation.
By Andrea Lekushoff
President of Broad Reach Communications
Given the speed at which information now flows, companies operating in the 1990s had it easy when it came to crisis communications. After all, bad news could sometimes be contained. Companies could reach important stakeholders, shareholders and partners by phone and manage the message. Journalists had to wait for the printing press to finish before their stories were published.
It’s not just the rise of the Internet that has changed the way people communicate; the evolution of social media has fundamentally altered the way companies respond to crisis.
Trying to control the conversation
The power of social media is unprecedented in times of crisis. Blogs, microblogs and file-sharing platforms allow anyone with a device and access to the Internet to spread or exchange information at the touch of a button, and this in turn accelerates the pace at which information is amplified and communities are mobilized. Traditional media such as print newspapers and TV news now compete and collaborate with the growing ranks of citizen journalists. Reporters live-tweet from press events, deadlines don’t exist and more errors do occur.
The filter between company actions and the public has disappeared, which means the potential for misinformation and alternative sources of information to shape the public conversation is magnified. And social media has the capacity to escalate an issue and affect an organization’s reputation more quickly than you can read this article.
Speed, credibility and transparency in a crisis are absolutes. At a time when non-traditional media often report a story first, potential issues take constant monitoring and require a clearly defined and rehearsed process to address them.
Monitor constantly
Monitoring is key. While a corporate website remains the primary point of contact between a company and its most important audiences, information spreads wider and faster by Twitter. A company must control all channels that apply to its business and monitor all online references in doing so. If not, the brand risks being affected by the opinions of third parties.
Think about your own reaction to an issue: You probably plug the organization’s name into a search engine and click on the first few links. Now think about the risk to the brand when the search results come from a Twitter feed or activist’s blog rather than a channel controlled by that company. The power of search engines to shape corporate reputations is formidable.
It’s also harder to distrust a person than to distrust a corporation. A tweet or photo from someone claiming firsthand experience of an issue carries more weight than a corporate news release. As a result, companies must work hard to establish the voice of authority in providing accurate, timely and credible information.
Maintain communications best practices
Although this may seem like a Herculean task, a company can take concrete steps to build credibility and protect its brand and reputation. Despite the emergence of social media, a company still must deliver these fundamentals:
constant transparency
consistent messaging across all channels and audiences
direct communication with key stakeholders
positive relationships with traditional media
cooperation with regulators, government agencies and other organizations
These best practices should be part of a daily communications protocol to ensure that a company’s voice is trusted and can rise above the online fray.
Crisis preparation: a mandatory investment
Any company operating in 2015 must invest in two aspects of crisis management. First is a crisis preparedness audit. Key aspects include examining existing processes, capabilities, policies and protocols; monitoring processes, response and outreach tools, roles and responsibilities; and partner involvement.
After the audit of your crisis communications plan, simulating a rehearsal is critical with a full-scale simulation under the supervision of a facilitator. Share feedback and adjust the plan as necessary.
These basic tenets will determine if a company is able to protect its brand and reputation in a crisis. By practicing disciplined communications and investing in crisis preparedness, a company ensures it can take control of the conversation when a crisis hits.
Five principles of crisis preparedness
Many rules get tossed around when it comes to crisis preparedness. Here are the five most important ones I use with my clients when we begin planning:
Leverage positive online content. Maintain a positive online perception, counteract unfavorable results, and convey transparency and credibility via search engine optimization.
Spell it out. Provide employees with defined policies to guide their behavior both online and offline during a crisis.
Engage instead of provoke. Determine when and how to engage with online communities and participate in conversations the company did not start.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Continue using traditional means to communicate directly with stakeholders.
Remember the importance of paper. Plan for when the lights go out and computers shut down. Keep hard copies of all materials and offsite backups.
Are you confident that these principles are part of your company’s daily communications practice? Does your team have the right expertise?
If you’re unsure about even one of these rules, do not wait to think about them and how to implement until a crisis is at hand. When it comes to crisis communications, your company’s brand and reputation should never be left to chance.
A leader in the Canadian public relations industry, Andrea Lekushoff has two decades of experience building strong reputations and driving business results for many of the world’s most respected brands. As president of Broad Reach Communications, one of Canada’s premier independent public relations firms, Lekushoff sits on the board of Women of Influence, has won more than a dozen local, national and international PR awards, and holds an MBA from the Ivey Business School in London, Ontario. She can be reached at alekushoff@ broadreachcommunications.com.
This article first appeared in the May 2015 issue of YPO’s Ignite magazine.