Post on 15-Jul-2015
@CaraPosey
Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College
Symposium on Arts Management and Innovation
October 6th, 2012
Cara Posey, Speakerfile Inc., Chief Marketing Officer
Crisis Communication in a Social World
@CaraPosey
Who is this person talking to me?
Cara PoseyChief Marketing Officer
Speakerfile, Inc.
10+ years experience in communications, public relations, social media, marketing,
fundraising, management, strategic planning and more.
Signature Worldwide, Ohio State Government, Girl Scouts of America,
Brookings Institution, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony,
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Adjunct Professor, Communications & Marketing, Franklin University
M.A.M. (Carnegie Mellon University)
B.A. (College of Wooster)
@CaraPosey
“
”
Everything’s fine and dandy till
someone picks their nose with your
product and posts it on YouTube.
@CaraPosey
Social media is ripe with crises No one is immune from these types of disasters…
@CaraPosey
@CaraPosey
Planning
Training
Have a game plan for handling a crisis
Helping your people not do stupid things
Ground Work
Build positive relationships and a solid
presence
Be Prepared
Crisis communicationHow to prepare, take action, and move on
Quick Response
Be prepared to act quickly and confidently
Repair
Continually listen to feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
@CaraPosey
@CaraPosey
Planning
1. Do you have a crisis
communications plan?
2. Does it include social media?
3. Is it actionable?
4. Who owns it?
5. How do we know when to enact
the plan?
@CaraPosey
Planning
Training
Have a game plan for handling a crisis
Helping your people not do stupid things
Ground Work
Build positive relationships and a solid
presence
TrainingIf they might speak on behalf of your organization, train them
Quick Response
Be prepared to act quickly and confidently
Repair
Continually listen to feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
• In-person training with
takeaways for reference
• Crisis drills for executive
team and spokespeople
• Monitor actions daily
• Reinforce training with
regular social media get-
togethers & discussions
@CaraPosey
@CaraPosey
Prepare potential crisis
situations including
scenarios your executives
could encounter
Table drills with small
groups to ensure
consensus and identify
areas of disagreement
Individual drills in front
of the group can identify
individual strengths and
weaknesses
FasterDrill
Check social networks
multiple times a day,
including organization
pages
Set up Google Alerts for
organization name,
executives names,
programs or products, and
your name
Don’t be the only Admin–
always have other people
serving as eyes and ears
FasterMonitor
Email updates can be
quick and effective to keep
employees or volunteers
engaged with your social
media efforts
Regular meetings to go
over new social media
trends or technology help
reinforce training and keep
people engaged
Answer questions
through whatever method
makes the most sense,
but if one person has a
question, consider
whether you need to
answer it for the group
FasterReinforce
In-person training is
optimal for uniform
understanding
Give examples of the
good and the bad
Set expectations for
behavior and participation
Provide takeaways for
reference after training
FasterTrain
Training
@CaraPosey
Ground work
Planning
Training
Have a game plan for handling a crisis
Helping your people not do stupid things
Ground Work
Build positive relationships and a solid
presence
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” – John F. Kennedy
Quick Response
Be prepared to act quickly and confidently
Repair
Continually listen to feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
• Build awareness of your
organization’s personality
• Get to know media and
thought leaders in your
industry or area
• Engage your customers,
volunteers, and employees
regularly and consistently
@CaraPosey
@CaraPosey
Planning
Training
Have a game plan for handling a crisis
Helping your people not do stupid things
Ground Work
Build positive relationships and a solid
presence
Quick response
Quick Response
Be prepared to act quickly and confidently
Repair
Continually listen to feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
Social Media
Never Sleeps
@CaraPosey
@CaraPosey
You have limited to no time to mitigate a crisisSocial media goofs are easily recorded and hard to erase
National Organization Local
Time until
meltdown
Don’t get lazy
@CaraPosey
How do I know it’s a crisis?
• Messages are coming from many people, not just one person
• The story is starting to be shared with more people and multiple platforms
• Your phone is ringing no matter what time it is
• Your mom knows about it: it’s gone viral
Oh $%@&!
@CaraPosey
How to respond to angry mobs of people
1. Listen
2. Identify Context of
Problem
3. Determine Appropriate
Response
4. Respond Quickly
5. Empathize and Apologize
6. Be Brief and Sincere
@CaraPosey
So what did KitchenAid do?
During the debate tonight, a member of our Twitter team mistakenly posted
an offensive tweet from the KitchenAid handle instead of a personal
handle. The tasteless joke in no way represents our values at KitchenAid,
and that person won’t be tweeting for us anymore. That said, I lead the
KitchenAid brand, and I take responsibility for the whole team. I am deeply
sorry to President Obama, his family, and the Twitter community for this
careless error. Thanks for hearing me out.- Cynthia Soledad
“
”
@CaraPosey
Planning
Training
Have a game plan for handling a crisis
Helping your people not do stupid things
Ground Work
Build positive relationships and a solid
presence
Quick Response
Be prepared to act quickly and confidently
Repair
Continually listen to feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
Repair your reputation
There’s a new crisis every
day, but the internet rarely
forgets.
The good and
the bad:
@CaraPosey
Sometimes it takes time or money or both
• Original social media
disaster happened in
2009
• 18 months spent
developing turnaround
• Self-deprecating…we
used to be bad
• Tens of millions of
dollars spent
revamping product
• Hired one of top
marketing firms in
country
@CaraPosey
Repair doesn’t have to be complicated
We are an organization that deals with life-changing disasters and this wasn’t one of them…it was just a little mistake. - Wendy Harman
“”
@CaraPosey
Bonus: public service announcement
You do not need to add your personal accounts to Hootsuite to intermingle with your business accounts.
Given how many mistakes have happened due to this, proceed with caution if you use social media for anything other than business.
@CaraPosey
When all else fails, use the website application
This is harder to screw up…not impossible, but a lot harder
@CaraPosey
Planning
Training
Have a game plan for handling a crisis
Helping your people not do stupid things
Ground Work
Build positive relationships and a solid
presence
Crisis communications in a social world
Quick Response
Be prepared to act quickly and confidently
Repair
Continually listen to feedback and work to
rebuild reputation
@CaraPosey
1. Plan ahead
2. Train your people
3. Lay the ground work
4. Respond quickly to a crisis
5. Repair your organization’s
reputation