NCA Conference Panel: The Role of Social Media in Hurricane Sandy - A Public Relations Perspective

The Role of Social Media in Hurricane Sandy November 23, 2013 NCA Conference, Washington DC

Slides available at slideshare.net/sfathi

Sandra Fathi President, Affect [email protected] affect.com techaffect.com @sandrafathi

© Affect Presented at AMB | June 2012

SM & HURRICANE SANDY

NYC TIMELINE

October 22 - November 5: Kills at least 117 in US & 69 in Canada & Caribbean including 53 in NY, 34 in NJ

•  October 28

•  MTA suspends subway and rail services

•  NYC orders evacuation of low-lying areas

•  Schools close. Broadway shuts down. Airlines cancel flights.

•  October 29

•  NYSE Shuts down

•  Hurricane makes landfall in NJ

•  October 30: NY/NJ airports remain closed

•  November 3:

•  ConEd restores power to 70% of those who lost it

•  MTA restores 80% of subway services

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U?lity company for NYC and Westchester serving approximately 9 million customers

Con Edison Social Media

•  Con Edison ‘War Room’: 24/7 Staffing •  Pre-‐Sandy: 6,500 TwiZer Followers •  Post-‐Sandy: 23,000 TwiZer Followers •  2,500+ RTs on Press Releases •  25 Videos with 100,000+ Views •  140,000 Views on Flickr of Restora?on Efforts

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Sen?ment on Social

Top Ac'vity Dates

Various Ac'vity Snapshot (e.g. Top Handles)

Approximate Men'ons

29-Oct Highest hour ever, 10 p.m.: Substation “explosion” 40,247

2-Nov Various topic mentions & Con Edison expects Manhattan restoration by Sat. 28,356

30-Oct Various mentions re: outages in NYC 23,523

161,000+ Total men?ons

Con Edison Trends: Oct. 26 – Nov. 12

@ConEdison Tweet History -‐ Between 10/26 – 11/12

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MTA & Social Media •  Primary communication channels

about MTA service, facilities and plans:

–  mta.info –  Press/Media –  Various MTA agency social

media handles and YouTube account

–  Digital Urban Panels –  On the Go Station Kiosks –  E-mail/Text Alerts

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MTA & Social Media

•  Web, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr Updates •  Videos via YouTube •  Four Basic Categories of Media shared

– Before: Preparation – During: Storm Hits – Aftermath, Part 1: Damage – Aftermath, Part 2: Restoration

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Updates via Twitter and Facebook

•  Posts and RTs of Major Announcements by Governor

•  Status of our Infrastructure •  Service Updates

–  Subway, Buses, LIRR, MNR, B&T have separate accounts

•  Photos shared to tell the story •  Links to Updated Maps and

Service No?ces –  Real ?me posts –  RT’ing self every hour

•  Responses to Ques?ons –  “For everyone asking about …”

Hurricane Sandy Recovery Map

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•  Constantly updated the map as service was restored

•  Each ?me the map was updated, we immediately posted it to TwiZer & Facebook

•  Feedback from customers was overwhelmingly posi?ve

Photos & Video

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•  Uploaded to Flickr & Facebook •  Tweeted Links to Flickr and YouTube footage

– Whole galleries, individual s?lls & behind the scenes video

Public Response

Metropolitan Transporta?on Authority 14

Phase I: Secure Crewmembers & assets

Phase II: Confirm loca?on & status

Phase III: Paced resump?on of service

jetBlue Crisis Plan


CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

CORE CONCEPTS

4 Phases of Crisis Communications

•  Readiness

•  Response

•  Reassurance

•  Recovery

Readiness

Response

Reassurance

Recovery



RECOGNIZING CRISES

•  Internal

Employees

Facilities

Vendors/Suppliers

Distributors/Resellers

Product

•  External

Acts of Nature

Market

Legal Restrictions/Law

Customers

Advocacy Groups

Anticipating & Understanding Threats to a Business People, Products, Facilities, Environment



CRISIS SCENARIOS IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

1.  Senior manager accused of inappropriate conduct including lewd photos with employee – Now on Instagram

2.  Employee arrested for hit and run accident – Now Appearing in Google Search

3.  Employee caught abusing drugs – Now Posted on his Facebook Profile

4.  Customer credit card details leaked – Now On Twitter

5.  Employee posts rant on company and exposes confidential information – Now on YouTube

6.  Company accused of making children’s toys with poisonous lead paint – Now on a Mommy Blog



READINESS

Anticipating a Crisis

1.  Crisis Mapping (SWOT Analysis)

2.  Policies and Procedures (Prevention)

3.  Crisis Monitoring

4.  Crisis Communications Plan

5.  Crisis Action Plan

6.  Crisis Standard Communications Template

Readiness

Response

Reassurance

Recovery


CORE CONCEPTS


RESPONSE TIMES

How long before the $@!& hits the fan?



RESPONSE

What’s in the Toolkit?

Develop materials:

•  Messages/FAQ

•  Prepared statements

•  Press release template

•  Customer leZers

Train employees

Prepare channels:

•  Hotline

•  Dark site

•  Social Media



RESPONSE

Preparing a Response

1.  Don’t delay

2.  Acknowledge situation

3.  Acknowledge impact and ‘victims’

4.  Commit to investigate

5.  Commit to sharing information and cooperation with relevant parties

6.  Share corrective action plan if available

7.  Respond in the format in which the crisis was received**

Readiness

Response

Reassurance

Recovery



REASSURANCE

Who to Reassure? How to Reassure?

1.  Develop full response plan

2.  Put plan into action: Immediate remedy

3.  Communicate results of plan and impact

4.  Reaffirm commitment to correction

5.  Demonstrate results of program

Readiness

Response

Reassurance

Recovery



RECOVERY

Preparing a Long-term Recovery Plan

1.  Review need for operational, regulatory, environmental and employee changes

2.  Develop long-term plan including policies and prevention tactics

3.  Reassess crisis plan

4.  Regain customer/public trust

Readiness

Response

Reassurance

Recovery

The Role of Social Media in Hurricane Sandy November 23, 2013 NCA Conference, Washington DC

Slides available at slideshare.net/sfathi

Sandra Fathi President, Affect [email protected] affect.com techaffect.com @sandrafathi

NCA Conference Panel: The Role of Social Media in Hurricane Sandy - A Public Relations Perspective

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