The catalyst effect of Social Media in crisis communication management in the context of brand...
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Transcript of The catalyst effect of Social Media in crisis communication management in the context of brand...
The catalyst effect of social media in crisis communication management
Mariana Victorino
Catholic University, Portugal Managing Director of Porter Novelli Portugal (Omnicom Group)
3rd International Consumer Brand Relationship Colloquium
26-‐28 September, 2013, Winter Park (Orlando), Florida, USA
Table of Contents
Introduction Research problem description Research question & hypothesis Theoretical framework Research methodology Case Study: Ensitel social media crisis Results and discussion Conclusion
Why crisis communication & social media?
often results in the practice of public relations getting ahead of research. The practice of crisis communication is ahead of research in terms of social
Coombs, W. Timothy and Holladay, S., 2008. Comparing apology to equivalent crisis response strategies: Clarifying apology's role and value in crisis communication. Public Relations Review. Volume 34, Issue 3, September 2008, Pages 252 257
Why crisis communication & social media?
social media in public relations professional publications, research is still needed to provide evidence-‐based guidelines to make the business case for integrating social media into crisis management practices
Jin, Y., Liu, B.F. & Austin, L.L., 2011. Examining the Role of Social Media in Effective Crisis Management: The Effects of Crisis Origin, Information Form, and Source on Crisis Responses. Communication Research. Available at: http://crx.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/0093650211423918 [Accessed November 19, 2012].
Research problem description
Research question
Complementary questions
Hypothesis definition
Research question
of social media acting as a catalyst to the
strategy to manage situations that threaten
Are brands prepared to manage situations that may have a negative impact in their reputation, in the context of social media massive use?
Are brands aware of the risks and consequences of not being prepared?
What methods and procedures do they use in order to be prepared?
Did social media contribute to change the way brands relate to their stakeholders in the context of a reputational threat?
Complementary Questions
Did crisis communication management paradigm change in result of social media dissemination?
Did social media bring about added difficulties or challenges for crisis communication management?
How can brands manage crisis communication in Web 2.0 context?
Do brands need new strategies to manage effectively their crisis communication strategies? Which strategies?
Complementary Questions
Hipo
thesis 1
The massive use of social media entails a larger
exposure to threats for the reputation,
demanding the definition and implementation of new
and adjusted crisis communication practises.
Hipo
thesis 2
Brands did not have established practises for
managing crisis communication and, due to the massive use of social
media, they are experiencing increasing threats to their reputation, which is leading
them to develop and implement these methodologies.
Hypothesis Definition
Argenti, Barnett, Chun, Davies, Doorley, Dowling, Fombrun, Gaines-‐Ross, Greyser, Griffin, Jermier, Lafferty, Ollefs, Shanley, Van
Corporate Reputation
Barton, Coombs, Fowler, Gonzales-‐Herrero, Goodman, Holladay, Kling, Larson, Marcus, Mersham, Mittroff, Penrose, Pratt, Seeger, Sellnow
Crisis Communication
Argenti , Austin, Baron, Cardoso, Jin, Johnson, Jordan-‐Meier, Kang, Levinson, Lister, Liu, Manovich, Metzgar, Perry, Sweetser
Social Media (applied to Crisis Communication)
Theoretical framework
Corporate Reputation Reputation as an asset (intangible, but manageable by the brand); as an assessment (a value judgement by the stakeholders); uma awareness (global perception, collective representation Barnett & Lafferty (2006) Reputation as a combination of an economic asset (reputation-‐capital), a representation (image) and a judgement (reputation) Fombrun (2001)
Table 1 -‐ Barnett & Lafferty (2006)
Goal: to establish the relevance of defending corporate reputation from possible threats that may affect brands, through crisis communication strategies which are
adjusted to the context of the new media.
Crisis Communication
Crisis Communication
Definitions
Models
Acceptance
Approaches
Situational Crisis Communication Theory Coombs (2007)
Learning Barrier Model & Mindful Leaning Model
Veil (2010)
Interdisciplinary Normative Theories Ulmer (2012)
Crisis Communication (cont.) Situational Crisis Communication Theory Coombs (2004, 2007)
Crisis Responsibility Crisis History Organizational Reputation Prior relationship reputation Behavioral intentions Crisis response strategies
Learning Barrier Model & Mindful Leaning Model Veil (2010) Incorporate learning Importance of the warning signals
Influence
Deepen the knowledge of the new media
Postman (2011): creation of online contents; easy ways ro comment, complete and share; develop relatioships with others which are doing the same.
Understand the role of social media for brands
Bradley (2011): enbrace its use, like a decade ago the use of internet was embraced. Without internet the brand exist.
Anticipate the impact of social media on brands crisis
communication strategies
Jin et al. (2011): public increasingly use social media during crises and consequently crisis communication professionals need to understand how to act strategically to optimize these tools.
Social Media
Social Media (cont.) Social-‐Mediated Crisis Communication Model -‐ Jin, Liu & Austin (2011)
Methodology Interviews with experts in this field (communication professionals and academics, communication and marketing directors and journalists) direct qualitative data;
Interviews with representatives from brands affected by crisis situations triggered by social media between 2010 and 2013 direct qualitative data;
Identification and qualitative analysis of situations triggered by -‐
based situations to determine which theories, mechanisms and tools provide the most effective approaches.
Secondary quantitative data (European Crisis Communication Barometer Quadriga University -‐ Germany; Companies and crisis in social media Spirituc/ Guess What PR
Ensitel Case Study
Ensitel Social Media Crisis The Turning point of a communication strategy
February 2009 Customer intent to exchange a damaged mobile phone is
denied by Ensitel. Starts to post in her blog
repporting her bad experience.
May 2010 Customer sues Ensitel but
looses the case. Posts in her blog become
more negative and frequent, putting the blog in first place
in search engines.
December 2010 Ensitel sues the client with the aim to intimate her to delete the negative posts
from the blog.
During December 2010 A wave of solidarity towards the
blogger is generated and hundreds of supportive comments and messages are sent to her. Groups to boycott Ensitel are created on Facebook.
The online crisis transpires to the tradicional media with the accusation
of Ensitel trying to limitate the blogger's freedom of expression. Ensitel deletes negative comments
from its Facebook page.
Hundreds of negative comments appear in Ensitel's Facebook page. The brand decides to withdraw the lawsuit and apologizes to the client. Ensitel realizes it had totally lost
control over communication and hires a PR agency.
January 2011 After online and offline negative news had exploded, as well as the reactions in social media, a new approach to the brand's communication strategy is
agreed among the company's board.
August 2011 The online and offline media coverage reverted from 55
negative articles in January to 18 positive ones en August.
A totally new communication approach was consolidated.
Results and discussion
Social Media
24 posts in the blog 575 negative comments on
facebook page 3 boycott groups created on facebook Search interest on Google rose from 60% for Ensitel and 100% for the blog Creation of a Wikipedia entry with links to the blog, traditional media articles and relating to the Streisand-‐effect.
Traditional Media
113 negative articles about the issue were published afterwards 46% on print media; 48% online media; 5% on TV
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
3 3 8 8
14 14 11 18
1 4 7 7
55
12 8 6 7 4 2 0
4 7 7 4
Ensitel -‐ Media Coverage 2011
Positive
Negative
Results and discussion (cont.)
Interview with Managing Director: Prior to the event he have hired a PR agency Ensitel had a slow and inadequate reaction due to total inexperience to deal with social media, but also to manage communication
regognition of its mistakes contributed to regain the clients and preference The help of crisis communication experts was crucial The brand learnt and changed for the better
Preliminary conclusions Brands are often unprepared to deal with crisis situations that involve social media Role of specialists in the education of brands to deal with social media Social media are leading to changes in the way brands relate to their stakeholders Social media brought added difficulties to crisis communication management Social media entail a larger exposure of threats
and demands for the definition and implementation of new and adjusted crisis communication practices
To sum up
Embracing a proactive attitude towards the integration of the digital media in brands'communication strategies
Developing an articulated crisis communication strategies in online and offline media
Mapping the stakeholders involved and definition about ways of engagement in a transparency and openness assumption attitude
Learning from negative experiences and extracting the consequent key learnings and corrective measures
Consider reputational and communicational impacts and not only technical or legal ones
Changing leadership mentalities concerning the use of social media and the importance of crisis communication
Some principles which support the importance of defining crisis communication strategies in the context of the rise and dissemination of social media: