SINGAPORE/PRNewswire/ -- A social media crisis moves at the speed of light. Raging complaints and defamatory posts go viral in minutes. Audiences will demand honest answers. And they will want them fast.
Yet speed is the biggest issue that businesses face with crisis communications on social media.Phillip Raskin, Managing Director of Spectrum Communications explains,"Things took a big turn about 15 years ago when Internet usage and news distribution became widespread, and then it took another several laps around the track about five years ago with Twitter and IM apps becoming the norm.
That kind of speed and extreme pressure can cause a lot of missteps and mistakes that people and companies might not make if their crisis were unfolding at what we used to consider "normal" speed."
What are some blunders that companies make when dealing with social media crises? Raskin shares his thoughts, "The most common mistake is not understanding soon enough whether they've got a serious problem. It's natural ? companies are full of people, and people are busy, especially in today's organisations, and there is so much information going back and forth and so much to keep track of. So there's often an element of "hoping it will go away" or at least hoping the issue will not grow any further which sometimes results in a delayed reaction, and therefore more trouble down the road.
Another is trying to solve the issue on "your terms" versus the terms of what's happening. You see some brands and especially more civic/governmental organisations do that sometimes, especially if they're more accustomed to controlling the conversation. That's usually where an issue gets brought up on a Facebook page or a Tweet and the response comes out something like "we don't want you to talk about that," and usually then the reaction becomes worse than the initial issue. Part of this is being realistic about your situation and where you sit ? the Internet almost always supports Goliath over David and companies are increasingly having their operations and business practices called into question. So understand yourself and your potential vulnerabilities from an outside, dispassionate perspective, and be ready to work with that. In essence, work with the real world and not the world you want it to be.
Finally, you need to have a defined social media team ? and that doesn't mean you hire a bunch of interns because they're "digital natives." You need a mix of people with crisis experience, company knowledge, authority and perspective. You need that team to have guidelines and an understanding of key issues and appropriate responses, and you need them to be empowered to act.
This is not like it used to be, where every press release and statement gets vetted by the board or an extended family of suddenly interested parties from every department. It has to be a framework for responding, with clear escalation points and clear actions and responsibilities, that can be enacted while that board or C-suite group is discussing things. Otherwise, everything will get stuck in committee and you'll be getting killed online for hours or days before you can fire back a single Tweet."
To equip communications professionals with critical skills to develop a holistic crisis management strategy that leverages on traditional and social media best practices, Pacific Conferences has organised a2-day practical workshop on "Crisis & Social Media", to be held in Singapore on 21-22 August
2014, and in Hong Kong on 28-29 August 2014. Through case studies and hands-on exercises, acquire social media monitoring techniques to anticipate potential crises, learn how to create stratified action plans that guide your decision making under fire, pick up messaging strategies to promptly shoot down inaccurate information, and discover how to rebuild trust post-crisis.
The workshop is led by Phillip Raskin, former Managing Director for Burson-Marsteller Korea, acknowledged as a crisis communications expert with 20 years experience. Raskin has worked with clients including Visa, Cisco, Allergan, Qualcomm, Emirates, LG Electronics, Alcatel, the government of Korea, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to deal with a wide range of crises from product safety to labour, legal, and investor relations issues.
Workshop Details
Title: Crisis & Social Media Workshop
Date & Venue:
21 ? 22 August 2014, M Hotel, Singapore
28 ? 29 August 2014, Regal Hongkong Hotel, Hong Kong
Organiser: Pacific Conferences
Contact Person: Ms Daphne Poon
Tel: (65) 6592 7366
Email: daphne@conferences.com.sg
Full programme can also be found at:
http://www.conferences.com.sg/ws-crisis10.htm
SOURCE Pacific Conferences Pte Ltd