Managing crisis communications is an enduring part of public relations work. As long as there are humans who make mistakes, there will be crises\u2014and the need to get through them to the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social media platforms have changed crisis PR in a number of ways. It\u2019s easier to make a mistake on social media, simply due to the immediacy of posting. Social also can make a crisis spread fast and wide. An errant tweet in Des Moines can be shared in Dubai in moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, since social platforms are where many of these crises play out, it\u2019s also frequently (but not always!) where they need to be addressed as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are some tips for PR professionals to consider when the next crisis hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means more than just knowing how or when to post on any given social platform, it means knowing about the audience of the platform. If a brand crisis emerges on Facebook, what age group is most likely to see it first? How about TikTok or Instagram? And Twitter? Of course, social platforms aren\u2019t age-exclusive, and a brand crisis can hop from one platform to another. But knowing\u2014and understanding\u2014which audiences are most \u201cat home\u201d on a platform is an important step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From trending topics to understanding what is typical for posting, keeping current is essential. It\u2019s the social channel equivalent of reading the room\u2014something that any communicator should be adept at doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sounds like really basic planning, and it is. And yet, a recent survey done by online vendor matching firm Capterra<\/a> found that roughly half of the firms surveyed did not have a formal crisis communications plan, and just over a quarter had an \u201cinformal\u201d plan in place. (I\u2019m not sure what an informal crisis plan is, but suspect it might amount to \u201cwe\u2019ve media trained the CEO and the PR person,\u201d or something similar.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether it\u2019s because companies think a crisis will never happen to them or because crisis planning takes time and is there for \u201cin case of emergency, break glass\u201d situations, a lot of firms apparently don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth it to have a plan in place. They are wrong. The last thing you want to be dealing with in a crisis is figuring out details like who should be on camera, and who should be heading up your response team. Having a formal plan in place will save time when a crisis hits, which can go a long way in preventing things from getting worse<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this day and age, it seems weird to have to say that, but no matter what your industry is, having a social media component to your crisis plan is essential. The extent of social media inclusion in a crisis plan will vary from one company to the next, and may be dependent on the specifics of the crisis\u2014but it still needs to be in there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a crisis hits, pull out your crisis plan. This seems obvious, but in a crisis\u2014particularly an unexpected one\u2014people forget the careful planning that has already been done. This can be especially true for lower-grade crises; the smaller issues that pop up that if not handled effectively can grow into much larger problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crises vary. They vary in intensity, in duration, in severity, and more. One of the more surprising aspects of a crisis is understanding that the target audience for a brand\u2019s products or services may not always be the same communications target in a crisis\u2014and that a brand can have more, or different, audiences to consider when experiencing a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monitoring media in a crisis is a given, both traditional and social. This is true even for firms that are less active on social platforms. Your online monitoring can be used to inform decision-making about the crisis, such as which messages are resonating and which ones aren\u2019t, where the biggest impacts of the crisis are being felt, and tracking both volume and sentiment can be used as indicators as to when a crisis is beginning to wind down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Off-the-cuff comments can get companies in trouble. It\u2019s hard, in the midst of a crisis, to be measured and thoughtful when everything seems to be going off the rails all around you. Review the draft statements in your crisis plan and update them to respond to the crisis you are experiencing. Take time to review notes, press statements, and any key messages. Be human, be empathetic, but don\u2019t wander off of your messaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TikTok has emerged as the preferred social platform for Gen Z. It has over a billion users worldwide, with over 100 million regular users in the U.S. alone. And, as the platform\u2019s popularity has grown, so has criticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with charges that TikTok serves up harmful content to younger teens, is one of the underlying causes of a mental health crisis among young people, and that it is distractingly addictive, the platform has also been labeled by a number of U.S. lawmakers as a threat to national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To address some of the content concerns, TikTok has introduced a number of tools, measures, and controls. Users under the age of 18 are limited to an hour of screen time each day, and parental controls for accounts were expanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegation that TikTok represents a security risk is a very different challenge for the company to tackle. In March, CEO Shou Chew testified before the U.S. House of Representatives\u2019 Committee for Energy and Commerce, where he was grilled by U.S. lawmakers on the app\u2019s data collection and use, and the extent to which the app\u2019s parent company, ByteDance, interacts with the Chinese government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is most interesting about these two situations is that together these represent a brand crisis for TikTok, but the brand\u2019s core users are on the company\u2019s<\/em> side. During and after the Congressional hearing, users flooded TikTok to make fun of members of Congress<\/a>. Calls to ban the app are met with derision<\/a> by its many creators. It is a startlingly clear example of a brand crisis for which the primary audience for crisis communications is not<\/strong> the core user group.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCrisis plans must have a social component<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Use your crisis plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Identify your audiences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Monitor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Think, then respond<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A recent example – TikTok\u2019s crisis plays out on multiple fronts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n