Social Media &Crisis Management

Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.

Miracle on the Hudson

Domino’s Video Scandal

Jet Blue Flight Attendant Steven Slater

Swine Flu (aka H1N1)

In today’s 24/7 media world, any crisis can become an online crisis……

and many crisis situations start online

What should you do?• The longer you wait to fight back or answer

critics, the more likely it is you will lose control of the message and situation

• But you need to fight back in a thoughtful, strategic and planned way

Irreparable harm?

All businesses have crisis situations….

• In most cases those situations won’t spell the end of a business – but they can cause serious short term damage

Plan BEFORE a crisis occurs• Are you doing positive things right now –

and sharing that news?• What are your most likely crisis scenarios?• Do you have a plan to deal with them?• Have you trained key people?

This includes:Dark site• Already populated with content & info

Established social media accounts• Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

This includes:Online media monitoring – all the time• Free and / or paid monitoringAnalyze:• Trends• Complaints• Unusual events

Three basic rulesTell:• What happened• Why it happened• What you’re going to do about it

And then…….

Do it and update people

Getting Rid of Negative Comments• Don’t overreact• Can’t entirely eliminate

• But you may want to bump the negative listings down in the search engine results

So…….how do businesses / organizations use social media to deal with crisis situations?

Miracle on the Hudson@jkrumsJanis Krums January 15, 2009

There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy.

This was his picture

Miracle on the Hudson• First photo posted• 34 minutes later – being interviewed by

mainstream media• 40,000 web users saw his photo in the first

four hours• 100 screens full of replies

What did US Airways do?• Focused on the situation

• Apparently did not use social media at that time (remember, it was January 2009)

Domino’s Video Scandal

What happened?• Two employee videos went viral

- one million+ views in 2 days!

• Domino’s fired the employees & called in the health department and hoped that would do it

What did Domino’s do?Realized that strategy wouldn’t work – so

developed a new strategy based on aggressive use of social media

• Acknowledged the situation• Expressed concern• Promised to address it

What did Domino’s do?• Created & used a Twitter account

• Posted a YouTube video by CEO

Domino’s video

The results

• Contained the crisis; regained control and its reputation

What did JetBlue do?• Silent for 2 days• Began losing control of the situation• THEN…..they jumped in; in a very

strategic way

What did JetBlue do?Posted 140 words on their blog:• Acknowledged it was weird• Response was consistent with its brand• Didn’t defend itself• Responding only in their blog guaranteed

distribution across social media channels

What did Jet Blue do?Monitored, monitored, monitored

• 460% spike in social media conversations

• Most neutral trending positive

What did the CDC do?• Realized the situation was global; not just

local• Responded quickly• And….as it was doing so, it re-named the

flu H1N1

What did the CDC do?Embraced social media in order to lead the

conversation• Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, blogs,

YouTube, mobile, email updates, e-cards, e-games, podcasts, widget and a dedicated online channel CDC-TV

What did the CDC do?• Created and distributed content that they

encouraged others to use and pass on

• They ENGAGED others to spread the word for them; as a result they led the discussion and information

A few other examples…..

• Lance Armstrong

• Kewaunee School District

Lessons learned• Don’t wait for a crisis to communicate and

engage• Plan ahead• Respond quickly, but not instantly• Tell what happened, why it happened &

what you’re going to do about it

Lessons learned• Engage your audiences; ask for their help• Provide updates• Fix what you can• Move on when you can

Research & Sources:• Lfpublicrelations.com• Socialtimes.com• Imediaconnection.com• Continuitycentral.com• Gigaom.com• Blueglass.com

Thank you!Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.

920-965-7750LFpublicrelations.com

sfinco@LFpublicrelations.com