We say this often, do you have a crisis plan? Nine times out of 10, the answer is no. If you don't listen to any other public relations counsel, please listen to this: Every business should have a crisis management plan, and a social media crisis plan before a crisis hits.  

Crisis management plans and social media crisis plans are complementary; the strategies will be similar, but there will be significantly different outputs, also known as tactics.

American investor, business tycoon, philanthropist, and the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, once said, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

Defining a Crisis

But what exactly is a crisis? Timothy Coombs, a crisis communications scholar, defines crisis in his book The Handbook of Crisis Communications as, "The perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders and can seriously impact an organization's performance and generate negative outcomes."  

The unfortunate reality is that it's not a matter of if your company/brand will face a crisis, but rather when WILL your brand face a problem. Preparation will either make or break your brand reputation. Nowadays, bad news travels faster than ever before. The media (especially social media) waits for no one. Gone are the days when news journalists needed two sources for a story to break. Crises seem to happen, or rather break, online first and then spread to traditional media.

It doesn't matter, in my opinion, what the crisis scenario is: having a social and traditional plan in place is critical. 

The crisis communication plan approach

• Anticipate (What types of crisis events could happen) 

• Prepare

• Respond

• Evaluate

 Crisis plans should include:

• Identification of the crisis team

• Spokesperson identified

• Identify crisis command center, also known as the war room (this is key, particularly if something happens to your headquarters)

• Identify target audiences for various anticipated scenarios

• Company "media policy" procedures and protocol (include: Media Relations Policy, Social Media Policy, Company Statement and Social Communications Process)

• Response plan (who, what, when, where, how and situational assessment)

• Social media asset inventory (what social channels do you have? Where are the passwords kept?) – IMPORTANT: this also includes any prescheduled social posts you may have. A few years ago, this happened in Texas. The Lt. Gov. had a prescheduled tweet, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." This prescheduled tweet was sent out following the Pulse nightclub massacre, at the time the United States’ deadliest mass shooting (50 dead, 53 wounded). Many people believed that it was an attack against the LGBT community. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick claimed that it was prescheduled and pulled the tweet – though the damage had already been done.

• Company statements and key messages drafted and preapproved (internal & external). Keep in mind, transparency AND honesty are essential. If your servers were hacked, if someone made a mistake or if the fault is yours, OWN IT and admit it. Your key audiences will recognize that mistakes happen, but when it takes a brand an hour to respond or if they hide/deny, they will come out looking like a brand that does not care.

• Crisis Communications Checklist

• Media monitoring tools inventory and activation checklist

• Contacting process (who contacts who to advise on the crisis)

• Testing procedures

• Scenario role playing

• How to share the crisis communications plan

Key Crisis Communications Points To Remember

Speed is imperative. Since most crises today break on social, brands have to respond quickly. Assumptions are made and spread faster, the slower a brand responds to a problem.

Many times in crises, brands either say way too much or say nothing at all. Know your messages/statements inside and out. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Tell the truth. As Steve Jobs said, "To me, a brand is one simple thing, and that is trust." Trust is similar to a bank account. You can't have withdrawals without deposits. 

You have to practice/test your crisis communications plan. Think of a fire drill. You circulate the exit plan throughout the office, you practice your evacuation route a couple of times a year and revise accordingly. This exact scenario is how brands should think of their crisis plan. Unfortunately, many businesses pay for a top-notch plan and then put it on a shelf and don't ever look at it until they need it.

When faced with an unanticipated event, TrizCom PR is the agency of choice for companies and individuals. The TrizCom PR crisis team knows how to control messages with proven procedures and processes that establish trust and accountability (proactively or reactively). If you require a plan or a reactive response, give us a call at 972-247-1369 or email TrizCom@TrizCom.com. If you need to reach us after hours, please call 214-232-0078.