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Communicating in a Crisis

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The tragic events of April 15, 2013 at the Boston Marathon will forever be embedded in our memory. As we struggled to process the senseless tragedy, we also faced the reality of doing business in a real time world.

To keep up with the demand for content generation, many businesses use scheduling services. In normal times, these tools allow us to maximize productivity and efficiently use our resources. However, the afternoon of April 15 was not normal and “business as usual” status updates on social media networks were quickly called out by fans and followers.

Communication failures were in abundance as automated posts, tweets, newsletters and updates quickly became ill-timed and insensitive. While fans and followers knew that the updates were pre-scheduled, they held little tolerance for not taking action to stop them.

While many business owners have crisis communication plans in place, few have a policy for handling communications when the crisis is external to their business. Whether you have a team of one or 100, a documented policy can help you avoid social media backlash when events beyond your control interrupt regularly scheduled programming. Below are 7 tips that can help you protect your brand during and after a crisis.

Know where and how your content is published. This may seem obvious but today we may employ a bevy of content management services. In a crisis we may overlook things that are on autopilot such as services like paper.li or automatic feed services such as Twitterfeed. Having a checklist will help you or a designated representative quickly take action when needed.
Stay in touch. In order to respond to a crisis you have to know that it is happening. Set up alerts on your mobile devices or email services so that you are in the loop in the event of breaking news. This can be as simple as allowing push notifications from a news app or subscribing to breaking news alerts from a media channel.
Have a plan. Whether you run a solo business or large enterprise, it is important to have a documented policy for handling communications during and post-crisis. Solo and small businesses can tap virtual admins or outsourced vendors to help manage the process.

Evaluate your services. In search of that one service that does it all, many of us are guilty of using multiple services to accomplish our goals. I personally use multiple services to distribute social communications. I balance programmed messages with real time sharing. When you need to bulk pause programming however, simplicity can make you rethink your strategy. For example, bufferapp made it easy to simply pause an entire day with one click, while other services required editing individual messages one by one. Review the services you use with an eye on not only how they work day to day but how they will serve you in the event of a crisis.
Take a pause. During a crisis, interrupt your regular programming. Pause automated posts, updates and e-communications. You do not want to risk the backlash of your audience during a time when emotions and awareness are running high. It is far better to adjust your scheduling and assess when it is appropriate to resume normal communications.

Acknowledge. When a major event happens like the Boston Marathon bombing, a simple acknowledgement shows that you are human. If you continue to participate in the conversation surrounding the tragedy, be careful to offer relevant information. For example, if you are a child psychologist it would be appropriate and helpful to share information on how to talk to your children about the tragedy. Remember, however, that it is not the time to be self-promotional, offer help if you can and if not don’t be afraid to acknowledge the tragedy and go dark.

Do a post-crisis review. Before resuming your normal communication review your message and language carefully. A tragedy has a way of changing the way we receive certain words and phrases. Make sure that your messaging aligns with the new reality. In the hours and even days following a crisis, monitor your audience. Have they resumed normal communications? Your audience will tell you when it is okay to go back to business as usual.

Bonus Tip: There is never an appropriate time for an off topic, irrelevant or plain insensitive pitch or communication. Resist the urge to use tragedy to pimp your irrelevant messaging.

Do you have any tips to add to the list? Feel free to share them in the comments!

The Pure and Simple Guide to Social Media and Marketing

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Ivory Soap has a new ad campaign When Dirt Changes.

The ad reads: When Dirt Changes Its Formula, So Will We, Pure and Simple. The ad does a nice job of positioning a long standing brand as relevant today even in the face of so many new soap products.

The Pure and Simple tagline resonated with me. Unlike Ivory, so many of us change the foundation of what we do to keep up with the bright and shiny objects that occupy our space. What if we approached our social media tactics with a pure and simple mindset? Or our marketing? What would happen if we focused less on gadgets and numbers and more on the pure and simple formula of building relationships?

Having a pure and simple formula does not limit you to a single approach but provides you with a foundation that can be applied consistently. While there are specific marketing and social media tactics that can and should be applied, your foundation should acknowledge that the formula for developing relationships with people remains unchanged.

We can over complicate when we focus more on tactics, gadgets and tools  than on people. The pure and simple approach keeps us on track and the focus on what is truly important.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you think pure and simple has a place in today’s world? How do you stay on track with your efforts?

 

 

Can’t Buy My Love in 140 Characters – Like, Friend and Trust in the Online World

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Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

Relationships were a topic of discussion on this weeks #solopr chat. From how we define friends and vet subcontractors to determining the right circles on Google Plus, there is clearly a need for constant evaluation and clarity about our online interactions. At the core of any discussion about relationships is trust. How much I trust you will not only determine the breadth of our relationship but what and how much I share with you. I may “like” you but not “friend” you, and I may +1 you but not add you to a trusted list of people I refer to clients.

Trust is not freely given but earned. In our fast moving world of tweets and shares, many have fallen into the trap of believing that this path has a shortcut in a digitally connected world. Let me assure you that there is no shortcut to earning trust and building real relationships. To earn trust you have to show yourself trustworthy and that is not accomplished in a single 140 character missive or Facebook update.

As professionals, we should work to earn trust and guard it passionately once earned. After all, trust directly impacts our credibility, reputation and influence, and that ultimately impacts the trajectory of our businesses and careers. Trust can earn you a seat at the table and treating it lightly can lose it just as quickly. So, it’s puzzling to me why many are squandering the opportunity to earn trust and build sustainable relationships.

The seeds of a relationship are planted from the very first impression. Online we don’t have the benefit of a full presentation of body language to aid a first impression so we are left with our words and actions. Consider then how critical it is that we are mindful and purposeful with both, especially in the course of doing business.

There are those who dismiss the “small talk” that perpetuates social media preferring to get to the point and short circuit the unessential. Yet it is often the small talk that holds clues that allow you to thoughtfully develop relationships. Admittedly, it may not be sexy or fast paced but human relationships cannot be automated.

You want to get your news covered or your expert client quoted? Pay attention to the details and don’t treat the people who can get you to your goal like interchangeable tokens on a monopoly board. Put the work in to discover who they are, what they cover and how YOU can help them. Spend the time to craft a personalized, targeted pitch rather than resorting to a “quantity” mentality that has you blasting out your news to a random list.

Earning trust is well worth the effort and will reward you with richer personal and professional relationships that will yield bountiful results. Isn’t it worth it to take time to show and prove that you are a professional?

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Ur Doing It Wrong: How Not to Suck in Social Media – Advertising Age – DigitalNext

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The access and ease of using social media platforms is not a guaranteed formula for success. Utilizing social media in your campaigns and outreach should not be approached with a half-hearted effort or ill-formed plan. This article from AdAge (reprinted below) recaps social media gone wrong and how we can learn from these failures. What examples would you add?

Lessons From the 2011 Suxorz Awards Teach Us How to Avoid a Campaign Catastrophe

 

Posted by Rebecca Lieb on 02.16.11 @ 02:50 PM
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Rebecca Lieb

Quick! Which is the worst social media faux pas?

  1. Inviting consumers to follow your company — via a locked Twitter account; or
  2. When a customer posts a negative comment about your business, track his identity and learn where he works. Then, contact his employers with the suggestion he be fired?

New York’s Social Media Week featured wall-to-wall sessions on how marketers can do social media right, but nothing can hold a candle to the sheer Schdenfreude of watching the brands and agencies that are doing it wrong.

Horribly, horribly wrong.

Enter the Suxorz Awards. Brainchild of Blogads CEO Henry Copeland, the Suxorz have been calling out the worst in social-media marketing since 2008 (disclosure — I was a panelist at the inaugural SXSW session).

Here’s how it works: a panel of four marketing experts nominate their picks for worst-of-the-worst social-media campaigns. Then (this being social, after all), the audience picks a winner in each category. Competition can get fierce, and no one on either side of the stage is discouraged from opining. It makes for a lively evening.

Herewith, the contenders for the 2011 Suxorz awards — together with some lessons learned, because really, we’re not just here to laugh at them. Really.

Category 1: Meme Purgatory
No, you can’t bottle viral. Nominees were VW’s Sluggy Patterson, star of videos, tweets and a blog. An irascible old coot, Sluggy invented a complex game in which he punches people every time he espies a VW. Smirnoff’s BrosIcingBros.com, a site that basically encouraged binge drinking; and another awkward character, Dell’s Dr. Ashley PDA who has bad hair, hypnotizes patients with a GPS device and thumb-wrestles with them when they’re out cold on his couch.

And the winner is: Cisco’s Ted From Accounting series, an unabashed attempt to cash in on Old Spice’s popular video campaign. The videos were as long as they were utterly baffling. The audience actually begged the presenters to hit the “stop” button.

Lesson Learned: Character development counts. So does some sort of obvious link to the brand. But do try not to make it an overtly negative one, e.g. advocating hitting people, drinking irresponsibly, or simply boring their socks off.

Category 2: Missed Connections
That’s why they call them the “basics.” Thousands of Hungarians launched a Facebook campaign to launch Starbucks in Budapest. It worked — Starbucks opened a restaurant and erased the fan page, along with its 3,000 biggest fans and brand advocates. Pharmacy chain launches on Twitter. Their pages features the legend: “@CVS_Cares’s Tweets are protected. Only confirmed followers have access to @CVS_Cares’s Tweets and complete profile. You need to send a request before you can start following this account.” (And no, requests to become a follower are not acknowledged.). Leo Burnett’s you have to see it to believe it “HumanKind” video in which Chief Creative Mark Tutssel drones on for so long even he seems to regurgitate the Kool-Aid.

And the winner is: Denny’s menu footer call-to-action (visible right underneath dubious-sounding Senior Country Fried Steak) inviting diners to follow the chain at twitter/.com/dennys. So far so good — until you click through and learn “dennys” is some guy in Taiwan named Dennys Hsieh. He tweets in Mandarin — or maybe it’s Hokkien?

Lesson Learned: Hire a proofreader. And a copyeditor. Dot those I’s and cross those T’s.

Category 3: Mean People Suck
Does not work well with others. In the U.K., Dr. Pepper launched a Facebook status takeover campaign. Motto: “What’s the worst that could happen?” Answer: updates like the one to a 14-year-old Glaswegian girl’s page, “I watched 2 girls one cup and felt hungry afterwards.” Oops. Nestle fared no better on Facebook when a protest erupted against the company practices that are endangering orangutan habitats. At best, Nestle replied to comments with phrases like “Oh, please.” It also threatened to sue users for infringement when they modded the Kit-Kat logo. Finally, Mercedes Tweetrace campaign, which forced people to “like” the campaign before they could participate in what amounted to an attempt to spam Twitter with Mercedes-oriented tweets.

And the winner is: Hands down, PriceChopper, the supermarket chain that tried to get Jonathan Hoster fired from his job for being “negative” after his tweet negatively compared one of their stores to the rival Wegman’s chain.

Lesson Learned: Don’t hate on your customer, clients and prospects. Duh.

Category 4: You’re So Vain
Even celebrities must learn social graces. Up was Kenneth Cole’s very un-PC tweet during the demonstrations in Cairo, and Fast Company’s Influencer Project, which proved “influence” is really a code term for “spam” and “affiliate scam.” And LeBron James opened a Twitter account at the height of speculation about where he’d land, and tweeted nary a word to address the speculation.

And the winner is: Alicia Keys’ oh-so aptly named Digital Death campaign. The cause was noble: to raise a million dollars to fight HIV/AIDS in the third world. The means? Less well plotted. Keyes enlisted a host of celebs to put the kibosh on tweeting, blogging, and general social-media’ing until the target goal was raised. When it wasn’t, rather than rally with calls to action, all this social-media firepower was under a self-imposed moratorium to do…nothing.

Lesson Learned: It’s not as about you as you think it is. And when it is about you, it’s not necessarily about the part of you that you think it is. Plan accordingly.

The floor was then opened to audience nominations, which were not in short supply. The TSA’s attempt to wrangle bad publicity on full body scanners at airports, BP’s response in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, Charmin’s Facebook page (because it’s a Facebook page about toilet paper).

Following a spirited debate, PriceChopper was awarded the 2011 Suxorz for, well, pretty much violating every precept social media is supposed to be based on. The evening’s “social-media DJ,” John Accorino, posted a note of congratulations on PriceChoppers Facebook page.

It’s not there any more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rebecca Lieb is a digital marketing consultant specializing in content, SEO and social media. Learn more at rebeccalieb.com or follow her on Twitter.
via adage.com
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The Next Big Idea

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Image via Wikipedia

I have had the opportunity to view the inner working of hundreds of organizations. I am always amazed that in each company regardless of size, industry or location, there are employees who make improvements that are never captured by the company at large. You see, most people come to work wanting to do a good job and in the course of doing their job they  find a better, faster, more efficient way to get the job done. More often than not, they don’t seek credit or even give it much thought and the innovation or improvement remains undocumented and unheralded.

These days, viral is all the rage. Having your content go viral is the holy grail for many marketers.  However, opportunities are missed to culture an internal environment where big ideas go viral. Sometimes the next big thing is right under your own roof.  Social media is not exclusive to your external communities. Creating an internal environment that promotes sharing, where ideas can go viral may be the smartest move a company can make.

When’s the last time an idea went viral in your company?

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Mid-life Crisis Number 122 and What You Can Learn From It

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When I was 29, I had a full on midlife crisis sans the red convertible. I engaged in endless self reflection and mourned that my 20s were gone. I changed my hair and considered jumping from a plane but I was too busy with work to schedule it. I turned 30 and realized I had wasted the real last year of my 20s being stupid. I patted myself on the back for completing yet another milestone ahead of the norm. One midlife crisis down and I could cruise until menopause, or so I thought.

At 46 I seem to have a midlife crisis every week. I often resemble a deer caught in the headlights as I yet again question my purpose, value and my bathroom scale. And yes, even as I write this I am checking the mirror to see if I now have the acne (or worse chin hair of the later years) to accompany my unexplainable teenage like angst. Oh no, what will the cool kids think?

Unlike the teen years, I don’t have to wonder about the cool kids thanks to social media.

Judging from the tweets, updates and emails I could conclude that the cool kids are stress and problem free. But I am not 16 and now know with certainty that no one is perfect.

So what on earth does this have to do with business? A fair question given that this is a very official “business” blog. Social media has a way of distorting reality. Viewing the world through 140 characters or more can lead you to draw conclusions that are riddled with gaps. Even in the age of transparency, it’s impossible to get the whole story in the time and space allotted.

Rather than using social media as a barometer by which you measure your success or failure, use it to ferret out ideas, challenges or insights for deeper exploration. What worked for another business may not work for you but when ideas or approaches resonate it is worth the time to examine them closer.

When possible reach out to those that have presented something of interest and ask if they’d be willing to share more – what were the challenges, what led to the decision about the strategy – get the story behind the story. I have discovered that with the right approach people are willing to be helpful. Be respectful and don’t abuse their time, or cloak your questions as an opportunity to get free services.

As for me, I have decided that my ongoing crisis is actually a good thing. I am constantly questioning and challenging my own beliefs because I care deeply about my life and place in it. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)

There is an abundance of information available but we still get to choose what we allow in and what we ignore and most importantly how we allow it to impact us. The upside is that every day we have opportunities to expand our perspective and learn from others. Remember the cool kids really are just like us, albeit with better hair.

What about you, any midlife or other stories to share? Does social media ever make you feel overwhelmed or question whether you measure up? Add your comments, this is a no judgment zone.

Photo Credit: © Youths | Dreamstime.com

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