Social media spreads bad company news like wildfire. Oneupweb's president discusses best practices in extinguishing crisis in a Web 2.0 environment.
"Be honest. Be thorough. Be first." These are the consistent pearls quoted by every PR professional paid to manage a potential crisis. But those prescriptions were written long before there were camera phones, YouTube and Digg. Today, being thorough is relative at best and being first is virtually impossible.
JetBlue and Taco Bell: old vs. new best practices
Consider JetBlue and its recent Valentines Day disaster. On February 14, 2007, a rapidly moving storm tore through the east coast, affecting thousands of travelers. JetBlue customers were stranded on the tarmac, some up to 11 hours, while JetBlue contemplated its next move.
Forget about being first with the news, JetBlue passengers were immediately on their cell phones. Stories with accompanying pictures of overflowing toilets were instantaneously on their way to news outlets around the globe.
In traditional crisis management mode, JetBlue issued same day press releases including an apology and offers for compensation. The next day, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman was seemingly everywhere -- all major network morning shows and cable news networks -- with an accounting of what went wrong and how he would fix the problem. In the next 10 days JetBlue issued no less than eight press releases about the situation.
Large, apologetic ads were placed in newspapers in JetBlue's major east coast markets. It was textbook. THE OLD TEXTBOOK.
Online, Mr. Neeleman and JetBlue were losing the war. While CEO Neeleman was cranking out his own blog, emailing JetBlue's current customer list and replaying his video apology, angry passengers were feeding sites such as JetBlueHostages.com with its own posting on MySpace. The news was so filled with passenger-generated horror stories that the poorly optimized JetBlue press releases were nearly invisible. YouTube was running regular JetBlue segments from the late night comedians and Comedy Central.
Days later when JetBlue had to cancel more flights, the buzz started building again. Although the company survived, it appears much of its hip, customer-friendly brand cache did not. The blogosphere doesn't forget easily. Neither does the mainstream media; as the JetBlue crisis played out, BusinessWeek Magazine dropped the company from its list of "25 Client Pleasing Brands." JetBlue had been number four on the list.
Crisis Management 2.0
In December of 2006, fast food giant Taco Bell faced an equally daunting PR challenge. As many as 71 customers at multiple locations were stricken by an E.coli outbreak. Immediately, Taco Bell's crisis team went to work.
While generating press releases and securing live media interviews, Taco Bell simultaneously initiated a paid search informational marketing campaign. Using crucial keyword phrases such as "Taco Bell E.coli," the company created bilingual informational mini-sites where the public could see a video message from CEO Greg Creed and check informational updates on the outbreak.
The company delivered a similar video message as paid television advertising and also posted it on YouTube. The immediate hysteria was turned into cautious confidence, as Taco Bell and regulatory investigators were able to isolate the source of the outbreak. The general feeling of "we're on top of it" was achieved and overall damage minimized.
A little over a month later, Taco Bell suffered another serious PR setback, as a security video surfaced showing a rat infestation in a New York City franchise. Ironically, although less threatening to human life, the rapidly distributed video has proven a much harder image to shake. Once again, Taco Bell initiated an aggressive crisis management response through a paid search program on all major search engines.
The online staying power of this latest Taco Bell PR crisis says volumes about the viral impact of social media. A rat is a much more compelling visual that a virus. Taco Bell will have to continue buying the issue off the first search pages as its execs hope the late night comics find a new target.
Ten crisis management 2.0 best practices
Given the new challenges confronted by social media, here are some essential 2.0 crisis management best practices:
- Scenario planning: Long before something goes wrong, companies need to access what all could go wrong and how they would respond in the new viral environment. The long list of potential crises will soon fall into categories, which will prove useful in responding to actual events.
- Identify and acknowledge the problem: How big is it, how bad is it, what is being done about it NOW? The faster a company can sum up the problem with accuracy, the easier it will be to limit the damages. No time for circling the wagons here.
- Recognize and implement actions to remedy the problem: Look to the past scenario planning, identify appropriate protocols and resources and set a plan into action.
- Communicate meaningful remedies in creative ways: In a viral world, to have a solution you also need the perception of a solution. This means reaching seekers where and how they look for credible information, with a solution that this audience deems to be acceptable.
- Develop integrated online and offline strategies: Consistency is essential during a crisis, particularly as media compete to develop exclusive treatments of a well-publicized disaster. Online and offline media need to complement each other.
- Keep generating online communications to meet ongoing buzz: Keep the press releases, blog entries, podcast interviews and investor communications going. Communicate that you're on top of the situation.
- Use paid and natural search to keep your message on the first page: If you need help here, find it. You cannot keep negative stories off the first search pages but through diligent search marketing you can position a response to these stories nearby.
- Seek prolific allies and links: The blogosphere can be as much a friend as a foe. Through open access and by providing regular credible content a company can create valuable allies and links to help it tell its story.
- Monitor buzz constantly and adjust tactics as necessary: Long after a "solution" has been in effect, negative stories will continue circulating. Such is the archiving nature of the web. And, unfortunately, "new" content frequently consists of regurgitating the old. Monitoring and, where necessary, answering the ongoing buzz is essential.
- Learn from the experience: After a crisis subsides, companies need to revisit their scenario planning with an eye toward what was learned. What worked, what needs fixing and how can the process be improved in the future?
Clearly, the new textbook for crisis management is still being written. The highlights shown above are a good outline. To learn more about crisis management in a viral age we invite readers to download our new white paper, Principles of Crisis Management in a Viral Age. Hopefully, it will start some wheels in motion.
Lisa Wehr is president and founder of Oneupweb, an integrated online marketing firm. Read full bio.