No Social Assets

Still not involved with social media?

It's rare to hear of a crisis now that did not involve social media in any capacity, and fact is the majority involve it a great deal. When someone hears a nasty rumor about your company they don't pick up the phone and call your info line, they log onto services like Twitter and Yelp! to search, or post a query to whomever feels like responding.

What happens, then, if you don't have a group of active social media accounts? Or maybe you do, but they are so out of date that nobody remembers the passwords? An Eye on FDA article offers advice:

"...if you don’t have social media assets that will allow you to respond and get your messaging into play on the matter, then you should know what kinds of social media assets your strongest allies have and how you can leverage them. But once the crisis starts, if you don’t have these assets yourself, it is too late to develop them and likewise, if you have not assessed those of your allies,  you will now lose valuable time."

I would even say that relying on an ally's social media assets is taking things too far. With literally thousands of services and free tools out there available to help manage social media, there is no excuse for not having firm control of your very own. Even if you are truly too busy to handle it internally, there is a massive market for affordable outsourcing on the Web.

When it comes time for crisis management, social media will be involved. Be prepared.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Restaurants Clean Up Their Acts

Applebees and Olive Garden must take thorough steps to clean up reputations

Two of the juiciest stories of the past couple weeks have involved Applebees and Olive Garden serving alcohol to small children. For Applebees, the incident was especially damaging to its reputation because a similar incident just last year. Higher-ups at both restaurants had extremely weak initial crisis management, declining interviews and deflecting questions to PR departments or canned statements, but as time moves on they have taken action to actually resolve the underlying issues, but many are not satisfied with the response.

A USA Today article has some tips for getting things cleaned up:

•Retrain staff. "Every employee is a PR rep," says crisis guru Jonathan Bernstein. "These incidents prove how many crises start with line workers."

•Rethink policies. Alcoholic drinks should be served in different glasses from non-alcoholic, says consultant Linda Lipsky. 

Applebee's says it will serve kids juice only from single-serve containers. Olive Garden says it will no longer store pre-made alcoholic drinks.

•Limit bar use. Have alcoholic beverages poured only at the bar and non-alcoholic in the kitchen, consultant Dennis Lombardi suggests.

•Be forthcoming. The chains should clearly post their new policies on their websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, Paine says.

•Involve folks. Encourage social media comment on the policies, Paine says. "People want to talk about it."

If these restaurants want to not only clean up their acts, but also bolster reputation in the process, then they must make these changes as public and visible as possible. Only when the public actually sees and believes the problem is fixed will the negative attention go away.


The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Just Admit It

Own your mistakes or risk a crisis

 If a blogger or reporter publishes genuinely libelous statements and refuses to retract them, then pursuing legal action can force the issue in your favor. If you've done wrong though, then you have no choice but to own up and make it right, as this quote from an Agent Genius article explains:

The truth of the matter is that if what you’ve done that is being spread around the web is legitimately bad and you’ve screwed up, a lawsuit is not your answer, and an apology and explanation goes much further than “just be yourself” like the social media gurus are telling you. Some things can be spun, but if not addressed fast enough, you’ll be beyond any professional web scrubber or public relations professional’s help and your only recourse is to apologize, explain, take it on the chin and keep working your butt off. If Alec Baldwin can recover from screaming to his child that she’s a little piggy, your sins will eventually be forgotten by the majority too… IF you own your mistake rather than lie about it or ignore it.

Denying a mistake does nothing but extend your agony and delay the crisis management process. The time to act is the moment you realize a mistake has occurred, and not a second later. In fact, admitting errors before anyone else has realized is a fantastic way to boost your reputation as it demonstrates to stakeholders your honesty and integrity.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Major Mistake at Applebees

Crisis management lax following incident

This past Friday, Applebees restaurants encountered a world of trouble when employees at one of its Detroit area locations allegedly served tequila mixed with apple juice to a 15-month-old child in, and this is the kicker, the child's own sippy cup!

While it's very possible that this was the result of an individual's actions and not the restaurant's protocol, the public will still look to Applebees for answers. One part of crisis management that the restaurant chain has certainly got down its holding statement, as you can see in this quote from a PRDaily article by Michael Sebastian:

The manager reportedly apologized to the mother, while Applebee’s corporate office emailed this statement to a reporter at WDIV in Detroit:

    “Obviously any situation like this is unacceptable and we take it very seriously. We are working with local authorities and conduction [sic] our own investigation so we can assess exactly what happened.”

Twitter is abuzz with tweets about the incident. The company’s official Twitter account has responded, tweeting this message (or some form of it):

    “Obviously any situation like this is unacceptable. Working w/ local authorities & conducting own investigation. Thanks.”

Getting this message out there is good initially, but being the third day since the incident it's far past time for holding statements. Applebees has nothing on their Facebook or main website addressing the issue, and continues to echo the same exact response to anyone who Tweets about it as well. The restaurant would do well to start communicating, or the situation will only get worse as rumor fills the gap instead, leading to reputation damage and lost or alienated customers.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Edano Aces Media Relations

Savvy crisis communication wins trust of the people

 Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has been doing crisis management for the country starting mere hours after the brutal earthquake of March 11. Edano has put on a clinic since then, exemplifying the ideal spokesman through what was surely extreme stress, as this quote from a blog post by Japanese PR pro Takashi Kurosawa details:

One important factor in the field of PR is risk management communications during an emergency situation. This is because a mishandling of the situation would lead to antagonizing not only the customers but also society as a whole. Edano’s attitude has been exemplary from this perspective, and I have listed below the reasons why that is so.

1. Speaks clearly, slowly and pauses between paragraphs.

2. Doesn’t read out from a script and speaks in his own words instead.

3. When pointing to a journalist to ask a question, he answers looking at him/her straight in the eye.

4. Doesn’t deny possibilities (such as that of leakage of radiation) and accepts them as “possible”.

5. For factors that require expert knowledge, he first explains so but also voices his own opinion.

6. Repeatedly goes over points that might lead to misunderstanding. (The beginning of the video above taken on the 12th, or the explanation he gave about the 4th reactor -around 10:00 in the video below- are cases in point)

7. Clearly articulates the issues that are of the greatest interest to the audience, namely the possible impacts of radiation on the human body. (Not only in terms of figures, but also about the fact that the time of exposure influences the overall impact.)

8. Doesn’t give evasive answers and instead answers as well as possible within the scope of the available facts.

9. Always appears as the spokesman.

10. Gives concrete examples for what each citizen can do to contribute to the situation (conserve energy, don’t send out chain e-mails, don’t hoard, etc.)

Regardless of whether you are speaking for a government or business, honesty, patience and confidence are prime traits that will ensure you gain the trust of stakeholders.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

Chrysler's Social Media Crisis Management

Strong crisis communication prevents trouble for automaker

As social media opens up new communication and crisis management avenues, it also presents new dangers. One of the most common types of trouble that comes to companies using social media is inappropriate postings by employees. Auto giant Chrysler found this out first hand late last month when an member of its media agency posted a message meant for his personal account from @ChryslerAutos, an official company account. The NY Times has the details:

The first incident began last Wednesday, when an employee of New Media Strategies, an agency handling the Twitter account for the Chrysler brand that is aimed at consumers (@ChryslerAutos), posted a comment there that read, “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to drive.” Between “to” and “drive” was a vulgarity.

The comment was deleted, the agency dismissed the employee and Pete Snyder, chief executive at New Media Strategies, wrote in a post on the company’s blog that the agency “regrets this unfortunate incident.”


On Thursday, Chrysler said it would not renew the agency’s contract. In a post on a corporate blog, Ed Garsten, a spokesman for Chrysler, cited a new advertising campaign for the Chrysler brand, which carries the theme “Imported from Detroit,” as a reason.

“This company is committed to promoting Detroit and its hard-working people,” Mr. Garsten wrote, adding: “Inside Detroit, citizens are becoming even more proud of their town, and outside the region, perception of Detroit is rapidly improving. With so much good will built up over a very short time, we can’t afford to backslide now and jeopardize this progress.”

Textbook response by Chrysler here. From heads rolling at the media agency to the well-thought out blog post (hopefully linked from the offending Twitter feed!), the response was fast, effective, and clearly a success.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

The Extra Step

Nothing beats a personal touch

It's been a long time since merely issuing a press release was considered adequate communication. These days, taking only that meager measure is almost inviting crisis, as criticism is bound to follow. BCM President Jonathan Bernstein recently addressed this issue in a Fox Sports article regarding college football coach Mike Anderson's sudden departure from Missouri's program, addressed only by a statement buried in a related press release:

To some, a press release is never enough.

Jonathan Bernstein, president of the Los Angeles-based Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., said the best written statements pale in comparison to a voice's power. He said Anderson's cloaked departure from Missouri "puzzled" him, and that it came across as uncaring.

Bernstein said humility and transparency should be the guiding principles for a coach's communication strategy in difficult situations. Fortunately for Anderson, Bernstein said, the public's memory of messy breakups does not last long.

"In terms of the general public, they are probably going to move on," Bernstein said. "I don't think it will have a long-term affect on his career. I just think it was very poorly handled from an issues management point of view."

Although the incident will probably not damage his "brand" so to speak, had Anderson taken the extra step and given a personal and public goodbye he would have had the opportunity to bank good will that could be used in future crisis management.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/