Archive for crisis communications
Davis Speaking on Role of Social Media in Crisis Communications
Posted by: | CommentsSawmill Marketing Public Relations partner Jeffrey Davis has been invited to share his social media and crisis communications expertise at a special event on April 6 co-hosted by the Social Media Club of Baltimore and the Baltimore Public Relations Council. Here is the information from the two organizations:
Join us for a discussion about the role of social media in crisis communication. With shorter news cycles and the rise of social media, companies and organizations need to be able to provide instant communication during a crisis situation to remain at the forefront of conversation about the company and its brand. Learn why it is important to incorporate social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, etc.) in your crisis communication plan, and how to use these tools effectively.
Panelists:
- Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun (@justin_fenton)
- Anthony Guglielmi, Baltimore City Police Department
- Jeffrey A. Davis, Sawmill Marketing Public Relations (@contactjeff)
WHEN: Wednesday, April 6, 2011. COST: $15. Registration and light breakfast begin at 8:30 a.m.; program and Q&A runs from 9 to 10 a.m. WHERE: Morton’s The Steakhouse (300 South Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201). Parking available in the Sheraton Inner Harbor parking garage.
To register: http://socialmediaclub.org/event/social-media-and-crisis-communication-0
More information about the panelists:
Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun
Justin Fenton joined The Baltimore Sun in 2005 and has covered the Baltimore City Police Department and the criminal justice system since 2008. His work includes an investigation into Cal Ripken Jr.’s minor league baseball stadium deal with his hometown of Aberdeen, a three-part series chronicling a ruthless con woman, the killing of five Amish children at a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a job swap with a British crime reporter to explore differences in crime-fighting. A story about how Baltimore police were discarding rape cases at a higher rate than any other city led to sweeping reforms in how the city investigates sex crimes. In 2010, City Paper recognized Justin and colleague Peter Hermann as the Best Journalists in Baltimore.
Anthony Guglielmi, Baltimore City Police Department
Anthony Guglielmi is the Director of Public Affairs for the Baltimore Police Department and is responsible for all aspects of external communications. Appointed December 5, 2008, Director Guglielmi serves as the agency’s chief spokesman and principal communications advisor to Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, III. Prior to joining the Baltimore Police Department, Guglielmi served as Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the United States Office of Special Counsel – a federal law enforcement and prosecutorial agency based in Washington, D.C. A native of Connecticut, Guglielmi is a graduate of New York University and has held numerous senior level government and private sector positions including Director of Communications for the New York State Senate, Press Secretary for the State of Connecticut Division of Parole and legislative communications consultant for Pfizer, Inc.
Jeffrey A. Davis, Sawmill Marketing Public Relations
Jeffrey A. Davis has more than 20 years of news media and national public relations experience. A partner with Sawmill Marketing Public Relations, he has extensive expertise in corporate positioning and reputation management, particularly in media relations, media training, crisis communications and social media. Project work includes crisis communications in connection with the Duke lacrosse case, PR counsel for the family of Chandra Levy, national media relations for the “Intelligent Design” case (Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al.), and publicity for ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” He is a recognized expert in social media, particularly how organizations can successfully integrate corporate blogging strategies, Facebook and Twitter with traditional communications programs.
Media Training Tip # 1: Be Prepared!
Posted by: | CommentsThere is no need to be familiar with the subject matter of this interview to know that the reporter was well prepared, asked straightforward questions and conducted himself professionally while his interview source was ill prepared at best, visibly uncomfortable and abruptly left the room!
Crisis Communications Tip #3: Make Media Training a Priority
Posted by: | CommentsWe inc
lude “Next Steps” in our crisis communications plans and “media training for designated spokespeople” is nearly always at the top of this list.
Why? Because we’re firm believers in the crisis communications mantra of “tell it all, tell it fast and tell the truth.” This appears to be simple, sound and matter-of-fact when talked about in the calm of a conference room, but yet another matter requiring resolve, courage and leadership should a crisis situation occur.
In our experience, the designated spokespeople who already have a fundamental knowledge of how to communicate their messages to the media are better equipped to immediately focus themselves and their organization on telling it all, telling it fast and telling the truth, rather than to first take a crash course in media training.
Merry Christmas, Hon
Posted by: | Comments
Laura Vozzella’s column in the Baltimore Sun does a great job of capturing the PR firestorm over a local restaurateur’s decision to trademark “Hon.”
Rather than debate the merits of the decision to claim rights to the word and the way the restaurateur went about defending her point of view, look at how PR missteps and social media are intensifying this storm.
Many people continue to say “any publicity is good publicity.” BP doesn’t think so, and the owner of this restaurant (and gift shop and festival) surely won’t believe it when this fiasco eventually fizzles out.
The mishandling of the news led to a spoof Twitter account, boycott the restaurant Facebook page, blog posts, newspaper comment section posts, a protest and a string of critical Yelp “reviews,” all within hours of this firestorm. Fanning the flames even more, the restaurant’s graphic design (and presumably not PR) consultant weighed in with a profanity-laced post (click on comments to find the one from “springray“) that went viral, while a rejected Yelp review found a new life and many more eyeballs on countless blogs.
In the meantime, Buzz is dying to hear what counsel the unidentified “publicist” referenced in The Sun‘s column offered when the the idea to trademark “Hon” was discussed!
Crisis Communications Tip #6: It’s Complicated
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An organization’s crisis communications situation is never a single event dealt with by a single activity. Instead, it’s a multifaceted and often complicated set of circumstances requiring a steadfast, consistent and determined execution of activities. But what about the marketing impact of a crisis?
We’ve been reminded of this the past few months while dealing with a client’s crisis communications problems and are just now finalizing a strategy for handling the marketing implications while keeping one eye still focused on the crisis.
The most valuable crisis communications plans are those that help an organization effectively manage the crisis at hand while simultaneously staying connected to its marketplace with relevant brand messaging.
Crisis Communications Tip #16: Doing the Right Thing is Not a Guarantee
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Despite keeping everyone up to date and informed about an unpleasant situation, a client alerted us that someone had contacted the media and a story immediately appeared.
This underscores the point that, like so many things in life, there are no guarantees. Organizations who routinely do the right things to keep everyone in the loop about the good as well as the bad news, need to also factor in the fact that someone will likely take it upon themselves to share the information with others, whether it’s a reporter, Facebook friends or Twitter followers.
Please keep “no guarantees” in mind as you conduct the annual review of your crisis communications plan.
Crisis Communications Tip #3: Define & Defend Your Boundaries
Posted by: | CommentsA local hospital 
is at the beginning of what promises to be a lengthy and costly resolution of a situation involving a prominent physician, many, many of his patients and now, legions of attorneys.
In fairness to the hospital, it is a complicated situation not easily explained and therefore not easily understood by most of us. Additionally, there are many points of view that will be played out in the media for the foreseeable future.
However, based on media coverage thus far, the hospital does not appear to be assertively defining the situation to one physician in one department utilizing one procedure.
If we were asked our opinion on what their crisis communications strategy should be, we would implore them to quickly and decisively place the situation in context of the hospital’s overall reputation. It should then implement an ongoing, focused communications program that defines and defends the institution’s expertise and reputation beyond the boundaries of the current situation, albeit a serious and far-reaching one.
Crisis Communications Tip #15: It’s Rarely Straightforward
Posted by: | Comments
The incredible coverage in the traditional media, posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other online venues of the recent Jet Blue flight attendant’s bizarre reaction to a less than civil passenger brings home the point that a crisis is rarely, if ever, straightforward in the facts surrounding what happened.
IMO, what’s getting lost in the accolades for the flight attendant’s way that he quit his job are the bigger, more serious issues of the safety risk he put the passengers in when he deployed the evacuation chute and the complicated state of today’s customer service.
It will be interesting to watch how Jet Blue moves forward and how it incorporates the incident into its customer service training. It should make for an important case study.
BP’s Crisis Communications Continues to Bewilder
Posted by: | CommentsBP continues to distinguish itself in a growing number of categories in the ongoing sad saga of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill mess, including the bewildering way it communicates with the world.
We wish we could enroll them in our crisis communications summit. But it may be way too late.
Sunday’s photo of Tony Hayward watching his yacht race was one that will rank high on the “If I didn’t see it with my own eyes I would have never believed it” list! How could anyone at BP have thought that would be an OK way to spend a Sunday afternoon in public and that the media would give his attendance a pass?
While the opportunity has been missed for BP to get out in front of the crisis as well as also ignoring a long list of other effective crisis communications fundamentals, there is still time (thanks in part to BP’s difficulties in finding a workable solution to capping the leak) for BP to communicate — through their actions and words on and off the job — genuine and sincere empathy to a world that is in dire need of it.
Will they do it?
Facebook Friday: Not All Wall Posts are Happy Posts
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Here’s one more reason your company’s social media program should be guided by an experienced communications professional. For a while, Nestle’s Facebook page was a place where fans could exchange posts about Kit-Kat bars and other products and receive updates from the company. Nice, huh?
But one day in March, the page was targeted by Greenpeace activists to raise the issue of Nestle’s use of palm oil and the resulting deforestation and endangered species loss in South America. Comments poured in from Facebook users – directly onto Nestle’s own Facebook page – harshly criticizing the company for its practices. Nestle’s initial responses were not well-received, causing additional need for damage control in a situation now included on the list of social media crisis PR case studies.
Coverage here by CNET News provides a good overview, but to see for yourself search for “Nestle” on Facebook and scroll down to the entries in March, 2010. To their credit, Nestle has not deleted the posts, and the company has used the page to post responses and updates about their palm oil practices.
The incident is a cautionary lesson for companies who want to delegate Facebook and all this new-fangled social media stuff to the intern or 20-something employee. Social media is two-way, and how a company responds to its fans – as well as its critics – is critical to its reputation and not something you want to leave in the hands of anyone unfamiliar with the basics of PR and crisis communications.
Credit: Nestle logo from Nestle Facebook page
