When people think about crisis communications they are often thinking about what you need to do when there is an earthquake, a theft or strike. What they aren’t thinking about is how easy it can be for your organizations to reach a tipping point of crisis by one or two social media posts. Things can escalate very quickly and you can find yourself trying to put out a virtual bonfire with little to no warning which is what crisis communications is really all about. How do you prepare for the unknown? What activities are in place to manage your brand reputation in a digital age?
Before we dive in to what to do, let’s take a look at the importance of a nonprofit’s reputation. A reputation is the beliefs and opinions (correctly or incorrectly) that are generally held about something or someone. For a nonprofit organization a reputation is based on how people perceive your organization and have direct effects on the bottom line as well as potentially long-term impacts on programs, volunteers, staffing and funding sources.
A good reputation involves honesty, accountability, and commitment. These can all be difficult to manage in a multi-faceted organization with many stakeholders and touchpoints. When an organization has a good reputation, people are more likely to give the nonprofit the benefit of the doubt should a crisis arise. But if you are working somewhere that has made many mistakes, it can be hard to address crisis points with a fast, truthful, and transparent response that accepted by the public.
Consider Seattle Children’s Hospital’s recent debacle with the admission about deaths related to infection from faulty HVAC systems. While they did come out and take responsibility, as well as indicate that they knew about the problem and had been trying to address it, that only happened after the media had picked up the story about recent illnesses and deaths. So the PR team (or probably firm) was already behind the story before they could even begin addressing the crisis.
It all goes back to listening to what people are saying and acting quickly. Also key is making sure that all your silos are communicating effectively across departments. What started out as a lawsuit quickly became a story about a potential cover up, and then as linked to a patient being responsible for the most recent deaths by being sick. As more media attention was drawn to the story, more people tuned in and what was one lawsuit, became three, became a class-action lawsuit. Not a good day, week, month, quarter for that communications team. But the kicker was that they knew that they had a problem and from the outside it looks as if they weren’t prepared with a communications plan to activate.
Additionally, the reactions that people have on social media are something that are clearly outside of our control. From raging about lack of services to complaining about parking, if someone has an issue they are more than likely to post about it on social media. Now, some say that this has more to do with the general lack of civility in society, but regardless, once it is out there on the Internet, how you respond, when you respond and how that engagement transpires can and should be treated as crisis communications to some extent.
Do you have a policy for trolls? What if it's a disgruntled employee or client? How about racist, sexist or homophobic language on social media? Do you delete comments? Who decides?
Thinking through your responses before the situations arise can give you a game plan to at least refer to when things start going sideways. It can also give you a grounded space to determine what situations need to be treated online, offline or even in person.
Finally, when thinking through crisis communications, staff with media training need to be empowered to advise and lead the response. Executive directors and board leaders may feel that they should take the upfront role, but they should have consulted with their communications staff for talking points and communications plans prior to their actions. As professional communicators, it’s more than likely that we have a strategy that needs to be adapted on the fly and if things take place behind closed doors then the likelihood that something will look sketchy in the future.
Social media can take down major companies and celebrities in the flash of an eye. Don’t make the mistake to think that that can’t happen to your organization.