Hi! Managers: Coping with a crisis
Thailand's worst floods in at least five decades have affected 9.4 million people in 62 provinces, or four-fifths of the country. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported that more than 500 people were killed in flood-related incident
The brand in crisis could find itself deep in trouble without a clear direction. Some of them really don’t know what to do and react to the problem. I would like to share a short list things to do when you face a crisis:
-Develop and implement crisis management plans and processes.
-Rehearse the plan and enhance it.
-Train your people, especially those required to act as a spokesperson in a crisis.
-Monitor the landscape.
-Engage in pro-active management of issues.
The power of online media presents a new and potentially dynamic tool. Digital media has enormous power to both create and destroy reputations. Many organisations are still grappling with how to harness online media in the face of this potentially business-critical challenge.
If a crisis is gestating online then the organisation must have the capability to also manage it online. Sticking to traditional media could lead to at least three negative results. Firstly, you may fail to reach those people most affected and concerned by the crisis – the people talking about it online.
Secondly, you lose the opportunity to engage with the online community which has the power to spread positive messages about what the organisation is doing to deal with the situation. And finally, you may further escalate the situation by communicating bad news to people who were previously unaware that there was a problem.
--Online strategies
-Develop crisis management “dark sites” to respond quickly, clearly and effectively to emerging issues and incidents.
-Ensure that it has identified and set up the infrastructure to communicate via social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
-Implement online media monitoring to track what is being said about them in cyberspace.
-Employ search engine optimisation to ensure the company’s perspective is heard loud and clear rather than being swamped by the views of others.
-Develop the capability to quickly create content – the latest information, briefing papers, podcasts, blogs – for online media
The Internet has the power to spark and spread a crisis, but used effectively, digital tools have enormous potential to help organisations prevent and manage them, too.
Pongsak Sanitwongse na Ayudhya is executive vice president of Dentsu Plus, part of the Dentsu Asia Network.
