Page 193 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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1 174 Crisis Communication
Engaging the blogger community is not the typical one-way press
release style of public relations. You don’t ‘pitch’ a blogger. Effective
communication is about establishing a collegial relationship where PR
people can start a conversation, engage in a dialogue, or pose a ques-
tion about a trend or issue. If you have a topic or idea to discuss, bring
it to a blogger. If you want to promote a product, take out an ad.
The internet also fundamentally changes how people find their
information. It’s less about reading and sorting, and more about
people requesting and filtering their information. The advent of RSS
(Real Simple Syndication) feeds, now standard on many corporate
sites, allows the media, stakeholders and consumers to ‘request’ the
information they need from corporations. An RSS feed lets site visitors
alert an organization that they want to receive information on a partic-
ular topic or issue. When a company issues a news release or posts a
white paper or speech, that information is automatically sent to inter-
ested stakeholders. The internet provides this opportunity and savvy
companies know how to feed this channel.
Communicating during a crisis in the internet age also means not
just presenting facts, but helping stakeholders acquire, understand and
evaluate ideas and information. A crisis website, company webinar or
podcast has to present information in such a way that it helps stake-
holders engage and evaluate difficult issues, not just receive the
company’s view. That’s a challenge for PR professionals who are usually
charged with ‘putting out information’ rather than listening, distilling
and responding to stakeholder concerns. Yet that’s the challenge that
sets the corporate counsellor apart from just the PR practitioner.

The new ground rules

So we know during a crisis that the web requires better monitoring, a
faster response and broader understanding of new media, but is that
so different from traditional crisis management? Well, in a Web 2.0
world the stakeholders are now the media and they control the
message and agenda. So yes, it’s different.
To begin with, people’s interaction with, and expectation of, the
web is that information must be open, available and instant. This puts
huge demands on corporations – especially during a crisis – to be
responsive, open and transparent with their stakeholders.
Stakeholders coming to your website, IMing executives, or
responding to corporate blogs, expect immediate and candid
responses to tough questions. There’s no time in a crisis for a ‘wait and
see’ strategy in the ‘we expect answers now’ web environment.