Crisis at the speed of light….

Speed of Light: 186,000 miles per second

You can’t know

precisely

where crisis

will come from.

That’s why it’s

called a crisis…

Being Prepared IS Everything…

“If you can’t get a video of your CEO on YouTube within 3 hours, anytime of day or night, you are not ready.”

Jason Baer

Paradigm shift:

Spokesperson to media gatekeepers

New world order:

You are not in control…

“Technology is shifting the power away from editors, publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are in control.”

Rupert Murdoch

Your Crisis Challenge…

Unexpected, unauthorized and vetted leakage

Damage by perception

Photos, comments, conversation that conflicts

Repurposed statements

Confusion

The way we were….

House fire every 30 seconds in the US…

Over $120 million in product liability lawsuits in three months…

• Integrated response team• Senior management involvement• Legal counsel• Outside experts• Lives saved testimonials• Government agency support

Challenge: media analysis and interpretation…

Familiar response vehicles…

• Deep background, off record interviews• Outside expert sound bites• Press conferences• Counter-offensive media – lives saved• Satellite feeds• Reports, studies, quote-able sources • Testing demonstrations

What’s changed?

• Time – speed of light• Media – people-driven• Who’s in control – they are

Social Crisis Management

The evolution of how we do business…

• Marketing – the talkers

• Customer service – the listeners

• Social media – huh?? The conversation-ers??

93% of social media users want companies to have an on-line presence…now!

Brand Trust Ladder

INVASIVETelemarketing,

spam

PUSHAds, promos,

direct mail

AUTHENTICExperiences

Events

VALIDATIONTrusted

Influencers

Character of

Customer Interaction

Communication ROI

Relationship Driven

Transactional

Tuned Out Engaged

Trusted

Disbelief

The “full duplex” conversation…

Social media is word of mouth on steroids

Social media can create and solve crises

If Facebook were a country it would be larger than Japan.

• As of July there were 23 million users on Twitter

• Three million Tweets per day

Viral communication happens…

Is today your –

• Dominos• United Airlines• Motrin• Pork Board• Dell???

Social Web alters communications landscape…

Tweets on Swine Flu exceed 10,000 per hour

Crisis Constants…

• Perception leads reality

• Fear drives perception

• Messages/images promulgate fear

Communication now in visual, verbal and video form is instantaneous, global, track-able, available 24/7 and permanent…

The new rules:

What you say IS the message…

The Good News

• Your message conveyed without filter instantly, everywhere…

The Bad News

• Not everyone will like it and you will hear about it…

Social Media

Caution…

Transparency: if it can be known, it will!

Social media platforms do not intersect…

It is a collection of unique city-states…

A new strategic approach…

Flashpoint Response:

• Tweet to Tweet• On Facebook• Blog to Blog• Video to Video

Dominoes big disconnect: press release response to a video

Lesson #1: on-line listening now!!

• Radian6• Cision• Spiral16

Lesson #2:

Fight fire with fire!!

Crisis messaging:

• Humanization of leaders• Plain speaking• Empathy• Responsiveness • Honesty

It’s about conversational communication…

So how does this work?

• Listen• Engage• Respond• Repeat

Your new response tool kit…

• Social media platform• Video• Podcast• Blog• Links• Photo gallery• Whitepapers• Background studies• Experts and credible third parties

Your crisis infrastructure:

• Web platform construction in-house• Twitter embassy• Facebook presence• Listening tools and monitoring

Your crisis team:

• Strategy experts• Message makers• Content creators• Legal

Vital step:

Internal media policy

Parallel employee communication

Honesty is the right policy…

Bob Wheatley

Wheatley & Timmons, Inc

312-755-6200

bob@wheatleytimmons.com

Blog: brandtrailblazers.com/blog

Web: www.wheatleytimmons.com