Being in a Consumer PR crisis for a brand is somewhat like being in a Rugby World Cup Final… There are 1,000s of people watching you closely, whilst powerful (media corporations) and influential people are preparing to attack!

Needless to say it’s not a pleasant experience, but this blog will teach you how to use use some nifty footwork and planning that will help your brand come out of the experience in one piece…. and not on a stretcher *gulp*.

The key to any PR crisis is to be prepared and be able to work under pressure. Sir Clive Woodward the 2003 Rugby World Cup winning coach called this winning ability from his players as “Think Clearly Under Pressure” or TCUP for short.

So to achieve ‘TCUP’ in a PR crisis you must do the following (some steps need to be ideally prepared beforehand for best results):

1 – Keep channels of communication open between you and journalists

DO NOT bury your head in the sand and ignore journalist’s phone calls, as you will leave a vacuum for them to speculate and it will annoy them. Try to win them onside by being helpful and asking for an opportunity to comment. Most (good) journalists will call you first to let you know they are running a negative piece of editorial. (See 2-3 for what to say)

2 – If appropriate, draft a holding statement

Usually bad PR arises from a product failure, industrial dispute or a disgruntled consumer(s). To get to the bottom of what is the issue may take time. So explain that your brand is taking the issue very seriously and is investigating. Let the journalists know when the investigation is finished and when they are likely to get a full response.

3 – Say sorry – it costs nothing and shows that we are human!

I don’t understand why politicians are so reluctant to say sorry, but we were happy to see this (below) from Nick Clegg – humility coupled with steps as to how you are going to address a problem and act quickly. If you don’t agree with his politics you can agree that this approach is a good piece of PR (coupled with a catchy video that got played 100s of times via broadcast media and over 2m times on YouTube)!

Certainly via social media if a complaint is dealt with quickly and efficiently people usually become advocates for a brand. Also according to a study by American Express, brands are 21% more likely to receive future sales.

4 – Draft crisis Q&As and get staff media trained

We would expect that as part of any PR strategy you would have basic ‘crisis Q&As’ drafted. Try to brainstorm all the different negative questioning a journalist could fire at you and devise up reasoned answers to counter them. Avoid being cynical, sarcastic, vague and always stick to the facts!

PRACTICE your answers ‘under fire’ with a colleague and you might just avoid this situation (see the video below):

It goes without saying that investing in media training for your brand will pay dividends not only for crisis PR but for positive PR too. It will give you some insight into journalist tactics, what to say and what not to…

5 – Once you have all the facts go on the offensive and schedule interviews 

It’s the best form of attack and the best way to avoid a pummelling by those large media organisations. Have a crisis plan in place that involves PR, customer service, operations and legal departments so the entire brand organisation in briefed and on board. Then line up interviews with the journalists mentioned in Step 1 to get your point across. This should cover:

-You are sorry / disappointed at X & Y
-Your steps to help the consumer and rectify the wrong doing immediately
- What you have learnt as an organisation and the steps that you are putting in place

6 – ‘Be seen to listen’ 

One of the easiest targets is a large faceless organisation ignoring the consumer and media (see Section 1). Make sure that your brand is being seen to listen and that you are taking an issue seriously!

Go out of your way, armed with the responses above to respond to criticism / issues to show that you are listening as an organisation via the press office and social media. Remember that 70% of organisations do not follow up on complaints via Twitter or Facebook (usually due to fear or resources), so this is an opportunity to stand out as one of the corporate good guys.

Note: *You may get ‘trolls’ (people who love to complain to get reactions) via blog and social that will not let an issue go. Once you have responded via social media or email with a reasonable solution, you may be best advised to let it go, as it will only fan the flames!

What do you think? Let’s have a cuppa and find out…

Thanks to Dave Crosby for the image via Creative Commons. 

Have you read all the Facebook terms and conditions? Really? Most people apart from the Montage geeks and lawyers have not, but here’s why you should pay attention.

For example did you know that running a Facebook competition that gives away cheese or dairy products used to be against Facebook’s terms and conditions until recently…..?

Makes you wonder what else is in the fine print? Well you must take note of Facebook competitions’ terms and conditions!

Could your Facebook competition be fatal for your brand?

Here is your ‘must read’ survival guide to Facebook competitions. This will save you an embarrassing meeting with the top brass, as to why your Facebook brand page has suddenly disappeared and Facebook is not responding to your emails…:

1 – You must not use any Facebook mechanism to take part in the competition including like, share, check-in and comment (including Facebook comments)

2 – A Facebook competition must be run on your page via an app or onsite contest (i.e. on your own site with a link into Facebook). So ‘it’s not really a Facebook competition’

3 – You must not notify a winner via Facebook functionality such as a post, chat,comment or direct message. Email is the only way, so make sure that you capture these (or even better ask if they would like to opt in to future email marketing)

4 – To keep the lawyers happy, make sure that you put these two bits of text in your own competition’s T&Cs:

- ‘Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.’

- ‘Disclosure that the participant is providing information to [disclose recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook.’

5 – Make sure that any apps that you build for Facebook competitions do not unnecessarily spam peoples’ newsfeeds. Inadvertently, if enough people mark these as spam, you may get into trouble with Facebook. But more than likely ‘compers’ and fans will attack your brand like a swarm of angry bees.

6 – Don’t ask for people to ‘like your page’ in order to take part in competitions. This again is not allowed, although you can say ‘like us’ for more information about our competition…’

Bonus tip > Competition Laws 

Be aware of competition rules and regulations in international markets; in some countries, for example, sweep stakes are illegal and you may be liable to gambling tax if your prize value is above a certain amount.

Success = ?

The key to success for a Facebook competition is balancing the size of audience, prize, dynamic and PROMOTION of the competition.

Be sure to set KPIs for your competitions so you can evaluate performance against your target market (not just how many professional compers you can get to like your page!)

Remember just because you have posted a competition on your Facebook page, it does not mean it will be an instant success…

Time poor and need a little help from time-to-time?  We decided to create a social media plan template for brand managers to follow. Help your brand thrive in the social media wilderness:

1 – Listen. Don’t assume what your customers need online. Set up social media monitoring and research online discussions about your brand and competitors online. Learn more about your customers by listening to their concerns, issues and praise.

2 - Understand your customer. Using your social media monitoring and customer research try to understand their problems, what makes them laugh, who they hang out with online and who they respect.

3 – Create a conversation calendar. Follow seasonal patterns and solve problems, be ready with witty, engaging and useful content when your customer needs it.

4 – Be a social business. Train your staff, you can’t do this through an agency alone. Train your customer service staff to manage product and service issues via social media and empower sales staff to deal with leads straight away. It is all about…

5 – Being there for your customer. Like a good friend, being consistent, reliable and honest, it will go a long way in building trust and a loyal relationship.

6 – Contact influencers and get them to tell your brand’s story. Give them useful content, product reviews, sponsorship or quirky stories. This will help raise your profile and attract more followers, and increase links and traffic.

7 - Invest time, resource and money to amplify your work. Look at video, info-graphics and a blog to increase your reach. But remember good content takes time…

8 – Stand out from the crowd.  You need real ‘engagement’ (that’s ‘relationships’ to real people!) with your customer. Get them to help you to create content, take part in events and help you develop services. Consumer advocates are some of your best sales people, invest time and commitment in them as you would a member of staff.

9 – Evaluate.  Refine, be flexible and keep on listening to your customer. The great thing about social media is that you can test your marketing approach in real time, what works and what hasn’t.

Tip: “If you talk to people about themselves they will listen to you for hours”

So, thanks for listening and if you do need help in implementing that plan your manager has told you they need ‘yesterday’… give us a shout!

Or follow us for daily hints and tips that will help you on your journey in implementing a social media plan.

Hat tip for the image - Annie Mole – Creative Commons Flickr