Public Relations Principles for Small Businesses Online: Crisis Communication

As a Denver Marketing company we stay connected to our peers in order to keep up to date on what is going on in the industry.  Recently we have encountered crisis’s which peers or communities we follow have had in their online communities. After seeing these cases we felt it would be best to write a post in our Public Relations for Small Business series that lines out how to manage a crisis in an online community.

Crisis is never something that a business wants to be a part of however it happens. When it happens it is best to have a plan on how to handle the situation. Here are some tips on how to handle a crisis should it arise.

1. Silence is never the answer

If a crisis arises, either from an individual or something that involves a mass of people, provide a response.  When all of the facts aren’t there a simple “we are looking into the situation and will be respond as soon as more facts are available” will suffice.  Silence is concession. Provide a response and make sure to follow up. This simple step may not be the immediate response community members want, however it will cover the company in the end. Responding will also help build rapport with the audience.

2. Present an united front

This can be simple for businesses with a staff of 5-10. However larger businesses need to know how to communicate between each other and with the outside community during a crisis. Its been said “failure to plan, is planning to fail” this is true here. It would be beneficial for businesses to have a social media plan that lines out how they respond to crisis online. This should include who will be the one responding to the crisis. Once a crisis has been identified then employee’s will know how to respond.

3. Communicate the truth

A no-nonsense statement right? At times it can be tougher than it seems. When a crisis arises we want to promise that everything is going to be alright. However, we can’t over promise, we must always state the truth of the situation. Then we communicate what we can do to overcome the crisis. Anything more than that can cause long term problems. Recently a major corporation came under fire during a sponsored Twitter hashtag. Instead of working to communicate the truth immediately in that situation they simply pulled the hashtag and ended the conversation. Hopefully they will respond to the questions raised from during their hashtag instead of being silent.

In the end every crisis is different.  What we must realize that these three steps are key in crisis communication. Ultimately it is up to the company to determine how to handle the crisis. We hope that these three points can help a company in any crisis situation.  If your company

Success Stories

We have compiled some success stories of our Inbound Marketing services. If your company could use our Inbound Marketing services take a read. Your company is safe knowing we have planned out how to handle any crisis which may arise.

Read them Here