Social networks and the Internet itself affect businesses in two ways. On the one hand, they bring new opportunities for communication with an audience and on the other hand, increase the activity of people and pressure groups which can damage the brand name. Without the Internet, there would be no threats such as hacking, offensive blogs, and website imitations. Unfortunately, the consequences are enormous, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), which have to learn quickly to manage their brand in the digital environment fueled by social media. The Business Matters website came to the same conclusion, advising smaller companies on how to prepare for the changes.
1. Comprehensive monitoring is an essential part of crisis management. Use online tools to help you track all mentions of your brand or keywords related to your business. Can it harm you somehow? Analyze data at least once a week. Follow trends and issues development, because public opinion never sleeps on the Internet.
2. Harmonize the culture of the organization with the stakeholders’ expectations. The fact that when you manage to narrow the gap between these two points, you take precautionary measures against the build up of a crisis. Comprehensive monitoring will help you. If you fulfill those expectations, there is no reason to behave aggressively towards your brand.
3. The monitoring results should be shared fast and effectively not only among members of the corporate communication team, but across the entire organization in the shortest possible time. Risk management is a challenging and broad process that even has to involve other departments, especially the business unit. Using this communication, it is possible not only to identify risks, but also to take effective action.
4. Identify competent people who have sufficient knowledge and skills and will be responsible for communicating with the public and the media. They have to understand all the dimensions of the crisis and be resilient under pressure. Moreover, they should be familiar with the online media language.
5. Practice preventive fictional media interviews and include the training of soft and hard skills. If the spokesperson cannot handle reconciling these abilities, his speech will not look legit. Even eliminate filler words. Hold these demonstration discussions at least once a quarter, even if there is no danger on the horizon.
6. Communication with stakeholders has to be clearly defined. In a crisis, you have to choose a clearly defined strategy. Note that all stakeholders have different communication preferences. Thus, in any case they will not be listening to one universal communication strategy that you prepare.
7. Focus on simplicity, complexity and length of the message. The general public needs to understand not only the crisis itself, but also the answer you offer. Do not use too many technical terms that the audience does not understand and harmonize communication through online media with traditional channels.
8. The form of communication must remain the same. While an individualized form puts emphasis on different aspects of communication according to the stakeholders’ preferences, overall communication should be uniform. It is essential for communication to boost confidence in the brand and in the communication itself.
9. Invite a specialist who will audit your crisis communication plan. He can discover the hidden threats that have been overlooked and recommend the best practices.
10. Crisis planning should be continuous. The opinions of the company, technology developments or policy changes are fast. During the transformation, new risks may emerge that reduce the efficiency of your crisis plan. So, never write a crisis manual just to keep in the drawer, but keep it as a "living" document, and constantly edit it. This is true even more in the digital age.
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