social media crises & zombies

Crisis, Social Media& Zombies

Dr. W. Timothy CoombsNEMO Visiting Professor

Lund University, Helsingbog Campus

Crisis preparedness?

Social Media Aspects

Zombie value

• CDC web visits from 3,000 in a week to 30,000 • Twitter followers from 12,000 to over 1.2

million

Past Failure

Lessons

SocialMedia

=

≠

TacticStrategy

Message Design

Objectives

Accountability

Crisis Lifecycle

Pre-crisis

CrisisPost-crisis

Key Points

Prevention & MitigationPreparationConclusion

Social Media Crises

• Concerns that arises in or is amplified by social media and can harm the organization

Parallels

Zombies• Spread by virus• Eat brains

Social Media Crises• Spread like virus• Eat reputations

Movie Quotation

• “This is the part in the movie where the guy says ‘Zombies? What zombies?’ just before they eat his brains. I don’t want to be that guy”

Prevention Mitigation

First Concern with Zombies

• Where are they?

Scanning

• New Channels (information sources)– Blogs– Micro-blogs– Social networks– Content creation

• New Tools (analysis)• New Risks• New Challenges for Preventative Action

Social Media as Risk

• Actions of others• Your mistakes

Paracrisis

• Crisis threat that is “managed” in public view, looks like a crisis– Respond or not– How you respond

Intended Effects

• Reduce– Reputational damage– Anger & Anxiety

• Preserve purchase intention• Minimize media coverage– Amount & Duration

• Promote acceptance of crisis message• Protect public safety (minority)

Why the concern?

• Negative comments can damage reputation• Reputation is a valuable asset• Threat– Further negative messages (legacy and social

media)– Financial loss

Sources of social media crises

SocialMedia Crisis

Challengers

Organizational Misuse

DissatisfiedCustomers

Bigger Picture

Social MediaCrisis

StakeholderActions

ChallengesCustomer Complaints

OrganizationalActions

Misuse of Social Media

When is term “crisis” warranted?

Do not overreactThere are incidents

Organizational misuse

• Inappropriate use (competence)– Apologize and correct

Crisis Connection• Purposeful misuse (moral)

Dissatisfied Customers

• Customer relations, not a crisis– Resolve the concern (opportunity & transparency)

Crisis Connection• Warning of a product harm

Challenges

• Stakeholder claims organization is acting in irresponsible manner– Threat to CSR claims– Threat to reputations

• Crisis Connection– Sustained and spreading

Second Concern with Zombies

• How to kill them

SM Type Response ObjectivesCustomer Service Recognize problem

ApologizeCorrective action

End coverageRetain customersAcceptance of message

Misuse SM Recognize problemApologizeCorrective action

Repair reputationEnd coverageAcceptance of message

Challenge Make changesRefute changes

Repair reputationAcceptance of messageEnd coverage (not all the time)

Review

• Monitor social media• Consider value in responding– Act on customer complaints– Do not respond to trolls

• Correct factual errors• Review social media efforts

Preparation

• Crisis management plan (CMP) linked to social media policies

• Crisis team includes social media manager• Templates for social media• Establish presence• Spokesperson video

Conclusion

• Social media– Challenges– Resources

Like Zombies

• New view– Magic to Virus– Operational to Reputational

• Do not manage like a zombie– Lack strategy– Ignore social media

• Key to both is quick, offensive attack

Final advice for both

• Have weapons and know how to use them