surviving the social media storm

PHSurviving the Social Media Storm

Sarah BarnettPublic Affairs Advisor, Special Assistant to the COO

HSUS

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

PH

• What is a crisis

• Prevention

• Responding

• Learning

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

• Natural or manmade disaster

• PR Problems

• Organized Attacks

What is a crisis?

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

PH

What is a crisis?

PH

What is a crisis?

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

PH

Prevention

• Planning• Monitoring• Common sense

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

PH

Why spend time planning?

Prevention: Planning

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

PH

Prevention: Planning

Your online presence, and the person answering it, is a

“face” of your organization – make sure it’s a good one.

Who is your online voice?

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

-Have a catch all person, and back up.

-Designate a point person to update and disseminate responses

-Ensure employees and volunteers are aware and informed

-Consistent messaging

Prevention: Planning

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

PH

Prevention: Planning

Make your policy known – and fair.

If you delete something, tell your fans and tell them why

Don’t delete because you disagree, only delete if it’s a violation – stay transparent.

Do you have a commenting policy?

PH

Prevention: Monitoring

-Social media platforms

-Monitoring services

-Daily checks

1 - Tone. What is the severity of the person's tone - are they totally negative, neutral, seem like they could be talked to? 2 - Influence. How many followers, friends, subscribers do they have? How many people are they really talking to? 3 - Frequency. Is this a standalone argument / complaint or does there seem to be a trend brewing? Is it the usual suspects or does this person seem to be gathering a following? 4 – Snowballing. Is it something that if your average person were to hear, they would be horrified?

Prevention: Monitoring

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

PH

Prevention: Common Sense

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Prevention: Common Sense

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Responding

• Be human: Address emotions• Be quick• Be transparent • Acknowledge mistakes• Above all, be honest

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Acknowledge, Rectify, and Move OnBe Human

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Be Human

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Example: Meet Fluffy

Be Quick

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Dec 8th: A recovering heroin addict, John Smith, brought his young cat, Fluffy, to a humane society’s clinic on Dec. 8 after it suffered a laceration on a barbed-wire fence. He didn’t have the funds to pay for treatment. His mother could pay via credit card over the phone.

They were not able at the time to process credit card payments via phone. Smith said that staff said he could surrender the cat and the cat would go to foster and be treated.

Dec 8th - 20th: He called and asked for updates, and didn’t receive calls back. He visited area shelters for two weeks looking for the cat. He went to the media.

Dec 20th: He is told Fluffy was euthanized a few hours after he was surrendered because of lack of doctors/resources. The shelter said they didn’t have a way to get a hold of him.

Be Quick

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Acknowledge, Rectify, and Move On

BothEuthanized by

mistake

External: One resulted in dozens of news stories even a week later, a shelter director fired and numerous

interviews. The other resulted in a few news stories after one press

conference.

Internal: Both took responsibility and apologized to the family and the public, and put new protocols into place

Be Transparent,Acknowledge Mistakes

It Happened

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

It Will Blow Over

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Resources

www.charityhowto.com

www.nten.org

www.pro.petfinder.com

www.animalsheltering.org

Best Resource: Each Other!

@humanesociety @SarahHSUS

Contact Information:

Sarah Barnettsbarnett@humanesociety.org

Twitter: @SarahHSUS

facebook.com/ldcrf.sarah

linkedin.com/in/sarahkbarnett/