surviving the social media storm
TRANSCRIPT
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
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What is a crisis?
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What is a crisis?
@humanesociety @SarahHSUS
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Prevention
• Planning• Monitoring• Common sense
@humanesociety @SarahHSUS
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Why spend time planning?
Prevention: Planning
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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
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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?
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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
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Prevention: Common Sense
@humanesociety @SarahHSUS
Prevention: Common Sense
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Responding
• Be human: Address emotions• Be quick• Be transparent • Acknowledge mistakes• Above all, be honest
@humanesociety @SarahHSUS
Acknowledge, Rectify, and Move OnBe Human
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Be Human
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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
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It Will Blow Over
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@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 [email protected]
Twitter: @SarahHSUS
facebook.com/ldcrf.sarah
linkedin.com/in/sarahkbarnett/