How to Keep Your Business Safe from Social Network Threats

17/08/2018By scandinaviancomCrisis Communications, Public Relations Global Network, Social Media, Strategic Communications


By Dominique Biquard, Founding Partner of IDENTIA PR

Social media is a very powerful tool for business. It is a platform for businesses to showcase their strengths and build a community of followers. Unfortunately, that same power can translate to major damage in the event of a crisis. Social media gives publicity issues the fuel to escalate to a full crisis in mere minutes. This type of crisis can cost millions and seriously damage the reputation of the company or institution.

Crisis communication is a very important piece of a PR plan. The best crisis management practices enable quick mitigation of crises, and general crisis prevention. To survive a PR crisis, it is crucial to come up with crisis prevention and a crisis communication plan during times of peace.

Road map and clear action plan

Crisis communication strategies should include escalation paths to cover all contingencies. In the event of a crisis, it is essential to count on an internal response flowchart and alert. The crisis flowchart must specify who should be contacted within your organization according to the different scenarios. Your social networks and the people who handle them must keep their contact information detailed and updated.

Most of the time, negative comments and feedback can be managed with normal PR efforts and social media management. With adequate training and planning, it is possible to mitigate reputation issues before they evolve into major issues. The key is to be very involved in your online presence and preparation to act fast.

A model of an escalation path in a crisis management plan could be as follows:

1. The Community Manager/Customer Support responds.
2. The Community Manager/Customer Support responds according to the crisis plan.
3. The head of the crisis committee is involved. If necessary, content is created and monitored.
4. The crisis committee responds, and the executive team is involved. Content is generated and monitored.
5. The executive team responds. Content is generated and monitored.

Eight steps to manage a social media crisis

1. Acknowledge
Don’t let them catch you by surprise. Your first response should always be “yes, we know something has happened” even if you have no answers on the issue yet.

2. Put out the fire
Using a pre-approved response, act first in the social network or platform where the crisis broke out. Pinpoint where it is escalating fastest, and search for the way to tone it down.

3. Apologize sincerely
The communication should feel sincere, in a simple ⎼not technical or legal⎼ language.

4. FAQ
Maintain a central location where the public may find all communications, information and content related to the crisis: acknowledgement of the crisis, details of the event, photos or videos, how the company found out what was happening, actions taken in response, contact information, etc.

5. Set up a place for complaints
Try to keep all complaints in one place that you can actively monitor (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). If the conversation unfolds in a place we control, it will be easier to monitor, moderate and analyze.

6. Know when to take it offline
Social media crisis management is not about winning, but damage control. Some people will be angry enough not to be convinced of anything we may say.

People often join the crisis simply because it is easy to do so from a keyboard. Offering a telephone number to answer complaints may subdue some voices. We must be sure that the customer support staff has all the crisis information and guidelines.

7. Prepare the spokespersons and employees
It is imperative that ALL employees be informed about the crisis. Whether by email, text message, intranet or meetings, you must keep your employees at least as knowledgeable as the public. They are all potential spokespersons.

8. Take advantage of the calm after the storm
Analyze what happened: How did it happen? Could it have been anticipated or avoided? How did we respond? What should we change? Analyze all the situations and the public reactions.

It is rightly said that everything related to social media is chaotic, complex, difficult to handle and control. The conversation flows with or without our participation. But it also grants us the opportunity to give our opinion in real time, without depending on third parties willing to publish our version. If we employ proper planning and prevention measures in our crisis communication plans, the storm will calm down, and we will be able to put it under control faster and at a lower cost.

IDENTIA PR is our partner agency in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Article originally published at PRGN.com

7 PR Tips On Turning The Tide On Consumer Distrust

10/08/2018By scandinaviancomChristina Rytter, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, PR Tips & Trends, Public Relations Global Network, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, Strategic Communications

By Sheena Campbell-Royle, CEO, SCR – SCP

We came from a world where selling a product or service was all about how you positioned yourself and how you ‘sold’ your company, through advertising, marketing and PR where you told people what you thought they should know about your product. It was really all about you and how good you were. Now we are in a different global world where this is not enough, a world where the empowered consumer will only buy your services or products if he agrees with you and likes who you are, where your corporate values must be a match to his or her own ideas and they must be transparent and known about.

This is a big change and companies need to get their heads around what this means for them. Quality and price is not enough if what you say lacks credibility.

Consumers have rights and they now think about why they should put their trust in your company, and, as a company, you need to step up to this and make it known who you are, how you think, how you treat others and what your views on the world are.

It’s happening at all levels and forcing some companies who have lost consumer trust to re-think the strategy.

So here are some tips on what your company should be doing in PR terms to regain your consumers, clients and prospects trust and make sure you keep it.

  1. Analyze carefully all aspects of what you are doing and how you are communicating to your audiences, your ‘voice’. Make sure all your company (people who work for you, suppliers and other audiences) understand your viewpoint and values and identify with them. Include your audiences in the analysis so that ideas are not imposed, but understood and complied with.
  2. Define your position on issues like environment, social issues, even politics. This may be a risk, but being neutral is often seen as aligning with the ‘bad guys’. Look at your social network presence and take into account that some social networks have come under severe criticism. Be careful that consumers don’t see you as part and parcel of these errors, so put transparency high on your ‘to do’ list because trust is tantamount. The culture you breathe in your company needs to speak of authenticity and transparency, this will make consumers feel their needs are being met and less likely to feel they’re always being ‘sold to’.
  3. Get your name to appear and tell people who you are in established newspapers and publications. Get noticed and get your opinion out there, support your corporate values and issues which you think interest and please your audiences. In our era of ‘fake news’, people still trust traditional and digital media with solid reputations.
  4. Make sure your company is meeting its consumers or clients on their terms by making your website and social pages a very positive experience. If a review is left or customer help asked for, ensure that they leave your site or social page feeling reassured and feeling you care about them, that their opinion matters. But this must be real, this is not just the face, this translates into real actions and is demonstrated. Know that each consumer ‘touch’ is an opportunity to humanize your company making it easier for consumers to put their trust into what you do.
  5. Try to engage with ‘earned content’. If you see a consumer interacting with your product, use this, making it public (always after asking and receiving permission) so that others can identify with the action and trust in it.
  6. Offer useful information to your consumers or clients related to your product, service or sector. You could for example use a specific place on your website and social platforms for your customers, clients to ask what they want to learn and you could ask them what they would like to know about.
  7. Last of all, keep your promises. Do what you say you are going to do and live your corporate values making them deep rooted in your company’s ADN

To conclude, flip the coin, be more aware as a company of what the needs and desires of your consumers, clients or prospects are and try to meet them.

SCR-SCP is our partner agency in Spain. Article originally published at PRGN.com

9 Reasons Why Every Company Should Invest in PR

25/06/2018By scandinaviancomContent Marketing, Management Communications, PR, PR Tips & Trends, Strategic Communications

By Anne A. Buchanan, President of Buchanan Public Relations

Public relations has long been a powerful marketing tool for companies. In today’s digital environment, its impact is greater than ever.
Here are nine reasons why every company should be investing in PR:

1. Allows a company to own and manage its narrative. Companies that fail to invest in PR are essentially ceding their narrative to others – the media, unhappy customers, investors, and competitors, among others. Why would you want outsiders to fill in the blanks of a story you should be authoring yourself?

2. Helps an organization amplify its message. A robust PR program typically includes a media relations component. Working regularly with journalists who cover your industry ensures that your company is receiving its share of earned media, a powerful way to share your message.

3. Is custom-made for content sharing. Long before “content creation” became a buzzword, PR professionals were mining company assets to find newsworthy stories and opportunities. If you think your company isn’t doing enough content creation or sharing, start with your PR team. It knows, better than most marketing professionals, how to identify content that will resonate with stakeholders.

4. Permits a company to build authentic relationships with stakeholders. Unlike traditional advertising, which is often a one-way dialogue between a brand and its customers, PR is built around creating and nurturing two-way relationships.

5. Complements a company’s sales efforts. Nothing is more powerful in cinching a sale than an objective, third-party endorsement of your company, which is what earned media gives you. There will always be a need for sales materials and programs, but they become more powerful when PR is used to amplify the message.

6. Helps with recruitment. With a significant portion of the boomer workforce poised to begin exiting, the war for talent will only intensify. PR allows companies a way to brand themselves as employers of choice and to communicate the type of work environment they cultivate.

7. Puts capital in the bank for a future downturn or crisis. You don’t want your first interaction with the media to be when your company is at its worst. Investing in regular public relations ensures that crucial relationships are already in place when you might need support.

8. Enhances a Company’s SEO. Online earned media can have a powerful impact on SEO and keyword rankings. PR teams that work to optimize the content they are sharing can significantly contribute to their organization’s SEO efforts.

9. Forces a company to continually refine its message. Companies that invest in PR are ensuring that their story is constantly being reviewed and refreshed. Not only is that attractive to customers, prospects and search engines, but it keeps an organization sharp and continually thinking about the messages it is sharing with stakeholders.

Buchanan Public Relations is our partner agency in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). Article originally published at PRGN.com

Why PRGN works

07/03/2018By scandinaviancomChristina Rytter, Management Communications, PR, Public Relations Global Network, Scandinavian Communications, Strategic Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder of Scandinavian Communications
President, Public Relations Global Network (PRGN)

Throughout my all-most 20 years in the communications game, I have been participating in many business networks – national as well as international. These networks have contributed to many learnings and business connections, but also to some important realizations. These became particularly obvious, when I became active in the leadership of Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) four years ago, and learned how much the activities in PRGN differ from those in other international networks.

In other international networks, I have often had the experience that partner agencies have discussed and articulated the network and its members to clients. But that there rarely has been a real knowledge exchange or corporation between agencies across the globe.

Consult one agency and get back-up from 49 others
In PRGN it’s quite another picture. Our many – and frequently used – online discussions groups, chats, teams and best practise debates combined with our semi-annual global face-to-face meetings lead to an in-depths professional knowledge sharing. As well as to lifelong friendship between agency owners and leading employees. Our global meetings strengthen knowledge sharing and sharing of best practice at the highest level possible. Furthermore, we also drive our knowledge sharing technologically. Amongst other things in form of a confidential database of client cases from all over the world, from which we can all draw.
This combination of our digital and face-to-face interaction provide our clients with the worlds best advisors from 50 agencies when consulting one of us.

I have previously experienced that partner agencies in other international networks have not taken advantage of the opportunity to real corporation cross national or regional borders, thus not enabling creation of real international network value for their clients.
In PRGN, I don’t have a shadow of a doubt that our clients around the globe receive, what they’ve been promised, when they choose an agency that prides itself for international networks, experiences and acquaintances.

I’m so proud of what we have created in PRGN in the past 25 years – and today can offer to our clients; A real international network with a team of passionate communications experts from every corner of the world, working together to take PR, communications and marketing to the highest level possible. Creating amazing results for our clients.

As President, my goal is to continue to support and work to strengthen this amazing and real international network. However, as PRGN is a shining example of, the best results are gained by cooperation. Therefore, I would like to use this post to invite you to participate with suggestions, new ideas and thoughts which can help continue and develop PRGN, so we can proudly continue to call ourselves “The Worlds Local Agency”.