Free download: how to handle a media crisis

Free guide could be music to your ears.

It’s 5pm. It’s Friday. And you’ve a reporter on the phone querying about the safety of your newly-launched product or enquiring if the rumours of your finance director putting his hand in the till are accurate.

Media crisis may strike at the worst times, and we can’t promise to make them the best of times, but our latest how to guide should help ease the pain. And hopefully avoid it in the future with tips on trigger points and media crisis plans.

Our work on this project got me thinking about media crisis that haven’t been well handled, especially in the world of social media. One of my personal favourite oft-quoted case studies is United Airlines’ lack of crisis management when they managed to break the guitar of one of their passengers. Dave Carroll happened to be a musician (no surprises there given that he was travelling with a guitar), but what United would have benefitted from was an understanding of the strong YouTube following Carroll had and the power of this medium. After Carroll saw his guitar being thrown around, he was ignored by cabin crew and ground staff at his destination and then spent a year arguing with United Airlines customer services. His YouTube video attracted 2.3 million views and a story in the LA Times within 12 days - exposing the brand and the story to the worldwide public.

The point is, whether in social or traditional media, there is no point trying to ignore a crisis. United made a feeble and very late attempt at Tweeting back an apology. What United could have done, (aside from providing decent customer service in the first place) would be to post a response video, such as a public apology by the CEO to sit on YouTube alongside the original.
If you know the online complainant has a point, and that their views will reach the people that matter to you, it’s certainly better to reply on the same medium your public is using (i.e. if they’re tweeting, tweet back but if they’re uploading videos, consider uploading one back). ASDA did just that after rogue employee posted a video of himself rampaging around the ASDA store in Fulwood, destroying stock and property in his path. Within 24 hours ASDA had posted a response video which showed various employees at the store talking about how shocked they were with this behaviour and stressing what a great place it was to work. Crisis averted.

Help before you need it most. Download the free guide here.