Crisis management refers to how your organization responds when a threat or event could negatively impact your business. The way you respond can impact how much the crisis affects your company. An effective crisis management plan outlines the steps your business takes after a crisis and the types of tools and solutions you use to manage it.
This type of potentially devastating event is typically unpredictable. Examples could include the following:
- Data breach
- Natural disasters
- Pandemics
- Product failure
- Illegal actions by an employee
- IT system failure
- Major regulatory changes
- Financial crises, such as a market crash
- PR issues, such as a controversial social media post or interaction
These events can disrupt your business to varying degrees. They could be a threat to stakeholders or the organization as a whole. Your crisis management response includes how you identify those potential threats, what you do about them, and how you handle the narrative to maintain your image to the public.
Timely and informed crisis management for today's communications landscape
How you respond to a crisis impacts the public's view of your company. A poorly handled response could cause people to see your company in a negative light. For example, if your social media manager posted a highly controversial statement on your company's social media accounts, the public may assume your organization supports that stance. People who disagree with the post might decide they don't want to do business with you anymore.
With the speed and ease of using social media, information about the situation will likely circulate once news breaks of the crisis. If you don't take charge of the narrative, there's a chance that inaccurate information will spread, and it doesn’t take long at all to get far. This can make the situation worse and force you to address the initial crisis and any false information being shared.
Having a clear plan gives you a guide for responding to the crisis. It helps you manage your company's reputation as you work through the situation. Addressing the situation publicly and quickly helps you distribute accurate details about what's happening. You also stay in control of what the public knows about the situation.
This type of intentional response can help keep public opinion and customer trust in your organization high. This, in turn, minimizes how the crisis impacts your day-to-day operations and profits. Communicating about the situation helps calm the public if they have concerns about the safety or integrity of your business. If your customers see you're taking ownership and working to resolve the situation, it can even help improve customer loyalty. Your response can also help you recover from the crisis more quickly by preventing additional negative press online.
Utilize real-time media monitoring tools and solutions for crisis management
Social media monitoring can be a powerful addition to your crisis management tools. A large part of your crisis management plan is keeping tabs on what the public says about your company and its response. Effective crisis management tools include real-time media monitoring to understand public sentiment as it develops. Specific benefits of using real-time monitoring include the following:
- Identifying a problem early: Real-time alerts and monitoring notify you as soon as a situation unfolds online. These crisis management tools provide the first indicator of potential crises, giving you time to assemble a team and plan your response.
- Responding quickly: With real-time media monitoring, you get information about public sentiment as it happens. Situations can evolve quickly, so you need to keep an eye on them. With real-time data, you can make quick, informed decisions.
- Targeting your response: Monitoring tools that focus on online chatter help you target your response to the situation. The data from social media monitoring tells you about specific issues the public or your customers have regarding the situation. From there, you can address those concerns with a tailored response.
- Assessing public sentiment: With sentiment analysis tools, you gain an understanding of how the public feels about the situation at hand. You can tell if public perception is negative or positive. If you discover negative sentiment regarding the issue, you can use effective communication strategies to shift toward a more favorable impression and minimize potential damage.
- Identifying your allies: Even if public perception is overwhelmingly negative, you may have some people on your side who can help minimize reputational damage. Being aware of those people can help you craft a better response. You can lean into the positive points they're making about your business or help amplify their voice online.
Request a Truescope demo today
Truescope uses the latest technology to provide the most accurate and effective crisis management solutions. We hire only the best communications and technology experts to ensure we create reliable, exceptional monitoring solutions that fit your needs. With our real-time data, we help our clients position themselves for fast, data-driven decisions that result in an effective response. Contact us today.
