Special Blog: Melissa Agnes
The difference between an issue and a crisis is that an issue doesn't threaten the organization's reputation or bottom line over the long term. A crisis occurs when businesses have to stop operations in order to manage the situation. Because issues can escalate into crises, both should be taken seriously.
She talked with a lot of examples. The Domino's Pizza crisis came up a lot--I hadn't realized until today, but it's true that they are part of the reason why later problems in businesses (KFC, Taco Bell...) didn't cause as much uproar. When Domino's happened, social media was a relatively new thing for businesses and had a shock value for consumers. Now that we're more social media-savvy, the shock value has gone down.
We also know how to handle online crises better than we used to, and Ms. Agnes outlined a few key points that should be followed. A couple that really stood out to me were:
Communication is a two-way street! Communications need to be with an audience and not at an audience. People have a voice and expect to use it. People expect a business to have a voice.
You have 15-60 minutes to respond to a crisis or issue, because otherwise the story gets ahead of you. Real-time responses are paramount!
Don't try to hide the facts. (Duh.) If you can't say something for legal reasons, then tell people that!
People are becoming aware of the power of their voice, and they don't want fluff. They want to connect to the people behind the brand. You have to connect on an emotional level -- be sincere and prove you mean it!
Internal communication is key. Everyone inside an organization needs to be on the same page. (Which seems like common sense, but I can believe that a lot of people would be left out of the loop if no one thought to implement it.)
All in all, it was an extremely interesting and informative class, and I'm grateful I had the chance to listen to such an informative speaker.