No time to lag

Crisis planning is essential to any business, especially one whose customer satisfaction levels always seem to be on the high end. In a recent Tweetchat, the focus was on crisis communication, namely how to handle them and what qualifies as a crisis.

A company must make sure the people handling the crisis know the organization backward and forward so they can handle anything that comes up. Having that knowledge also ensures that if asked any question about the crisis they can answer quickly.

A crisis also tests the company’s reputation; it can’t just be an incident that can easily be blown off. Take for example, the current Burger King Twitter dilemma. Because of that brandjacking, BK gained 28,000 followers because of the faux hacking.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines not only scores high on customer satisfaction, ranking second of all low-cost carriers, but knows how to handle a crisis in a world where social media reigns supreme.

"’There's a lot of self-correcting and a lot of self-policing,’ Flaningan said. Sometimes, he said, it's better to simply let folks talk it out among themselves instead of stepping in.” (Wilson)

This was in response to a glitch when the company offered deeply discounted fares through their Facebook and the site got so much traffic that there were many technical difficulties. Some customers were charged up to 50 times for their purchase, but understood that the company was taking care of it.

Social media is key to any crisis and cannot be forgotten when combating something that has gone awry. People get their news updated by the second and, especially negative, news spreads like wildfire.

Clorox Reigns Supreme

From puke to pee to poop, Clorox does it all, but faced issues when it came to their sales (as in, they weren’t selling).

The company found a way to increase their “young parent” purchase power by using Twitter and other social media sites to gain some traffic.

“The campaign not only stemmed declining sales, but increased them by 2 percent during the 13-week campaign, which won top honors in the Best Digital PR Campaign category of PR Daily’s Digital PR & Social Media Awards” (Amire).

With the increase of Internet use and the term “Google it” getting tossed around like crazy, it’s no wonder parents are going to the Web for answers to various parenting issues. Clorox saw this as a way to get some brand awareness and re-vamp their marketing strategy.

They created the hashtag #BleachItAway in an attempt to get parents from all over to tweet their experiences and offer up solutions for any “accidents” their little ones may have had that day. Bleachitaway.com also took off as a place for parents to share stories as well.

The PR firm, Ketchum used viral videos , blogs, and Facebook/Twitter as media for the campaign too.

When it comes to the numbers, Clorox Bleach online conversation went up by 38 percent and there was a 72 percent click-through rate on Twitter that led to bleachitaway.com

Bethenny Frankel also took part as the celebrity head, getting mommy bloggers to upload videos of their own at-home messy moments.

No Room for the Boom

According to a recent poll, 49 percent of baby boomers (late 40s to mid 60s) believe that social media has a negative effect on the workplace. At the same time, however, they are the largest group of business owners in the U.S.

Herein lies the problem: with such a huge influence social media and online strategies have on business, what are the effects of such a frame of mind?

The same amount, nearly half, of baby boomers now work for a boss who is younger than they are.

It seems as though these stubborn boomers can either sink or swim in the online waters. Times are a' changing! Sometimes it is strange to think that my capstone PR class requires blogging, Tweeting and Linking In, but it obviously is vital to a career to be tech-savvy and ready to adapt to any social media changes that may occur.

For example, "Baby boomers' misgivings about modern technology are countered in the workplace by their younger-generation counterparts who grew up with technology and are eager and quick to adapt to innovations," author David Bray said.

We younger people prefer to connect via online media and don't see much of a point in doing anything else. The boomers still rely on face-to-face meetings and even though this is essential, one must be able to reach their clients with a quick email or tweet.

With people being as busy as they are today there isn't an option for being disconnected. It's important to be able to balance personal and social in the workplace even when it comes to going digital.

Geographical distance is no longer worrisome for companies; you can reach anyone, anywhere, even in a different time zone. Boomers should see this as a beneficial shift from old to new and embrace the change. There is no end in sight for this social media craze and it will only get larger as time goes on.

Maybe a "tweet" won't even exist in five years and it will be something completely different, and I can't wait to be right in the middle of that new technology.

True Calling

Poking around some online PR sources, I found this gem: “53 signs you work in public relations.”

I see this not only as a glimpse into my future, but a checklist of things I should either be doing now, or learning to do. Here are a few of my favorites…

4. You constantly engage in “PR is dead” and “the press release doesn’t have a place in business” arguments.

I’m not sure HOW a press release would be irrelevant to a business’s plan. What would business owners do without PR? Would they just hire advertisers or marketing professionals? One can’t just cut out the medium between the people (stakeholders) and the company. PR…represent!

10. You know more about AP style than Microsoft Office. Because of this, you’re a regular in the IT department.

It is time for a confession. I am so very happy that AP style was so passionately engrained in our brains.

11. You proudly put “PR pro” in your Twitter bio, knowing it’s the one place you don’t have to explain your job.

I love this. Sometimes I feel like I’m being punished for choosing a career path that’s so specific. “What do you plan on doing with that when you graduate?” UGH. I plan on knowing exactly where to apply and marketing my specific skillset to anybody willing enough to pay me. What about you, business majors?

26. You check HootSuite in the morning before you get out of bed just to monitor what has been said about your clients overnight. (Source)

This is great advice! Always stay in the loop, especially when it pertains directly to your client. Nothing worse than saying, “wait, what happened?”

29. You're afraid to go more than 15 minutes (max) without checking Twitter/Facebook/news feeds to make sure you're not missing anything. (Source)

Being raised in the information age has been pretty beneficial. PR aside, I don’t know anyone my age who isn’t glued to their smartphones. We want to know what’s going on, with who and when it will happen. If only we could all take that awareness and apply it to current events which is my weakness.

45. Post-it notes are your lifeblood. (Source)

They are lifesavers; perfect for quick thoughts, ideas and anything else that deserves a scribble or two. Plus, you can stick them anywhere.

53. Something really bad happens and you're the first to announce, "We don't have problems; we have opportunities." (Source)

Problems and opportunities: the first category when analyzing any case. Instead of dwelling on the crisis, figure out how to deal with it and how to turn it into something beneficial.