The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.
—Joseph Priestley
Learning Objective1: How to select the proper communication
plan?
According to wisegeek.com, different types of business communication plans are internal, external, and crisis, with the latter possibly a mix of the first two.
Internal business communication plans represent messages intended only for those stakeholders inside a business. These are often owners, managers, and employees. Different types of communication methods may be present with this plan, such as telephone, e-mail, conferences, or face-to-face meetings and reviews. The communication plan receives frequent use as the stakeholders pass messages back and forth through the system. Outside users are rarely active in this communication plan as message content may be highly secretive and contain sensitive business information.External business communication plans are simply the opposite of the above plan; external stakeholders needing information use it. Though it may sound that internal and external business communication plans carry the same information at times, this is not always so. For example, publicly held companies often have a specific individual or office that handles all external communication or messages. This allows for a united front as companies go through difficult business periods or need to send messages to external groups. Owners and executives are often highly involved with these plans to ensure no negative messages or tones are sent to outside stakeholders. A crisis communication plan is a special form that works only during a crisis experienced by the business. All business communication plans have some form of a crisis element. A business may go through many different crises during its lifetime, though not all situations are crises for all companies. One internal crisis, for example, may be a sudden lack of natural resources. The company then needs to communicate to internal stakeholders how the company and its elements will respond to this crisis and maintain normal business operations. In my opinion, there could be (1) Regular/On-going communication plan, which everyone works upon on a daily basis, long-term objectives. Example can be found in more details and explainations here: http://www.hfrp.org/evaluation/the-evaluation-exchange/issue-archive/strategic-communications/the-abcs-of-strategic-communications (2) One-time/Event-driven, which is rather good for short-term/campaign as its name.
1. What – This entails what sort of communication will be offered. For example, will it be a status report, a team meeting, or a kick off plan? 2. Who – This part of the plan determines who will need to be part of the identified communication tool. 3. Purpose – Here you identify why regular communication is needed for each item. 4. When – The frequency of each communication. 5. Method – How will communication take place for each tool? Will it be a meeting, a report, emails, or an interactive web-based plan? There is one thing in common: six basic elements of marketing communication plans: 1. Who - target audiences/receiver 2. What - key messages should be articulated 3. When - time frame, appropriate time of delivery for each message to audiences 4. Why - the desired outcome 5. How - the way of delivering message, which are communication channels 6. By whom - communicator (the person who deliver the message and information)' Mr. Dean, which I found out on Youtube series of training for Project Management. He simplifies communication plan by Item/Event and by Person with all the possible touchpoints.
Comms plan by Item or Event
Comms plan by person
1. Measurable goals and strategies – The communications plan should include clear and measurable goals and strategies. These goals should be as specific as possible. Avoid generic goals such as “raise awareness”, and make sure communications goals are realistic and can be accomplished with the human and financial resources available. 2. Target audiences You will want to have agreement about who are the key internal and external audiences, what they key messages are for each audience, and what you want each audience to do as a result of hearing those messages. Be as specific as possible about what you want to accomplish with each audience, and how communications can help. For example, communications with state policymakers will differ if you are trying to create policy change, or if you are trying to get a new line item in the state budget. Think about audiences in two groups: those who will support your effort, and those who will be against it. Be sure to have strategies that address those who will be barriers to success (e.g., to see if you can turn some of them into supporters, or “frame the debate” to prevent their negative messages from taking hold) Delineate the different sectors of audience (public, private, nonprofit, etc) as well as the different levels (local, regional, state) News media is both an audience and a vehicle, so you should be clear on the role of media for each. The “general public” is not a target audience. You need to be specific.
3. Identification of the message “frame” – The plan should describe how the initiative should be framed (e.g., “education will lead neighborhood residents to economic opportunity”). It should also identify what people’s current frame is (e.g., “schools in this neighborhood are horrible and students are getting a terrible education”), how you can communicate with them within their current frame, and how you will move them to the new frame. 4. Key messages and persuasive strategies – As mentioned above, while there might be one overarching message, different audiences will need different key messages. You will also want to identify the readiness of each audience to hear and act upon these messages, their core concerns so that you can ensure your messages are meaningful to them, and the messenger to share your message. Additionally, there are different types of persuasion, and the plan should address how each persuasive strategy will be used to gain support. For example, rational persuasion uses technical data and logical arguments, while emotional persuasion uses values and emotion, such as photographs of happy children, to convey messages. 5. Opportunities and barriers for reaching key audiences – The plan should identify different strategies for and opportunities to reach key audiences with your messages. It should also identify barriers and how those barriers can be overcome. 6. Communications activities – For each goal and strategy, there will be a series of communications activities, or tactics, identified. Each activity/tactic should have a clear timeline, communications vehicles, people assigned to them, and a budget. 7. Communications vehicles – Within each goal, strategy and tactic there will be different communications vehicles to use to carry your message to your audience. This includes face-to-face meetings, telephone calls, e-newsletters, blogs, grassroots mobilization, policy reports, op-eds, community meetings, etc. 8. Crisis communications – The communications plan should include how to manage and communicate about any crises that might arise. 9. Implementation plan – The communications plan should be accompanied by an implementation plan. This should be a very clear road map that lays out specific timelines, deadlines, activities, who is responsible, etc. 10. Monitoring and evaluation – You will want to track and measure success, so each communication goal and strategy should be measurable and evaluated. That way you can also make adjustments if certain strategies and tactics aren’t working. 11. Timing considerations – A realistic time horizon for a strategic communications plan is three years. However, the communications plan should include immediate-, short-, and long-term goals and strategies. The implementation plan should help in determining how to prioritize and roll out the different communication components, strategies and tactics. Since your initiative will have immediate communications needs, you should identify what needs to happen immediately and what are some “low-hanging fruit” tactics that could be implemented to meet those needs, even before a full communications plan is developed. Some ideas include: Initial materials Fact sheet – This would be a simple document outlining the aim of your initiative, the timeframe, and who is involved. PowerPoint deck that describes your initiative and conveys key messages. This can be used for both larger presentations, and also to “talk through” the initiative during one-on-one meetings. There might be slightly different versions of this for different audiences. Talking points to ensure internal stakeholder leaders are conveying the same, clear messages. E-newsletters or email updates to key stakeholders (brief) Conducting a series of individual meetings with key stakeholders who have not yet been engaged to inform them about and begin to involve them in your initiative. Identifying “ambassadors” who can help tell the story about your imitative. This can be helpful when many one-on-one meetings or group presentations are needed (so one person is not burdened with conducting them all). 12. Staffing – If a foundation has internal communications staff, it is very helpful for them to begin participating early in planning conversations. This enables them to understand the initiative so that they know how to communicate about it, and also ensures that planning happens with a communications lens. You might need to retain a communications consultant. It will be helpful to have one person/firm responsible for creating a communications plan, and that this could be in-house staff or a consultant. Whoever creates the plan should be someone with experience conducting strategic communications planning, preferably with complex, community-based initiatives. 13. Budget – There should be a detailed communications budget developed as part of the plan. This way, choices can be made regarding where to focus limited resources. Like anything, communications can get very expensive, and the plan needs to match the resources available.
Learning
Objective2: How to
implement a communication plan successfully?
In my opinion, if you follow this diagram well then communication plan will be implemented smoothly
Another thing I found is DRIP model, which is used to support marketing communication planning and is useful when setting broad communication goals. It can be applied when launching a new product or repositioning an existing business, for example. It is suitable for both B2B and B2C. DRIP stands for Differentiate, Reinforce, Inform and Persuade, which is mentioned in his book Marketing Communications.(2002) Third edition. Harlow. Pearson Education. To apply this model, there are aims within each elements: - Differentiate: Differentiate your product or service by defining where it is positioned in the market. - Reinforce: Reinforce the brand's message. Consolidating and strengthening your messages and experience by demonstrating why your product is different. - Inform: Inform people to be aware of your brand. Illustrate and educate your features and availability to audiences. - Persuade: Persuade your audience to behave in a certain way, encouraging further positive purchase-related behaviors such as visiting the website or requesting a trial.
- Differentiate: Lumia had a differentiator, which was zoomable camerea lens, with a 41 mega pixels auto focus and digital zoom. - Reinforce: partnered with Carl Zeiss for its camera lens. They explained about the camera's features and promised blur-free photos every time, reinforced by Pureview technology as well. - Inform: encouraged social conversations by giving away phones on two week trials to inform people about the brand. - Persuade: started a Twitter campaign, setting up a handle and hashtag to engage and demonstrate the number of those switching. Case studies: Learning Objective3: Measuring and monitoringAccording to Four Leaf Public Relations LLC (http://fourleafpr.com/), there are important following things should be measured of Communications plan:
Or more specifically in marketing cases, Hubspot pointed out 6 measures:
1. Unique visitors: The best indication of your site’s overall traffic, unique visitors refers to thenumber of individuals who visit your website during a given period of time, where each visitor is only counted once. This number will vary dramatically depending on the size of your company, your industry and, of course, the amount of content you’re producing. 2. Page views: The cumulative number of individual pages that your visitors click on during a given period of time. If your page views are higher than your unique visitors, that may be an indication that your audience is finding your content engaging because individuals are clicking around to multiple pages. 3. Search engine traffic: The amount of traffic being referred to your site through search engines, such as Google or Bing. This number will give you a clear indication of how effective of a job you are doing at optimizing your content for search. 4. Bounce rate: The percentage of visitors who come to your site and then immediately “bounce” or leave before clicking on any other pages. A bounce rate of less than 40 percent is considered good. If it is any higher, it may be an indication that visitors to your site don’t like what they find there. 5. Conversion rate: The percentage of visitors to your site who take a specific action that your content encourages them to, such as signing up for your newsletter. Conversion rates vary considerably based on industry, but tend to hover around 2 and 3 percent on average. That said, aim for a conversion rate of approximately 5 percent, or even higher if you are creating specific landing pages for specific audiences. 6. Inbound links: The number of external links to your site, an indication that other people have found your content important enough to link to it. Importantly, the more high-quality inbound links you have, the higher your content will rank on search engines. They also refer how to track these is to use Google analytics.
Sources:
Fill, C. (2002). Marketing Communications. Third edition. Harlow. Pearson Education http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-business-communication-plans.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUE2GqpZbpw https://bch.cbd.int/protocol/outreach/wallacefoundation.pdf http://putnam-consulting.com/philanthropy-411-blog/philanthropy/effective-comm-planning/ http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/72911-why-you-need-a-project-communication-plan/ http://www.mycustomer.com/news/infographic-meet-consumer-2015 http://www.hfrp.org/evaluation/the-evaluation-exchange/issue-archive/strategic-communications/the-abcs-of-strategic-communications |
Monday, October 26, 2015
Communication plan
Monday, October 5, 2015
Crisis Communication and Reputation Management
1. How to prepare for a crisis (PRE)
- Is it possible to prepare for a crisis
- why is it important to prepare for potential crisis
- Recognizing the signs (in which circumstances a crisis possibly occurs?
Crisis is defined as a event or issue that requires decisive and immediate action from the organization.(Joep, C. Corporate Communication: A guide to Theory and Practice)
According to Joep Corrnelissen in "Corporate Communication: A guide to Theory and Practice", the objective of crisis management and crisis communication is to exert control, in so far as possible, over events and organizational activities in ways that reassure stakeholders that their interests are cared for and ensure that the organization complies with social, safety and environmental standards. Such control requires that organizations develop contingency plan to prepare for possible crises as well as communication plans to effectively respond to crisis scenarios when they emerge. While some crises can be prepared in advance, organizations may be confronted by natural accidents and terrorist attack that cannot prevented. But being prepared is half the battle. The other half is about the skills in communicating effectively and responsibly and about taking actions to contain the crisis and limit any negative consequence for stakeholders and for company and its reputation.
To prepare for it, Prevention involves are designed to reduce known risks that could lead to a crisis. This is part of an organization’s risk management program. Preparation involves creating the crisis management plan, selecting and training the crisis management team, and conducting exercises to test the crisis management plan and crisis management team. Both Barton (2001) and Coombs (2006) document that organizations are better able to handle crises when they (1) have a crisis management plan that is updated at least annually, (2) have a designated crisis management team, (3) conduct exercises to test the plans and teams at least annually, and (4) pre-draft some crisis messages. Table 1 lists the Crisis Preparation Best Practices. The planning and preparation allow crisis teams to react faster and to make more effective decisions.
(Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 7e • Carroll & Buchholtz)
2. Crisis communication (During)
- Define the scale of the crisis
- How to manage the communication during crisis?
- what to consider? External/Internal
Crisis expert Timothy Coombs defines 4 types of crisis based on 2 dimensions: Internal-External and Intentional and Unintentional.
The internal-external refers to whether crisis resulted from something done by the organization itself (.i.e management's actions) or by some other people/group outside the organization.
The intentional-unintentional dimensions relate to controllability of the crisis. Intentional means that crisis event was committed deliberately by some actor
The 2 dimensions together gives 4 mutually exclusive crisis types, as illustrated below:
–Organization considers positive or neutral
–Stakeholders view are negative
•Accidents: things happen (product defects, employee injuries, natural disasters)
•Terrorism: external attack. Refers to intentional acts taken by external agents. These are designed to directly harm the organization (hurt customers through product tampering) or indirectly (reduce sales or disrupt production).
•Transgression: intentional acts taken by organization that knowingly place stakeholders or public at risk or harm. Knowingly selling defective or dangerous products, violating laws ...
Classifying those crises into 4 types as above is useful because provide a basis for identifying the most appropriate crisis communication strategy
The principle for choosing an appropriate communication strategy is the degree to which the organization is perceived by stakeholders and general public to be responsible or culpable for the crisis
Once a strategy has been identified crisis management is to maintain effective control of the release of information and to ensure that no unauthorized information or potentially damaging rumors are allowed to circulate. Failure to respond effectively to media enquiries about a crisis will invariably lead to journalists seeking information from whatever sources they can
It is therefore important to develop communication plans for probable crisis scenarios and establish key responsibilities for communication professionals before a crisis actually happens.
It includes:
- identification of the organization's key spokespersons
- media training of the CEO, executive directors and key spokesperson
- establishing a crisis communication team and in major crises a press office to field media enquiries and to handle the release of information
- establishing safe crisis locations where the media can meet and be briefed in the event of hazardous situations; and the
- identification of contacts at relevant external agencies (.i.e police, fire services) who may need to be contacted in case of crisis
Or in Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 7e, Carroll & Buchholtz pointed out the 10-step:
- Identify crisis communication team
- Identify key spokespersons
- Train your spokespersons
- Establish communications protocols
- Identify and know the audience
- Anticipate crises
- Assess the crisis situation
- Identify key messages to communicate
- Decide on communication methods
- Be prepared to ride out the storm
Crisis Communication Channel Preparation Best Practices
1. Be prepared to use part of your current web site to address crisis concerns.
2. Be prepared to use the Intranet or enterprise social networking as one of the channels for reaching employees and any other stakeholders than may have access to your system.
3. Be prepared to utilize a mass notification system for reaching employees and other key stakeholders during a crisis.
4. Be prepared to utilize your existing social media channels for responding to your crisis.1. Be prepared to use part of your current web site to address crisis concerns.
2. Be prepared to use the Intranet or enterprise social networking as one of the channels for reaching employees and any other stakeholders than may have access to your system.
3. Be prepared to utilize a mass notification system for reaching employees and other key stakeholders during a crisis.
Crisis Response
The crisis response is what management does and says after the crisis hits. Public relations plays a critical role in the crisis response by helping to develop the messages that are sent to various publics. A great deal of research has examined the crisis response. That research has been divided into two sections: (1) the initial crisis response and (2) reputation repair and behavioral intentions.
The crisis response is what management does and says after the crisis hits. Public relations plays a critical role in the crisis response by helping to develop the messages that are sent to various publics. A great deal of research has examined the crisis response. That research has been divided into two sections: (1) the initial crisis response and (2) reputation repair and behavioral intentions.
Initial ResponsePractitioner experience and academic research have combined to create a clear set of guidelines for how to respond once a crisis hits. The initial crisis response guidelines focus on three points: (1) be quick, (2) be accurate, and (3) be consistent.
Web sites, social media, Intranet sites, enterprise social network, and mass notification systems add to the news media coverage and help to provide a quick response. Crisis managers can supply greater amounts of their own information on a web site. Moreover, a growing percentage of stakeholders are relying on social media to get their news, including information about organizations that are relevant to them (Holcomb, Gottfried & Mitchell, 2013). We must assume there is a segment of customers that use the organization’s social media to get information about the organization. Not all targets will use the organization’s web site or social media but enough do to justify the inclusion of web-based communication in a crisis response. Taylor and Kent’s (2007) extensive analysis of crisis web sites over a multiyear period found a slow progression in organizations utilizing web sites and the interactive nature of the web during a crisis. The evidence for social media is not as clear but a similar pattern does seem to be emerging. Mass notification systems deliver short messages to specific individuals through a mix of phone, text messaging, voice messages, and e-mail. The systems also allow people to send responses. In organizations with effective Intranet systems/enterprise social networks, the internal system is a useful vehicle for reaching employees as well. If an organization integrates its Intranet/enterprise social network with suppliers and customers, these stakeholders can be reached as well.
Crisis experts have recommended a third component to an initial crisis response, crisis managers should express concern/sympathy for any victims of the crisis. Victims are the people that are hurt or inconvenienced in some way by the crisis. Victims might have lost money, become ill, had to evacuate, or suffered property damage. Kellerman (2006) details when it is appropriate to express regret. Expressions of concern help to lessen reputational damage and to reduce financial losses. Experimental studies by Coombs and Holladay (1996) and by Dean (2004) found that organizations did experience less reputational damage when an expression of concern is offered verses a response lacking an expression of concern. Cohen (1999) examined legal cases and found early expressions of concern help to reduce the number and amount of claims made against an organization for the crisis. Many other studies support the value of a victim, focus (e.g., Holladay & Coombs, 2013; Kriyantono, 2012; Schwarz, 2012).
However, Tyler (1997) reminds us that there are limits to expressions of concern. Lawyers may try to use expressions of concern as admissions of guilt. A number of states have laws that protect expressions of concern from being used against an organization. Another concern is that as more crisis managers express concern, the expressions of concern may lose their effect of people. Hearit (2007) cautions that expressions of concern will seem too routine. Still, a failure to provide a routine response could hurt an organization. Hence, expressions of concern may be expected and provide little benefit when used but can inflict damage when not used.
Argenti (2002) interviewed a number of managers that survived the 9/11 attacks. His strongest lesson was that crisis managers should never forget employees are important publics during a crisis. The Business Roundtable (2002) and Corporate Leadership Council (2003) remind us that employees need to know what happened, what they should do, and how the crisis will affect them. The earlier discussions of mass notification systems and the Intranet are examples of how to reach employees with information. West Pharmaceuticals had a production facility in Kinston, North Carolina leveled by an explosion in January 2003. Coombs (2004b) examined how West Pharmaceuticals used a mix of channels to keep employees apprised of how the plant explosion would affect them in terms of when they would work, where they would work, and their benefits. Moreover, Coombs (2015) identifies research that suggests well informed employees provide an additional channel of communication for reaching other stakeholders.
Initial Crisis Response Best Practices1. Be quick and try to have initial response within the first hour.
2. Be accurate by carefully checking all facts.
3. Be consistent by keeping spokespeople informed of crisis events and key message points.
4. Make public safety the number one priority.
5. Use all of the available communication channels including the social media, web sits, Intranet, and mass notification systems.
6. Provide some expression of concern/sympathy for victims
7. Remember to include employees in the initial response.
8. Be ready to provide stress and trauma counseling to victims of the crisis and their families, including employees.
Web sites, social media, Intranet sites, enterprise social network, and mass notification systems add to the news media coverage and help to provide a quick response. Crisis managers can supply greater amounts of their own information on a web site. Moreover, a growing percentage of stakeholders are relying on social media to get their news, including information about organizations that are relevant to them (Holcomb, Gottfried & Mitchell, 2013). We must assume there is a segment of customers that use the organization’s social media to get information about the organization. Not all targets will use the organization’s web site or social media but enough do to justify the inclusion of web-based communication in a crisis response. Taylor and Kent’s (2007) extensive analysis of crisis web sites over a multiyear period found a slow progression in organizations utilizing web sites and the interactive nature of the web during a crisis. The evidence for social media is not as clear but a similar pattern does seem to be emerging. Mass notification systems deliver short messages to specific individuals through a mix of phone, text messaging, voice messages, and e-mail. The systems also allow people to send responses. In organizations with effective Intranet systems/enterprise social networks, the internal system is a useful vehicle for reaching employees as well. If an organization integrates its Intranet/enterprise social network with suppliers and customers, these stakeholders can be reached as well.
Crisis experts have recommended a third component to an initial crisis response, crisis managers should express concern/sympathy for any victims of the crisis. Victims are the people that are hurt or inconvenienced in some way by the crisis. Victims might have lost money, become ill, had to evacuate, or suffered property damage. Kellerman (2006) details when it is appropriate to express regret. Expressions of concern help to lessen reputational damage and to reduce financial losses. Experimental studies by Coombs and Holladay (1996) and by Dean (2004) found that organizations did experience less reputational damage when an expression of concern is offered verses a response lacking an expression of concern. Cohen (1999) examined legal cases and found early expressions of concern help to reduce the number and amount of claims made against an organization for the crisis. Many other studies support the value of a victim, focus (e.g., Holladay & Coombs, 2013; Kriyantono, 2012; Schwarz, 2012).
However, Tyler (1997) reminds us that there are limits to expressions of concern. Lawyers may try to use expressions of concern as admissions of guilt. A number of states have laws that protect expressions of concern from being used against an organization. Another concern is that as more crisis managers express concern, the expressions of concern may lose their effect of people. Hearit (2007) cautions that expressions of concern will seem too routine. Still, a failure to provide a routine response could hurt an organization. Hence, expressions of concern may be expected and provide little benefit when used but can inflict damage when not used.
Argenti (2002) interviewed a number of managers that survived the 9/11 attacks. His strongest lesson was that crisis managers should never forget employees are important publics during a crisis. The Business Roundtable (2002) and Corporate Leadership Council (2003) remind us that employees need to know what happened, what they should do, and how the crisis will affect them. The earlier discussions of mass notification systems and the Intranet are examples of how to reach employees with information. West Pharmaceuticals had a production facility in Kinston, North Carolina leveled by an explosion in January 2003. Coombs (2004b) examined how West Pharmaceuticals used a mix of channels to keep employees apprised of how the plant explosion would affect them in terms of when they would work, where they would work, and their benefits. Moreover, Coombs (2015) identifies research that suggests well informed employees provide an additional channel of communication for reaching other stakeholders.
Initial Crisis Response Best Practices1. Be quick and try to have initial response within the first hour.
2. Be accurate by carefully checking all facts.
3. Be consistent by keeping spokespeople informed of crisis events and key message points.
4. Make public safety the number one priority.
5. Use all of the available communication channels including the social media, web sits, Intranet, and mass notification systems.
6. Provide some expression of concern/sympathy for victims
7. Remember to include employees in the initial response.
8. Be ready to provide stress and trauma counseling to victims of the crisis and their families, including employees.
3. Effects of crisis (POST)
- How to recover from a crisis
- How to hold up the reputation post-crisis? Consider internal and external elements
The digital environment is idea for providing updates. For instance, Twitter is heralded for its ability to pass along information as a story develops (Mitchell & Gustin, 2013). This is similar to the value many observed for Intranets. Dowling (2003), the Corporate Leadership Counsel (2003), and the Business Roundtable (2002) all observed that Intranets are an excellent way to keep employees updated, if the employees have ways to access the site. The same advice holds true if you call the Intranet enterprise social networking. Mass notification systems can be used as well to deliver update messages to employees and other publics via phones, text messages, voice messages, and e-mail. Personal e-mails and phone calls can be used to provide follow-up information as well.
Crisis managers agree that a crisis should be a learning experience. The crisis management effort needs to be evaluated to see what is working and what needs improvement. The same holds true for crisis exercises. Every crisis management exercise should be carefully dissected as a learning experience. The organization should seek ways to improve prevention, preparation, and/or the response. As most books on crisis management note, those lessons are then integrated into the pre-crisis and crisis response phases. That is how management learns and improves its crisis management process. However, experts have found organizations are very bad at learning from crises. This poor learning is due to an inability to be honest about the self-assessment of a crisis effort (Deverel, 2010; Elliott & Macpherson, 2010).
Social media have heightened the importance of remembering a crisis. Crisis remembering is about honoring the victims of the crisis. Two salient aspects of remembering for crisis management are anniversaries and memorials. Anniversaries, especially the first, can result in events to commemorate the crisis. Organizations must be careful to consider how to mark the anniversary and the proper level of involvement in the event for the organization, survivors, and the families of victims. The mishandling of the first anniversary of the Costa Concordia sinking created additional ill will between Carnival Cruise and survivors of the tragic event. Memorials can be physical or digital. West Pharmaceuticals has a physical memorial in their facility to commemorate those who died in the 2007 explosion. An online memorial was created for the 11 workers who died when the Deepwater Horizon sank. Organizations must decide if and how they will become involved in memorials. The best advice is to consult with victims and the families of victims to determine what level of organizational involvement they feel is appropriate (Coombs, 2015). Table 8 lists the Post-Crisis Phase Best Practices.
Post-Crisis Phase Best Practices
1. Deliver all information promised to stakeholders as soon as that information is known.
2. Keep stakeholders updated on the progression of recovery efforts including any corrective measures being taken and the progress of investigations.
3. Analyze the crisis management effort for lessons and integrate those lessons into the organization’s crisis management system.
4. Scan the Internet channels for online memorials.
5. Consult with victims and their families to determine the organization’s role in any anniversary events or memorials.
Case studies
Odwalla and Exxon Valdez - 2 examples of success and failure stories in crisis management.
BP-Ford-Nestle (Social media crisis management)
BP-Ford-Nestle (Social media crisis management)
Sources:
Joep, C. Corporate Communication: A guide to Theory and Practice, 3rd edition
Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 7e, Carroll & Buchholtz
http://www.instituteforpr.org/crisis-management-communications/
http://www.nku.edu/~turney/prclass/readings/crisis3.html
http://www.isae.org/crisis-planning-in-a-changing-communications-landscape/
http://www.slideshare.net/Brett509/crisis-management?qid=a864cbf3-2595-416a-b56d-d8924c3e113e&v=qf1&b=&from_search=8
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