Crisis on the Seas: Cruise Disaster Spreads on the Internet

Since Tuesday morning, Italian rescuers and divers continued their
perilous work locating a second "black box" and the remains of five
people in the wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship. While we
have watched the tragic events of the cruise ship unfold, what’s even
more disturbing is how quickly more internal information is coming to
light that shows a lack of personnel responsibility.

Transcripts from CNN show an Italian coast guard official demanding
Captian Francesco Schettino return to his ship, the transcripts show.
"You get on board! This is an order!" the coast guard official
instructed Schettino.

"You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I'm in charge. You get on
board -- is that clear?" the port official said.
Port Authority to cruise ship captain: 'Get on board, damn it!'

If this same incident happened over ten years ago or even six years
ago, this same transcript wouldn’t have been made public until weeks
after the incident. When a crisis happens to any company, internal
and external personnel information can be made public just as soon
as the crisis occurs. Since this past weekend, Carnival stocks have
already plummeted. What’s more disturbing as this tragic experience
unfolds is the personal accounts and experiences we’ll hear from
survivors through social media channels and the internet. Although
the company can release official statements, they can’t deny the
stories from survivors that will proliferate throughout the internet in
days to come.

Is it the employers’ responsibility to train their employees on good social media ethics?

The answer is yes…and here’s why.
More employees are spending countless hours on social networks during office hours. But, what could be more troubling to companies is how their employees are conducting themselves online.

A study published this week by the nonprofit Ethics Resource Center (ERC) found workers spent more than 30 percent of the workday participating on social networking sites. In addition, 42 percent of active social networkers said they felt it was acceptable to blog or tweet negatively about their company or their coworkers, while just six percent of non-active social networkers saw such behavior as OK. Although, a majority of active social networkers (56 percent) said they would also be likely to post about good things their coworkers did.

A corporate crisis isn’t just an external communication breakdown but also an internal issue that can cause considerable risk to the company’s reputation and employee morale. With social networking showing no signs of going away, big companies will have to find a way to deal with the ethical changes that come along with it.

The Risks

One risk businesses face when it comes to social media is the sharing of information. Either employees can share opinions in ways that reflect badly on the company or they can release confidential information such as intellectual property. Confidential information being leaked, data breaches, privacy violations, offensive tweets – all of these possibilities make organizations hesitant to adopt social media.

However, not engaging in social media can become a risk in itself. Most every company and brand is being discussed through online social channels. It is important that the company provides its voice in these discussions and conversations.

Best Practices

Since social media is becoming a standard practice for many businesses or at the very least a good way to interact with customers and partners, it is important for employees to understand the best practices for engagement with particular emphasis on ethics and legal responsibilities. Having a good company policy on social media with an active governance plan is no longer optional. It is essential to mitigating corporate crisis communication risks.

You also need to work with your company’s legal and human resources team to understand current social networking workplace laws and procedures. According to a recent ruling of National Labor Relations Board, employees can write anything they want about your company on their own Facebook profiles in off hours, so anything limiting that usage in your acceptable use policy should be changed. Your IT and legal departments should revisit acceptable use policies once every few months or after major decisions to ensure that they are still current, and employees should be made to sign the updated copies.

A decent workplace social media/Internet acceptable use policy should do a few things well. It should bind the employee to using the Internet specifically for work purposes during work hours in the office, and ensure that any electronic forms of communication aren't used to disseminate confidential information about the company. Overall, to avoid risks related to online employee crisis communications, companies must train, educate and create protocol to address our society’s ever-evolving communication channels.

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Why Using Social Media For Market Research is Smart: 4 Winning Strategies For Your Company

Using social media for market research

View more presentations from Andrea Walker

It remains to be seen if 2012 will indeed be the year if the social media bubble finally bursts. Analysts predicted this notion of “digital/social exhaustion” more than two years ago and yet the numbers are climbing in regards to social media usage. According to a recent Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project study, 66% of online U.S. adults use social media. More than two-thirds of adults are conversing online, posting reviews, and recommending products or services to their networks.

Traditional market research typically consists of mailing out customer surveys, conducting phone interviews and holding focus groups. While I’m not suggesting you alienate these methods, there is a huge opportunity to learn more about your customers or competitors through their online conversations. Social media monitoring can provide you rich, social analytics that you can track over time to determine your customer or potential customer’s habits, interests and even what is being said about your brand altogether.

Four Ways to Use Social Media as a Tool For Market Research

Search

This can comprise of brand reputation monitoring, keyword search and online mentions about your company or industry in all mediums.

E-focus

This is one of the easiest ways to crowdsource your customers for product feedback. What better way to utilize your brand’s online community than to let them be apart of your market research. Be careful to not come across too commercial or promotional when talking to the public.

Trends

Social media gives you insight into consumer behavior that you can use to detect growing trends or movements within your target customers. Use the data you collect to identify new opportunities to position your company in a new market or a different customer base.

Competitive Research

Not matter what your business is you have to know WHO your competitors are. With the current economy, many start-ups are popping up in various industries and it’s up to you to know who could be potentially taking away market share. Social media tools can help you understand your competitor’s business, their partners, employees and maybe even their business model! Many of these companies are surprisingly very open about sharing “insider” info online via tools like LinkedIn.

New Study Shows Most Companies Not Prepared for Social Media Crisis. Are You?

Ragan’s PRdaily.com reported that while many companies are eager to employ new social media technology to promote their businesses, most are not equipped to handle threats associated with that technology.

The report was based on a recent study conducted by the Altimeter Group. So, how does a company know if it is facing or is susceptible to facing a social media crisis? According to the study, “to qualify as a social media crisis, an event must have one of these four effects: It causes major media coverage, necessitates changes in company processes, directly causes a decrease in revenue, or results in fines from the government.”

While some companies have put social media policies into place to monitor their online presence in an effort to control branding, reputation and even the safety of trade secrets, many have not communicated these policies efficiently to their employees and have not regulated them or even updated them as new social media outlets surface. To rectify this, the report suggests that “processes for what to do should be shared companywide. Companies should have formalized social media crisis response plans ready to go. More than half the companies surveyed didn't have one.”

Think about your company’s online social media activity. Do you know what’s posted daily about your company and where and why it’s being posted? Do your read the comments section on your blog or corporate Facebook page? Furthermore, do you really know who you’re following on Twitter and who is following you?

Ongoing social media training programs for employees and high-level administrators is an integral part of crisis management and is vital in ensuring that a social media crisis doesn’t damage your business. Companies should develop a solid crisis communications response plan, not entirely unlike a natural disaster response plan or fire safety plan, that incorporates a strategy for what employers and employees will do and say should an emergency arise.

If a social media crisis hit your company today, would your employees know what to say to the media when they call?

Being Successful in an Economy that’s Not: How PR Can Help

Prweek.com reported this week, “As political leaders deal with growing investor fears that the country may relapse into another recession, PR agencies have seen a short-term uptick in corporate client activity related to navigating economic volatility.”

In this time of economic uncertainty, a business must relay a message of certainty to temper fears. Regular communication to stakeholders, customers, and potential customers is

vital, and reaching out through direct mailing, online, and through media mechanisms shows key constituents that you are still alive and that there is still positive movement in your company.

News articles that announce corporate achievements and human resource growth, a once a month e-newsletter, a corporate representative as guests on television shows or radio broadcasts, and meaningful social media efforts contribute to what we call “TOMA” or Top of Mind Awareness and convey fiscal health.

Another way to utilize public relations in a sour economy is in creating a crisis communication

plan to manage image and messages in the event that your stocks do slide. While most

shareholders will automatically hit a panic button, a crisis communication plan will help them

slow down and will encourage them to contemplate a future recovery instead of dwelling on the

now.

The heart of public relations is building and maintaining meaningful relationships with

stockholders and customers that will weather the ups and downs of economics. To maintain

these relationships, investors must know that you are as invested in your own company as they

are, which means reaching out to beef up resources in order to remain viable and visible. Hiring a solid PR firm will actually upgrade your business during an economic downgrade.

How is your company strengthening its resources in this challenging economic time?

Celebrity Spokesperson: Helpful or Hurtful?

by Spencer Watson

When trying to promote a product or company lots of planning goes into it. Many companies are taking the celebrity approach. If you choose to have a celebrity spokesperson then you need to make sure you choose the right one.

Business owners should look for candidates who mesh well with their target audience and key demographics. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have a teenager (no matter how famous) promoting products or services geared toward wrinkle creams. Make sure you hire a stable-minded celebrity as well. Some companies have faced the plight of hiring

someone to be the face of their company only to have that spokesperson do something on the personal time that would not reflect the company in a positive matter.

According to Cherylwaller.com, A-list celebrities don’t come cheap. Unless you’re a multimillion-dollar behemoth of a company, odds are you won’t be able to afford top-tier movie stars and pro athletes. Celebrities in this stratosphere are probably starting in the mid six figures, depending on the project. If you don’t have that kind of budget, start lower on the “celebrity chain.” Businesses with more of a community focus can utilize local celebrities, such as TV news anchors, retired sports figures and other neighborhood standouts.

We want to hear from you: Do you think having a celebrity spokesperson for your company is a risk worth taking?

If you would like to contact Spencer Watson personally, he can be contacted at prviewintern@gmail.com.

10 Tips for Using Social Media for Your Business

Social media is an easy way to give your business an edge over your competition. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. The 2 most popular are Facebook and Twitter. According to Inc.com, here are some of the top ways to use social media.....


Offer something special. Offering first looks at a new product or idea can cause buzz and improve sales. Post special deals in a tweet or a facebook post about a sale your company is having. Example: 50% coupon.

Frequently update. Updating your social media sites frequently will keep your readers interested. Update at least once week or your readers will become bored and places to locate the information elsewhere.

Feedback. Social media is an easy way to get instant feedback. You can ask questions or use surveys on social media sites to receive answers to questions you might have for your customer base.

Interaction. You must remember that social media works both ways. If you expect to ask questions, you must be ready to answer questions.

Know your customers location. A growing number of social networks are designed specifically for users on the go, and some, such as the mobile application Foursquare, offer tools specifically for businesses.

Allowing your customers to interact. Include forums or communities on your company’s websites and social media sites. This function allows your customers to interact about issues or show excitement over a new product.

Help others promote you. Social media can help you find passionate customers who are more than willing to spread the word about your company.

Do not promote too much. Your followers are interested in your company or they would not be following. However, I have yet to meet anyone who enjoys a spam of advertisements.

See what people are saying. Using social media opens conversation about anything and everything. This can help you determine your reputation in the eyes of others.

Social Media is free. The majority of social media sites are free. This means quick turnaround because you will be able to receive publicity and advertisement without having to pay a dime.

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