“There are few guarantees in business today. Unfortunately, one of them is the inevitability of a crisis having a potentially major effect on your business and your reputation. When your company finds itself in the midst of a crisis, the ripple effects can disrupt lives and business for the foreseeable future if public opinion is not properly shaped and managed. Skillfully managing the perception of the crisis determines the difference between a company’s life or death. Because in the pitched battle between perception and reality, perception always wins.”
These are the words from the book jacket of a new book by Steven Fink, Crisis Communications: The Definitive guide to Managing the Message. It is a very good book on a very important topic.
The author is in a good position to know about all things crisis. He is the president and founder of Lexicon Communications Corp. (CrisisManagement.com), the nation’s oldest and most experienced crisis management and crisis communications firm. In addition, he authored the bestselling Crisis Management, the first book ever written on the subject.
“Crisis Communications provides proactive and preventive methods for preempting potential crises,” adds the book jacket. “The book reveals proven strategies for recognizing and averting damaging crisis communications issues before it’s too late. The book also offers ways to deal with mainstream and social media, use them to your advantage, and neutralize and turn around a hostile media environment.”
Sample Excerpts:
“The Internet makes it easy for rumors and cybercrises to arise. And whether they occur on purpose or by happenstance, they must be dealt with immediately, before they spread unchecked. What you want to do is drive a stake through the rumor’s heart quickly, but even that doesn’t always work. Once something is on the Internet, it has a way of rematerializing when you least expect it. Still, you need to be aggressive and try. “This will blow over” as a mantra or security blanket always fails.”
“Of paramount importance is this: if you are wrong in a crisis (for example, one of your products has a defect), say so via social media (and other media outlets) and explain what you are going to do about it, especially what you are doing to protect the public. Keep uppermost in your mind that you are now speaking directly to the people who may have been affected by this issue, and if they think you are stonewalling them, they will be your most ardent critics. Give your followers accurate, swift, and reliable information direct from “the horse’s mouth.” This will help reduce the length of time that the story stays alive, whereas lies and cover-ups will only prolong it when the truth eventually comes out, as it always does.”
He had an interesting section about social media, saying the following about how we should see each of these social communication sites:
Twitter: I’m eating a donut.
Facebook: I like donuts.
Foursquare: This is where I eat donuts.
Instagram: Here’s vintage picture of my donut.
YouTube: Here I am eating a donut.
LinkedIn: My skills include donut eating.
Pinterest: Here’s a donut recipe.
Last FM: Now listening to “Donuts.”
G+: I’m Google employee who eats donuts.
Hopefully if you are promoting a book you are not involved in a crisis, but you never know!
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This blog is copyrighted material by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2013 ©
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