One of the lessons learned from this past weekend’s event with Hurricane Irene is the fact that crisis communication professionals are not only expected to be proficient in their traditional communication practices with traditional media, but they have to be on top of what is going on in the digital realm of social media. Real-time leadership and measurement skills in social media are critical to have – it may mean the difference between saving lives and causing more harm than good by not having the right information / messages out to affected stakeholders.
Information is not only expected in textual form, but more integrate and containing multimedia as well. Social media outlets and handles are expected to be released during a crisis situation as well as designated hashtags for people to tag their comments (particularly on Twitter) to make sure that they share this with the proper professionals and agencies.
One of the things that can be confusing in a time of crisis is making sure that all agencies and those involved in disseminating the information via social media use the consistent hashtags appropriately, but also be aware of the traditional and organically created key terms and hashtags that can arise before, during, and after the crisis. Monitoring and conducting proactive communication surveillance is necessary.
In terms of multimedia, the integration of crowd sourcing and visual communication geolocation maps are also becoming expected by not only stakeholders, but others working in the crisis communication profession as well.
These crisis events are also a time to form new partnerships and collaborations with other networks and organizations to make sure that the information being disseminated is clear, concise, and consistent – following the three Cs of proactive crisis communications. Creating partnerships and informing traditional media is one way to go about and do this – but also reaching out to various digital and social media blogs and sites to reach their audiences about the crisis is another approach to take as well. Mashable and CNET both had guides on how to follow the Hurricane Irene with the use of certain mobile applications and discussion on which sites to follow on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The New York Times also a had a great guide showcasing the various social media channels and accounts to follow state-by-state, which was very useful for those on the East coast to follow.
In summary, we are living in an evolving and ever changing environment when it comes to crisis communications. Continuing to educate our team as well as our audience through the use of social media while also being aware that the expectations for real-time expertise and leadership in both crisis communications and social media is expected and necessary.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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