Social Media Crisis Response: What To Do And Say When The Worst Goes Viral

We’re not being critical here, just sounding the siren for a crisis fire drill. No company large or small is immune from the unexpected, yet semi-inevitable crisis that can be ignited on a social network by a single customer complaint or mishap. With your brand and reputation at stake, the impulse is to fight fire with fire, or to bury your head and not respond at all. That’s why having a fire-proof social media crisis framework in place is absolutely critical. And of course, the time to develop your plan–and your strategy–is now, before your next oil spill.

In this special webinar, our three battle-tested crisis experts will dissect what can go wrong so quickly. Coming from their unique vantage points, they will help you and your team set up practices and processes that are often overlooked in basic social media crisis response plans … techniques that will help you stay calm when the worst goes viral.

What You Will Learn:

• Lay of the landscape: How corporate crisis communications and response tactics have been forever changed by social media
• Essential lessons from the best and worst social media crisis responses
• How to create a social media response flowchart – and why you need one
• How to assess the issues
• With the clock ticking, tactics on engaging quickly, smartly and calmly, or not responding at all
• Who says and does what: assigning roles and responsibilities, and including internal communications
• How to conduct an audit of issues that could go viral, and prepare response templates
• Understanding the basic rules of social media crisis management, and how each channel is different

Presented by:

Frank Eliason, Citibank’s senior vice president of social media, has been described as the “most famous customer service manager in the U.S., possibly the world.” Prior to joining Citibank, Frank was best known to many as the voice behind @ComcastCares, one of the earliest examples of how a business can use social networks to proactively listen and respond to customer concerns in real-time. This work has been recognized by many news organizations such as ABC News, CNN, The New York Times, Business Week, and many others. He is also one of the most sought-after thought leaders on social media and customer experience, and regularly participates in panels and speaking engagements. He is author of At Your Service: How to Attract New Customers, Increase Sales, and Grow Your Business Using Simple Customer Service Techniques. Cynthia Martinez is the Director of Global Corporate Communications for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., a global cruise vacation company that operates five major cruise brands, including Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. The company has a total of 40 ships in service throughout the world one under construction and one under agreement. While at Royal Caribbean, Ms. Martinez has provided communications guidance and counsel during crisis situations involving issues such as: environmental, litigations, health & medical, weather, marine and hotel operations, onboard accidents and alleged crimes. Most recently, Ms. Martinez led Royal Caribbean’s overall national and international communication strategy for the company’s return to Haiti after the earthquake

Pat Philbin has extensive executive level experience in leading, managing and participating in large scale, high-profile events, including, but not limited to, loss of the space shuttle Challenger in the mid-1980s, mass migrations of Haitians/Cubans in the early 1990s, the loss of TWA Flight 800 and Alaska Air, the loss of JFK, Jr.’s aircraft off of Martha’s Vineyard, and dozens of contentious and complex business and legislative issues associated with FEMA’s transformation following Hurricane Katrina. Pat is CEO of Crisis1 and serves as a member of Firestorm Solutions Expert Council, a company focused on business continuity, vulnerability analysis, risk mitigation and crisis management. He is also a member of Homeland Security Outlook’s Advisory Board.

Who Should Attend

• This webinar is specially geared for PR, marketing, sustainability, corp comms and internal comms, legal, customer service, marketing and issues management professionals.

Attendee testimonial:

• “This was a reminder that the gaps we previously identified needs to be worked. Some of the specific information re Facebook, Twitter and dealing with negative comments and social media policy was very helpful.”