When dealing with a crisis online, it’s all about metrics, not optics
A recent crisis management training session highlighted just how misguided even the most senior comms professionals are in responding to a crisis online, as Gerry McCusker explains.
We recently presented a crisis scenario to managers ahead of running some crisis management training online. And the buzzword concept of ‘media optics’ popped up.
We insisted that for online crisis communications, metrics matter way more than optics. “How would your crisis managers respond to a situation where an error-ridden radio report generated sizeable, unfavourable social media commentary…?” we challenged the client’s crisis management team.
“We’d phone the show’s producer and put them straight so the mistakes weren’t repeated in later segments,” a seasoned deputy comms chief retorted.
Nice work, Gerry. That was about the most thoughtful piece on crisis comms I’ve read in a while. Too often we’re so caught up in taking action that we loose sight of the goal.
Many thanks, Paul; glad you found it interesting.