As we progress through the 21st century and social media takes a larger and larger role in our daily lives, we’ll become more and more open to attack. This is especially true for public relations in business, as social media gives an entirely new platform for building (and losing) reputations online. Just as businesses drill for fires, earthquakes, robberies, and other emergencies that could potentially cause them or their employee’s harm, so should they work on plans for online reputation emergencies.
A well-crafted crisis management plan should be core to any public relations plan as a rule. What do you do if your carefully planned PR campaign backfires? According to New Reputation, accessing vulnerabilities, drafting a response plan, and hiring a crisis manager should all be implemented before any major media campaign.
For example, the trouble can begin when the business begins a PR campaign based on a charitable partnership with a group that many people are opposed to. So the attackers began a counter-campaign that was better organized full of sensationalism.
Building a Contingency Plan
To counter attacks such as this, a contingency plan for reputation management should include the following:
A Pullback or Community Response Strategy
This includes some kind of strategy that either pulls you out of the PR campaign that’s backfired or responds to attacks with a strong community base of supporters to counter the attempt to sink your campaign. Neither is as easy as it sounds, but both are a must and will be possible if you follow the next piece of advice.
Use a professional for your PR
Someone well-versed in online reputation management. Using interns or a random “social media guru” will likely sink your ship. A seasoned veteran with a strong knowledge base will be able to pull you out of most scrapes quickly and may even turn some of them to your advantage.
Anticipate Counter Attacks
If you’re using a pro, this will likely be part of the marketing plans anyway. Everyone in your business, however, from the head office on down should be part of both the campaigns and the mitigation strategies you’re drilling for.
Using those three techniques, nearly any attack on your reputation can be downplayed, halted, or even turned around. It all hinges on being a professional about your online reputation and PR as you are about your more traditional marketing.