MANAGE & LEAD
something you’re either unwilling or allowed to share.
03 Inform your team // You didn’t put your crack squad
together for nothing! Contact your team quickly so they
can get to work. If you respond quickly, you may be able to
lessen the harm overall.
04 Post a long-form response on your website //
You’ll be sending plenty of small, individual social media
responses. You will also need one official place where
reporters and bloggers can find your side of the story.
Posting this response will also buy you time. When people
want answers and want them right now, you’ll have a place
to send them while you work on more important matters.
One last piece of advice: Do not lose your cool—ever.
AFTER A CRISIS
01 Measure brand impact // Use your monitoring tools
to review the data showing what a typical business week
looks like compared to the crisis week. You’ll quickly see
just how bad things got. From a social media perspective,
focus on factors such as lost followers, specific complaints,
and negative sentiment. You’ll also be able to see where
your response was most effective. You might find that
one Facebook post reached more people and was more
widely shared than several Twitter responses to specific
individuals. These insights will help you plan better for the
future. Key questions to ask:
• What will your KPIs for successful crisis
management be?
• How will you measure the negative conversation
generated? How will you measure the impact on
overall brand sentiment?
• How will you measure the overall brand impact of
the crisis over time?
02 Response reflection // Once it looks like you’re out of
hot water, it’s important to review your response. Regroup
after the event and discuss how it went. This reflection is
most commonly referred to as the After-Action-Report, or
AAR. Key questions to work through:
• What were the most substantial aspects of your
crisis plan?
• Where was the existing strategy unhelpful or less
impactful?
• Should any processes or templates be revised?
• Do you need to create any new systems or
guidelines?
Talk about the different experiences of management,
administration, and customer support staff. Did everyone
feel ready to respond? What other resources would have
been helpful?
03 Prepare for the long term // Unfortunately, negative
news and complaints linger far longer than a week or two.
Decide what your response will look like moving forward.
It isn’t a good idea to act like everything is back to being
sunshine and rainbows. Instead, proactively offer updates
and solutions to help those you serve to get through a
tough time. Two big questions to ask:
• How will you manage (or participate in) the long-term
conversation about the crisis?
• Do you need to provide continual updates long-term
to any of your audiences?
04 Update your crisis management plan // The last
step is to revisit everything above. Hopefully, you won’t get
another opportunity to put the plan to work anytime soon,
so this is the time to make changes.
Now, you are ready for anything. ∞
Chrissey Breault joined KAIA as the marketing manager in
2019, after over six years as the Director of Marketing &
Education Services of the American Association of Private
Lenders. Before entering the association world, Chrissey
worked in local government as a communications expert.
Her almost 20 years in communications and marketing
started in the hospitality industry with Hilton and Marriott
brands. She managed midmarket hotels along the East
Coast and Deep South. Chrissey holds an associates
degree in hospitality and travel, and certificates in Adobe
Web Design and Volunteer Management.
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