Given the wholesome nature of the Alaska State Fair, we never imagined
being at risk for a nationwide social media crisis. But when you throw in a rabble rouser with something to say, someone with a video camera and a YouTube account, suddenly you realize you might have a problem.
We wanted to share with you what to do should you have a crisis of your own.
Before the Crisis
1) Develop Brand Personality. The personality we developed for Alaska State Fair was Fun, Personable and a bit Cheeky.
2) Post Community Guidelines. If someone posts something that violates the guidelines, delete it. If they do not violate any guidelines content should not be deleted—even if it is just a comment you don’t like. Document everything you deleted and why you deleted it. If there was an issue you hadn’t anticipated that should be deleted, consider editing the guidelines in the off-season.
3) Create a Great Community. The greatest asset you have in a crisis communications situation is your loyal base of fans. If you build a great community before a crisis happens, you will be surprised at how much and how well they come to your defense. If you’ve created an emotional engagement with your fans, you won’t have to police the community as much. They will do it for you. You just need to monitor it and correct any facts or misrepresentation.
Immediately During the Crisis
1) Change the Brand Tone to something more factual and serious.
2) Always Ensure People Feel Heard and Respected. Do not ignore what is happening. Acknowledge that something happened and tell your fans you are investigating it.
3) Monitor the Sites. Normally, we check the social media sites 2-4 times per day, but since this was a crisis, we started monitoring them every 30 min. 24 hours a day. Since our team is located across multiple time zones ranging from Nottingham to Alaska, it is easier for us to accomplish this since it is never someone’s night time.
During the Crisis
1) Don’t Panic and Instinctively React. Instead, acknowledge the conversation taking place and tell them you are preparing a response, but don’t until you are sure you have all the facts straight. This cannot be emphasized enough!
2) Don’t Panic by Going Dark or ignoring your fan base. This does two things—it says to your fans, “We’re so much at fault, we’re not going to talk to you” and “we don’t respect you.” Most importantly, it will erode the loyalty you have tried so hard to create.
3) Be Cognizant of the “Meta” Message. In this case, it was Free Speech; so many of the actions taken by the State Fair would be couched in those terms. For example, the initial video was never deleted from the Facebook wall. Since it didn’t violate the community guidelines, deleting the video could have been construed as a violation of free speech.
4.) Venting vs. Replying. Know the difference between someone venting, and someone making a comment that demands a reply. In most cases, people just vented, and that’s all they wanted to do. No replies or answers were needed. In other cases, a comment demanded and deserved a reply.
After the Crisis Dies Down
1) Don’t Restart it. Once the fury has died down, don’t feel obligated to post new found facts because it may restart the discussion.
2) Internally Review Lessons Learned. Even if this has happened to you before, there is always something new to learn, each community is different.
3) Keep a Watchful Eye. We continued to keep a watchful eye and be prepared if the discussion flared up again. When we saw a post on the national blog, Salon.com, we were afraid this would start all over, but we watched the blog’s comments and the audience chastised the journalist for sensationalism.
What were our results?
We saw the largest increase ever in the social media community. We received unsolicited complements and kudos from the social media audience, the Alaskan community and the Media. The furor died down in a little bit more than a week.
We were proud our success and hope that you have the same positive experience that we had when dealing with a crisis.
Click here for the Alaska State Fair’s Facebook Page and it’s Twitter Page.
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