The catalyst effect of Social Media in crisis communication management in the context of brand reputation threats
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Presentation given at the 3rd International Consumer Brand Relationships Conference, www.consumer-brand-relationships.org Copyright by Mariana Victorino, Catholic University Portugal, Portugal
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The catalyst effect of Social Media in crisis communication management in the context of brand reputation threats
- 1. The catalyst effect of social media in crisis communication management Mariana Victorino Catholic University, Portugal Managing Director of Porter Novelli Portugal (Omnicom Group) 3rd International Consumer Brand Relationship Colloquium 26-‐28 September, 2013, Winter Park (Orlando), Florida, USA
- 2. Table of Contents Introduction Research problem description Research question & hypothesis Theoretical framework Research methodology Case Study: Ensitel social media crisis Results and discussion Conclusion
- 3. Why crisis communication & social media? often results in the practice of public relations getting ahead of research. The practice of crisis communication is ahead of research in terms of social Coombs, W. Timothy and Holladay, S., 2008. Comparing apology to equivalent crisis response strategies: Clarifying apology's role and value in crisis communication. Public Relations Review. Volume 34, Issue 3, September 2008, Pages 252 257
- 4. Why crisis communication & social media? social media in public relations professional publications, research is still needed to provide evidence-‐based guidelines to make the business case for integrating social media into crisis management practices Jin, Y., Liu, B.F. & Austin, L.L., 2011. Examining the Role of Social Media in Effective Crisis Management: The Effects of Crisis Origin, Information Form, and Source on Crisis Responses. Communication Research. Available at: http://crx.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/0093650211423918 [Accessed November 19, 2012].
- 5. Research problem description Research question Complementary questions Hypothesis definition
- 6. Research question of social media acting as a catalyst to the strategy to manage situations that threaten
- 7. Are brands prepared to manage situations that may have a negative impact in their reputation, in the context of social media massive use? Are brands aware of the risks and consequences of not being prepared? What methods and procedures do they use in order to be prepared? Did social media contribute to change the way brands relate to their stakeholders in the context of a reputational threat? Complementary Questions
- 8. Did crisis communication management paradigm change in result of social media dissemination? Did social media bring about added difficulties or challenges for crisis communication management? How can brands manage crisis communication in Web 2.0 context? Do brands need new strategies to manage effectively their crisis communication strategies? Which strategies? Complementary Questions
- 9. Hipothesis 1 The massive use of social media entails a larger exposure to threats for the reputation, demanding the definition and implementation of new and adjusted crisis communication practises. Hipothesis 2 Brands did not have established practises for managing crisis communication and, due to the massive use of social media, they are experiencing increasing threats to their reputation, which is leading them to develop and implement these methodologies. Hypothesis Definition
- 10. Argenti, Barnett, Chun, Davies, Doorley, Dowling, Fombrun, Gaines-‐Ross, Greyser, Griffin, Jermier, Lafferty, Ollefs, Shanley, Van Corporate Reputation Barton, Coombs, Fowler, Gonzales-‐Herrero, Goodman, Holladay, Kling, Larson, Marcus, Mersham, Mittroff, Penrose, Pratt, Seeger, Sellnow Crisis Communication Argenti , Austin, Baron, Cardoso, Jin, Johnson, Jordan-‐Meier, Kang, Levinson, Lister, Liu, Manovich, Metzgar, Perry, Sweetser Social Media (applied to Crisis Communication) Theoretical framework
- 11. Corporate Reputation Reputation as an asset (intangible, but manageable by the brand); as an assessment (a value judgement by the stakeholders); uma awareness (global perception, collective representation Barnett & Lafferty (2006) Reputation as a combination of an economic asset (reputation-‐capital), a representation (image) and a judgement (reputation) Fombrun (2001) Table 1 -‐ Barnett & Lafferty (2006) Goal: to establish the relevance of defending corporate reputation from possible threats that may affect brands, through crisis communication strategies which are adjusted to the context of the new media.
- 12. Crisis Communication Crisis Communication Definitions Models Acceptance Approaches Situational Crisis Communication Theory Coombs (2007) Learning Barrier Model & Mindful Leaning Model Veil (2010) Interdisciplinary Normative Theories Ulmer (2012)
- 13. Crisis Communication (cont.) Situational Crisis Communication Theory Coombs (2004, 2007) Crisis Responsibility Crisis History Organizational Reputation Prior relationship reputation Behavioral intentions Crisis response strategies Learning Barrier Model & Mindful Leaning Model Veil (2010) Incorporate learning Importance of the warning signals Influence
- 14. Deepen the knowledge of the new media Postman (2011): creation of online contents; easy ways ro comment, complete and share; develop relatioships with others which are doing the same. Understand the role of social media for brands Bradley (2011): enbrace its use, like a decade ago the use of internet was embraced. Without internet the brand exist. Anticipate the impact of social media on brands crisis communication strategies Jin et al. (2011): public increasingly use social media during crises and consequently crisis communication professionals need to understand how to act strategically to optimize these tools. Social Media
- 15. Social Media (cont.) Social-‐Mediated Crisis Communication Model -‐ Jin, Liu & Austin (2011)
- 16. Methodology Interviews with experts in this field (communication professionals and academics, communication and marketing directors and journalists) direct qualitative data; Interviews with representatives from brands affected by crisis situations triggered by social media between 2010 and 2013 direct qualitative data; Identification and qualitative analysis of situations triggered by -‐ based situations to determine which theories, mechanisms and tools provide the most effective approaches. Secondary quantitative data (European Crisis Communication Barometer Quadriga University -‐ Germany; Companies and crisis in social media Spirituc/ Guess What PR Ensitel Case Study
- 17. Ensitel Social Media Crisis The Turning point of a communication strategy February 2009 Customer intent to exchange a damaged mobile phone is denied by Ensitel. Starts to post in her blog repporting her bad experience. May 2010 Customer sues Ensitel but looses the case. Posts in her blog become more negative and frequent, putting the blog in first place in search engines. December 2010 Ensitel sues the client with the aim to intimate her to delete the negative posts from the blog. During December 2010 A wave of solidarity towards the blogger is generated and hundreds of supportive comments and messages are sent to her. Groups to boycott Ensitel are created on Facebook. The online crisis transpires to the tradicional media with the accusation of Ensitel trying to limitate the blogger's freedom of expression. Ensitel deletes negative comments from its Facebook page. Hundreds of negative comments appear in Ensitel's Facebook page. The brand decides to withdraw the lawsuit and apologizes to the client. Ensitel realizes it had totally lost control over communication and hires a PR agency. January 2011 After online and offline negative news had exploded, as well as the reactions in social media, a new approach to the brand's communication strategy is agreed among the company's board. August 2011 The online and offline media coverage reverted from 55 negative articles in January to 18 positive ones en August. A totally new communication approach was consolidated.
- 18. Results and discussion Social Media 24 posts in the blog 575 negative comments on facebook page 3 boycott groups created on facebook Search interest on Google rose from 60% for Ensitel and 100% for the blog Creation of a Wikipedia entry with links to the blog, traditional media articles and relating to the Streisand-‐effect. Traditional Media 113 negative articles about the issue were published afterwards 46% on print media; 48% online media; 5% on TV 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 3 3 8 8 14 14 11 18 1 4 7 7 55 12 8 6 7 4 2 0 4 7 7 4 Ensitel -‐ Media Coverage 2011 Positive Negative
- 19. Results and discussion (cont.) Interview with Managing Director: Prior to the event he have hired a PR agency Ensitel had a slow and inadequate reaction due to total inexperience to deal with social media, but also to manage communication regognition of its mistakes contributed to regain the clients and preference The help of crisis communication experts was crucial The brand learnt and changed for the better
- 20. Preliminary conclusions Brands are often unprepared to deal with crisis situations that involve social media Role of specialists in the education of brands to deal with social media Social media are leading to changes in the way brands relate to their stakeholders Social media brought added difficulties to crisis communication management Social media entail a larger exposure of threats and demands for the definition and implementation of new and adjusted crisis communication practices
- 21. To sum up Embracing a proactive attitude towards the integration of the digital media in brands'communication strategies Developing an articulated crisis communication strategies in online and offline media Mapping the stakeholders involved and definition about ways of engagement in a transparency and openness assumption attitude Learning from negative experiences and extracting the consequent key learnings and corrective measures Consider reputational and communicational impacts and not only technical or legal ones Changing leadership mentalities concerning the use of social media and the importance of crisis communication Some principles which support the importance of defining crisis communication strategies in the context of the rise and dissemination of social media: