When people think about public relations (PR), services such as content writing, media relations, event management or marketing may come to mind. While crisis communications might not be the most common PR activities, it can be one of the most crucial in PR.
What is a crisis?
A crisis is when an unwanted event causes disturbance or unrest amongst the public or a significant group. Crises develop quickly and organizations must react promptly to avoid major harm to their image and reputation.
Where do crisis communications come in?
Crisis communications help protect the reputation of an organization through maintaining its public image while it deals with the crisis situation. It is critical to continuously update and engage with the affected public, such as by releasing holding statements, updating social media channels and hosting press conferences.
Without crisis communications, organizations can ultimately have a tarnished reputation affecting its ability to run successfully. It can take years to rebuild the public’s trust after a major crisis event has occurred. With the help of a PR firm, your business can protect itself from these unfortunate scenarios.
Algorithms
Algorithms control what users first see when they log onto social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. They sort content based on the information they collect about a user’s interaction within the social platform, as well as on other websites. Algorithms in social media platforms collect all sorts of information about users, such as their age, gender, interests, what websites they visit often and which social media profiles they interact with. If you pay for a sponsored post, the social media platform will ensure it ends up in the social feed of someone who fits your targeted demographic.
Hashtags
Hashtags are words or phrases preceded by the hash symbol (#). Hashtags in social media allow users to find and interact with your posted content. When a user searches a specific word or phrase in the search bar and your post contains the word as a hashtag, it should show up in the results. It is important to keep hashtags short and relevant to what someone may be searching on the platform.
What do PR firms do in Crisis Communications?
A PR firm can help protect your brand from threats before they have even happened. PR firms will be highly informed across all areas of your organization and create a crisis management plan with all potential risks considered. They will establish key messages for each risk and plan communication to efficiently keep the key stakeholders informed. The PR firm can establish a spokesperson from your organization and provide media and interview training so they can face the media comfortably without risk of fuelling the crisis. The safest way to ensure your business is prepared for a crisis is to have a crisis communication plan in place.
