In Remembering 9/11…
The devastating attacks of 9/11 are a moment in time that every American will always remember. The Fallston Group joins America in remembering and honoring the innocent lives taken from us that day, the brave souls of rescuers and responders, and the courageous men and women who continue to protect our nation from outside threat. Although we can only plan for so much, it is important that business owners recognize the possibility of crisis at any moment. The Fallston Group offers the following steps in building and implementing your workplace violence policies.
Engage Your Social Media Channels During a Crisis
Crisis is an inevitable part of business. However, it’s how your company handles an issue that is the most telling. Social media can ultimately be the deal breaker when it comes to your organization’s ability to effectively communicate to your stakeholders during a time of adversity. Keeping an open, honest line of communication is critical whether you are keeping your stakeholders safe, informing them of an incident, or apologizing for a mistake.
National Preparedness Month
September marks National Preparedness Month. With hurricane season halfway through and winter just around the corner, there is no better time to prepare yourself, family and workplace for emergencies and disasters. Emergencies and disasters can be unexpected and devastating. That is why preparation is imperative. At the Fallston Group, we believe the more prepared you are, the better you respond and quicker you recover from such situations.
College Athletics…Social Media…Crisis Communications
We are all familiar with major news stories involving student athletics which brought their campuses to crisis. Recent stories include: Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino crashing his motorcycle while riding with his girlfriend; The murder of University of Virginia lacrosse player Courtney Love by her boyfriend and men’s lacrosse player George Hughley; The child abuse charges being filed against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. An event doesn’t have to be national news to initiate a crisis that could negatively impact the institution’s brand. Hazing, drug/alcohol abuse, campus crime, the improper use of school facilities…all are events that can escalate into a reputation-damaging crisis. Many colleges and universities are now utilizing social media as a part of their marketing strategy, which brings an additional element into the crisis communications equation. Recently, the College Sports Information Directors of America commissioned a survey of the athletic departments to determine their position on the use of social media, especially during a crisis situation. The survey included 152 four-year institutions, the majority of which (38%) were schools with an enrollment of 1,000-4,999 students. Twenty-five percent of the schools have enrollments of more than 20,000 and 30% have enrollments of 5,000-19,999 students. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CRISIS HITS – THE RESULTS More than half of the schools participating in the survey reported having had to initiate their crisis communications plans from one-to-three times within the previous 12 months. During the same period, 43% of the institutions had potential reputation-damaging stories discussed on social media sites and 6% reported having seven or more stories of this nature occur. Are colleges and universities prepared to respond effectively when faced with an actual crisis event? Apparently not as only slightly more than 50% of the institutions in the survey reported having an active crisis communications plan in place. Of those schools with a crisis communications plan, only half included social media as an active part of the crisis response scenario. In addition, nearly 60% of the schools have no plan to monitor social media outlets as a part of their crisis communications strategy. This is despite the fact that 98% of the schools have an official athletic department page on Facebook and 96% have active Twitter accounts. HOW TO PREPARE It is not a question of whether a crisis will impact a college campus; it is a question of when. In order to effectively respond to a crisis and minimize the negative impact on an institution’s brand, there are steps that can be taken in advance which will lay the groundwork for success. Establish a crisis communications plan: The plan should include the creation of a team within the institution to lead a crisis response; Include all aspects of electronic communications: Have a plan to use the school’s existing website, create a “dark” web site which can be activated to respond to a crisis, include all of the institution’s social media accounts in the response plan; Actively monitor social media during the crisis: Social media is a two-way form of communication. An element of the crisis plan must include being responsive to social media activity and taking advantage of the ability to communicate directly to stakeholders. Social media is, many times, the way students not only find out about, but follow a crisis. Clear, concise directives should be given during a critical time of need; Confirm the facts – In any crisis situation, effective communication must be accurate. Because social media is immediate, confirm all facts before any information is distributed via traditional or social media channels. There are many more critical elements to an effective crisis communications plan. For more information about crisis and strategic communications, call the Fallston Group at 410.420.2001. The Fallston Group is a crisis management and communications company. Send email inquiries to info@fallstongroup.com.
Mid-Air Crisis Turns to Rock-Solid Advantage
Adversity as serious as a hole in the roof of a jetliner at 30,000 feet can still turn to advantage with the right crisis planning and response. Southwest Airlines has come through that potentially deadly and damaging event with flying colors. The hole tore through the roof of a Southwest 737-300 as it cruised above Arizona on its way to Sacramento. Instantly, the well-trained flight crew acted to divert and land the plane with no incident. Next, company leaders wasted no time, grounded the fleet and halted business operations while taking full responsibility for pinpointing the problem. Almost immediately, media attention was pointed at the aircraft’s manufacturer and Southwest’s safety and inspection records were heralded by the National Transportation Safety Board. An event that could have sent air travelers in droves to the competition has potentially strengthened customer loyalty to an airline known for low-price and high-service. In the end, Southwest’s crisis plan involving fast action and free-flowing information is winning praise from airline industry analysts, public relations experts and most importantly, customers. Read more here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-southwest-airlines-20110407,0,4930336.story
Identity Theft – A Massive Issue
Did you know that someone in America has their identity stolen every 3 seconds? With more people than ever having access to digital information than ever before, it is imperative that you do everything you can to protect your identity. “Dumpster diving,” or rifling through trash cans and recycling bins for personal information is still one of the most common tactics used by identity thieves. So, when you throw something away with personal information on it, the document is not safe unless it is shredded to an unreadable state. According to Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General, it is important to: Safely shred sensitive documents to help prevent identity thieves from obtaining personal information; Documents that need to be destroyed include documents that contain your personal information – utility bills, benefits explanations from your health insurer, bank & credit card statements and anything that contains your name, address, Social Security number, bank account or credit card numbers, passwords or PIN’s; Destroy information that could be used to steal access your savings, checking or retirement funds. In additional to old hard drives, identity thieves can also find personal information on computer disks and CD’s they find in the trash. In fact, any digital device that stores data is an area of vulnerability if not destroyed properly. For more tips on preventing identity theft, log onto Maryland’s Attorney General’s website at www.oag.state.md.us/idtheft or e-mail their ID Theft Unit at idtheft@oag.state.md.us. Now, the Fallston Group’s advice is to use a shredding service like Incred-A-Shred; learn more at www.Incred-A-Shred.com.
