In April of 2017, Twitter user @trev4president posted a photo of an unappetizing cheese sandwich to his Twitter timeline, along with the hashtag #fyrefestival. Within minutes, the photo had been shared to hundreds of other accounts. In other words, it went “viral.” While the photo itself depicted nothing more than a particularly sad dinner, it came to represent the crisis at the heart of the now iconic Fyre Festival scandal. Fyre Festival, a so-called luxury music festival that turned out to be a money-making scam, promised attendees exclusive experiences and world-class food on a private island – all they had to do was pay thousands of dollars for a ticket. When attendees showed up at the Bahamas to cash in on their investment, they were crowded onto dingy busses, hauled to a hazardous construction site littered with half-built tents, and greeted by frazzled festival employees who informed them that there would be no music, no luxury food, and no celebrity hangouts. Anger and confusion abounded, and many attendees took to social media to document their experiences. The resulting “Twitter storm” exposed the festival and its parent company, Fyre Media, as frauds, and ultimately resulted in the company’s founder, Billy McFarland, being sentenced to six years in prison.
In the age of social media, there is no such thing as a “private” corporate crisis. Seemingly every day, a corporation or organization becomes embroiled in a scandal after a video, picture, tweet, or story goes viral. Take, for example, the public relations crisis that occured after Dr. David Dao was forcibly dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago. Video of the altercation quickly spread online and outrage ensued.
“United’s first big mistake was not responding soon enough, which isn’t surprising,” said David Shaffer, a former reporter and corporate spokesman who teaches crisis communication for Purdue University’s online MS in Communication. “Big companies are hierarchical, which means the gate agent needs to notify his or her boss, who has to notify a PR person, who escalates it to the C suite, and everybody needs to weigh in on the response, and before you know it, 24 hours have passed. Social media moves at light speed, though, and is incredibly unforgiving. If it appears you don’t care enough to respond, you’re going to be crucified before you even know the problem exists.”
When United did finally respond to the incident, their statement put the blame on Dr. Dao and failed to acknowledge United’s role in mishandling the situation. This unsympathetic position only made matters worse. After customers responded with threats of boycotts, United changed its position and apologized, but, from a PR perspective, the damage had already been done.
These examples illustrate how important it is for modern corporations to understand the role that social media plays in public relations and crisis communication, and to proactively develop plans for responding to crises before they go viral.
Understanding the role of social media in crisis communication
A video, image, or story that becomes viral on social media can cause a PR crisis in a matter of seconds, leaving organizations with the messy job of doing damage control after the fact. Crisis communication experts teach businesses and other organizations how to respond to crises strategically while keeping in mind the needs of different audiences and stakeholders.
According to Adrian Dearnell, a PR professional and contributor to Forbes, organizations have an average of 15 minutes to respond to crises on Twitter, and an average of 30 minutes to respond on Facebook. That’s not a lot of time to craft a successful message, and so organizations need to have a social media response plan in place prior to experiencing a PR crisis. It’s important that employees at all levels of the company are aware of the plan, otherwise the success of the response may be compromised by inconsistent messaging.
When a viral PR crisis does emerge, it’s important to remember that modern consumers value swiftness and transparency. They want problems to be addressed head-on and as quickly as possible, and they tend to respond better to messaging that is honest, humble, and accountability-focused. When corporations fail to admit fault, they easily come off as callous, even reckless – such as in the case of the United Airlines and Fyre Festival.
The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development released a working paper on the use of social media in crisis communication, and the research outlines the most important considerations that crisis communication practitioners should keep in mind when creating crisis communication policy:
- Crisis communicators need to combat misinformation. Online, there is usually no vetting process that fact-checks viral information. Anyone with a social networking account can position themselves as an “expert” on a corporate scandal, so crisis communicators need to consider how they will correct false information and regain control of the narrative.
- Crisis communicators need to speak with a consistent voice across social media platforms so that messaging is clear and understandable to different audiences.
- Crisis communicators need to rebuild the reputation of organizations after a crisis. Anything that is perceived as a mishandling of the crisis may prompt backlash, and crisis communicators are charged with creating messaging that is accountable to the way that audiences feel while also maintaining the integrity of the organization.
- Crisis communicators need to manage audience expectations. In an online context, it’s impossible to please every audience. No matter what decision an organization makes, there will be some form of backlash. Crisis communicators need to keep the organization’s values and core audience in mind when building a message and consider whose response is most important.
Skilled communicators make crises manageable
The ubiquity of social media scandals has only increased the value of tech-savvy public relations expertise. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for public relations specialists is estimated at 7%, which is faster than the average for a host of other jobs. Successful PR professionals must develop expertise around complex and vital communication issues, such as how to successfully handle a social media crisis.
Purdue University’s 100% online MS in Communication teaches skills and practical knowledge needed to excel as a communications and public relations expert. Experienced industry professionals teach courses in strategic communication and social media, strategic public relations, crisis communication, and other valuable communication skills that can be applied to a wide array of industries and organizational contexts.
Most students graduate in 12-20 months and are able to complete the degree at their convenience while still working toward their career goals. Program graduates go on to work in fast-growing fields like medical and biotech, media and entertainment, and government. The degree coursework is highly customizable and students can structure their plan of study around their professional aspirations.
Learn more about the award-winning MS degree by visiting the program’s website.