Coombs, W.T. (2014, September 23). Crisis Management and Communications (Updated September 2014). Institute for Public Relations.
Crisis management is a process designed to prevent or lessen the damage a crisis can inflict on an organization and its stakeholders. There are three phases of crisis management: pre-crisis, crisis response, and post-crisis. During pre-crisis, steps are taken to prevent and prepare for crises, such as creating a crisis management plant, training a crisis management team, pre-drafting crisis messages, and conducting crisis exercises. During the crisis response phase, response messaging is developed, the crisis management team quickly delivers an accurate, consistent initial response and begins reputation repair efforts. In the post-crisis phase, when the organization returns to business-as-usual, reputation repair may begin or be continued, follow-up steps are taken, updates are shared as necessary, and the crisis management process is evaluated to identify areas for improvement. The article goes into detail about effective tactics that can be used during each crisis management phase. Social media is a critical to crisis management. During crises, established social media channels should be used to deliver messages, as organizational messaging appears inconsistent if only discussed on select internet channels. Social media should also be used to monitor for insights related to crises. As a social media director, it’s important that I have a firm grasp of crisis management strategies and the role social media plays in crisis management so that I can help execute effective responses. Learning Outcome 2: Demonstrate the ability to assess complex organizational environments and achieve communication goals.
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