Information war with bloggers
Who are bloggers and why do they say such horrible things
In the past, crisis managers first of all turned their attention to negative information about their company in the local press and negative feedback from various stakeholders received by telephone. Control was limited to the local or regional level, and the bad news about the company rarely went beyond the region or industry. But now the situation has changed. In one week, the author of the article, an anti-crisis management consultant, received 4 calls from organizations or individuals whose reputation was slandered through the Internet. The attacks immediately became available to anyone around the world who was interested in news related to callers. Over the past year, 25% of the crises faced by the author were directly provoked by the fact that negative and publicly available information about his clients appeared on the Internet. Indirectly, 90% of crises in the practice of Bernstein over the past 5 years were associated with the Internet. Often the fault of the client organizations in what was happening was not, and the nuggets of truthful information sank in a wave of rumors, which was created by just a few critics.
The article gives a number of tips on how to deal with such representatives of the Internet community.
Identifying your enemy . The first group of critics is traditional opponents: activists, dissatisfied customers and employees, former employees, political opponents. The international network gives them convenient organizational tools, the ability to quickly communicate and cause greater resonance. Their charges can be stored forever in the archives of the Internet. The second group attacks even honest organizations. The purpose of such critics is to leave their mark on the company's reputation, as grafitchiki on the wall do. This happens regardless of what the company itself is. By belittling others, they rise themselves. Confidence among your stakeholders (individuals associated with the company - ed. Translator) to such critics highly, and even if they make unjustified, but convincing statements, many will believe them. They cannot be stopped, but they must be fought with the help of “Internet counterintelligence”. To do this, you must 1) track the sites, chats and forums where your company is discussed and 2) know about all claims related to your industry or association your company belongs to.
Knowledge of new Internet realities . The PR department should consider the following.
The basics . What applies to traditional media also applies to online media. The reaction should be:
Necessary precautionary measures. Carry out continuous online monitoring of messages related to your industry or association, for example, via the free Google Alerts service (www.google.com/alerts) or the paid CustomScoop service (www.customscoop.com).
Do not rely on outside support.
Put "copyright" on all your publications on the Internet, including text, photos and images. Then you will have the support of the law and the public. The US Copyright Service website is www.copyright.gov .
Hire a legal advisor who is well-versed in issues that have changed with the advent of Internet law.
Increase the level of trust in your organization and improve your skills in working with search engines. Information from you should have a higher rank in the search engines than the sites of your critics. For this, you may need to hire a specialist.
Remember that public relations responsibilities should be clearly delineated. Some employees tend to perceive their freedom to speak out as a duty, in which case it is advisable to equip them with a set of rules that they should follow when giving comments.
Training and reorientation. It is very important to continuously learn the skills of working on the Internet, the tactics of behavior characteristic of him, and network jargon. The Wikipedia website (www.wikipedia.org) has a classification of websites with 27 types. Also, in view of increasing the speed of reaction and decision making, it is necessary to restructure the structure of your organization in such a way as not to give temporary advantage to Internet critics.
***
This article is an abbreviated translation by Bernstein’s anti-crisis PR specialist, the original title being "Who Are Those Bloggers?". The pdf version lives somewhere here: www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/nl/crisismgr061101.html
In the past, crisis managers first of all turned their attention to negative information about their company in the local press and negative feedback from various stakeholders received by telephone. Control was limited to the local or regional level, and the bad news about the company rarely went beyond the region or industry. But now the situation has changed. In one week, the author of the article, an anti-crisis management consultant, received 4 calls from organizations or individuals whose reputation was slandered through the Internet. The attacks immediately became available to anyone around the world who was interested in news related to callers. Over the past year, 25% of the crises faced by the author were directly provoked by the fact that negative and publicly available information about his clients appeared on the Internet. Indirectly, 90% of crises in the practice of Bernstein over the past 5 years were associated with the Internet. Often the fault of the client organizations in what was happening was not, and the nuggets of truthful information sank in a wave of rumors, which was created by just a few critics.
The article gives a number of tips on how to deal with such representatives of the Internet community.
Identifying your enemy . The first group of critics is traditional opponents: activists, dissatisfied customers and employees, former employees, political opponents. The international network gives them convenient organizational tools, the ability to quickly communicate and cause greater resonance. Their charges can be stored forever in the archives of the Internet. The second group attacks even honest organizations. The purpose of such critics is to leave their mark on the company's reputation, as grafitchiki on the wall do. This happens regardless of what the company itself is. By belittling others, they rise themselves. Confidence among your stakeholders (individuals associated with the company - ed. Translator) to such critics highly, and even if they make unjustified, but convincing statements, many will believe them. They cannot be stopped, but they must be fought with the help of “Internet counterintelligence”. To do this, you must 1) track the sites, chats and forums where your company is discussed and 2) know about all claims related to your industry or association your company belongs to.
Knowledge of new Internet realities . The PR department should consider the following.
- The system of checks and balances, characteristic of traditional journalism, does not work in the network, and the information goes directly to the public. There are not enough skills to work with conventional media, it is required to use more knowledge of psychology.
- After receipt of information on the Internet its distribution is impossible to keep.
- The Internet is exponentially increasing channels of leakage of confidential information. This most often occurs as a result of using unsafe websites or because of actions of disgruntled employees who distribute video, audio and text documents intended for internal use.
- In the absence of clear information, informational voids are instantly filled with rumors and insinuations. The very popular channel is emailing.
The basics . What applies to traditional media also applies to online media. The reaction should be:
- quick The greater the delay, the greater the damage;
- sympathetic. If people experience anger or fear, it is first necessary to appeal to their feelings. Otherwise they will not be ready to accept the facts;
- honest. Any false information, including exaggeration, understatement or omission, is returned and causes damage to the reputation;
- informative. It is important to let your stakeholders feel that you are responsible for notifying them;
- interactive. Communication should not be one-way, it is necessary to establish feedback (free hotlines, etc.).
Necessary precautionary measures. Carry out continuous online monitoring of messages related to your industry or association, for example, via the free Google Alerts service (www.google.com/alerts) or the paid CustomScoop service (www.customscoop.com).
Do not rely on outside support.
Put "copyright" on all your publications on the Internet, including text, photos and images. Then you will have the support of the law and the public. The US Copyright Service website is www.copyright.gov .
Hire a legal advisor who is well-versed in issues that have changed with the advent of Internet law.
Increase the level of trust in your organization and improve your skills in working with search engines. Information from you should have a higher rank in the search engines than the sites of your critics. For this, you may need to hire a specialist.
Remember that public relations responsibilities should be clearly delineated. Some employees tend to perceive their freedom to speak out as a duty, in which case it is advisable to equip them with a set of rules that they should follow when giving comments.
Training and reorientation. It is very important to continuously learn the skills of working on the Internet, the tactics of behavior characteristic of him, and network jargon. The Wikipedia website (www.wikipedia.org) has a classification of websites with 27 types. Also, in view of increasing the speed of reaction and decision making, it is necessary to restructure the structure of your organization in such a way as not to give temporary advantage to Internet critics.
***
This article is an abbreviated translation by Bernstein’s anti-crisis PR specialist, the original title being "Who Are Those Bloggers?". The pdf version lives somewhere here: www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/nl/crisismgr061101.html
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/288106/
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