Crisis Management

Monitoring social media is your first line of defense. Here are some social media red flags that indicate you may have a PR crisis on your hands.

If the BP communications debacle taught us anything, it’s that operations and PR must be in lockstep with each other during a crisis. That integration can be honed through carefully planned crisis simulations.

Crisis/reputation management experts weigh in on what PR has learned from the major crises of 2010, and what lessons PR pros can take from those crises and apply this year.

PR’s collaboration with outside agencies and groups is key to any successful campaign, and that extends to working with law enforcement when necessary. Here are tips from Levick Strategic Communications on how to best interact with the police.

Free speech or security threat? Americans are conflicted about how much freedom organizations like WikiLeaks should have in publishing confidential documents.

Should social media posts, tweets, videos and the like be saved by an organization? Or is it enough to depend on the platforms themselves when the need to find such content arises?

Katie Paine analyzes the fallout around the latest WikiLeaks release, and grades the stealthy whistle-blowing site’s communications vs. the efforts of the U.S. government.

Have all your crisis ducks in a row? Here’s a checklist of questions from John R. Brooks of the Communication Services of the Evangelical Lutheran Church that may save you some trouble.

While dealing with a communications crisis may unpleasant, advance planning, skillful execution and honest evaluation could provide the ultimate PR learning experience.

Think of a crisis as a trip—with proper information, planning and execution, the damage to one’s reputation is minimized. A well-executed plan will keep you on track and minimize the possibility of dangers along the way.