Dark Sites

When I read ckdfs’s comment to my last article “Maclaren’s Crisis Management- What would you do”, I was inspired to write about Dark Sites. In one sentence, Dark Sites can be described as a PR tool for preparing a crisis. In fact, it is about a pre-developed website from the company, which can be published in the face of a crisis.

Purpose

When a company is faced to a crises, an immediate reaction is required. The company should explain facts and answer questions so that no rumours can be spread. For facilitating and accelerating the diffusion of news, drak sites can be prepared in advance. For each potential risk, a website is designed with messages, photos and so on, which have just to be replaced by the real event. It could be used for every kind of vulnerability: public safety, product liability, anti-trust, financial etc.

Key components

Design:

The design should be kept simple. The important issue is the information and not the attractiveness of the website and in addition, a simple design do not distract from the content. Company’s colours and logo could be maintained, but corporate design becomes less important. The pre-approved design will let the company save time and concentrate on the information dispersal.

Content:

As information concerning a crisis event diffuse rapidly, the company has to act rapidly. That’s the reason why the content of the dark site should be changeable easily and quickly! Basis content publishing tools which are easily to use by the PR expert in charge will guarantee an easy information update without the help of an IT specialist.

Online support

A huge problem often is that customers, employees and partners search information on the web and do not find the dark site immediately on the top of the results. Companies could bypass this fact by using ads on key search terms so that a clear banner will appear on the top of the search engine. Further updates could then be subscribed via E-Mail or RSS feeds, and once again, Social Media tools as Youtube, Flickr and blogs should not be forgotten.

For more information

Dark Sites

Crisis Communications: Dark Sites 101

A new trend in crisis communications: “Dark Sites”

As long as the company works well, managers often do not matter about a possible crisis. But when such a situation comes up, a quick and strategic reaction is necessary, and even big concerns are not always well prepared.

What happend

Maclaren, a British high-end stroller producer, had to recall about 1 million strollers in November 2009, due to the risk of children’s fingertip amputations. At least in 15 cases, the danger became already reality. Maclaren published a press release for alerting consumers. They should stop using these two concerned strollers and contact Maclaren to get a free repair kit. But nowadays, couldn’t they have done more?

Importance of Internet

When a company is faced with a crisis, the situation is extremely dangerous: the company’s image and survival are threatened. For limiting negative consequences, an immediate and honest statement is deciding. Internet provides great opportunities for doing this, by publishing facts and continuous updates, the company can probably limit rumors. Interactive elements as video conferences, blogs or Twitter support communication and questions can easily be answered. Four aspects, which Maclaren didn’t consider, could be helpful for a successful dialog.

1. Website accessibility

In case of important news, as the finger-amputation-stoller, people nowadays will not phone the company to get information. The fist reaction is: consulting the website. However for most panic parents it wasn’t possible, the website was simply overloaded. The PR Manager needs to know the contact person in charge of increasing bandwidth and server capacity. On the website should be a big button “Stroller Recall” or something near it. Even if it could be considered as bad publicity for the own company, consumers want to be up to date and further damage will be prevented.

2. Twitter

“Share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” Why not use Twitter for Crisis PR? Users will certainly discuss this issue on Twitter, and Maclaren could have done it as well. Parents want to be appeased, and discussion with other people is a great remedy. But it provokes rumors as well. The best way could be the company’s presence on Twitter. Questions can be answered rapidly, facts can be twittered and parents appeased.

3. Blog Comments

Twitter is not the only Social Media instrument Maclaren could have used. Blogs become more and more present in our daily life and are a useful tool as well. The concerned company could engage special Crisis bloggers who search the web for new blog entries concerning the accidents and the recall. Again, questions can be answered via comments. Not only the publisher, other bloggers as well will get a statement and help. At best, positive comments will dispersed virus-like.

4. Facebook

Yes, Facebook again and again. But used in a correct way, this Social Media tool can work wonders. Facebook is for many internet users the first place to go. That’s the reason why it should be the first place to edit news, right? Maclaren was pro-active in this case, they published information in thr group “Maclaren Baby”. The only mistake is that links to Twitter didn’t work, no “Send an Update to Fans” was active and questions were not answered. Facebook can help companies in a crisis, but when they decide to use Social Media, they should be used correctly.

Other ideas?

These four aspects are certainly not the only to-dos, but they are important in our internet era. RSS feeds and youtube videos could help as well. By the way, a youtube video was published, explaining the danger and giving contact data. However Social Media is not the only PR crisis instrument. The first thing people do at home is put the TV on. So, press conferences on TV and news announced over the radio are still important. The right mix should be used, or? What would you do?

For more information

Using Social Media for Crisis PR: What Maclaren Could Have Done Differently

Maclaren’s Stroller Recall: A Stumbling Response Online

News from CPSC

BestBaby

Hallo everybody!

My name is Ann-Kathrin Witt and I am actually a last year student. I was born in Berlin and spent my life here until I started studies in International Management in 2006. The Frensh-German program let me travel between Berlin and Paris, where I passed half of the time. It’s a great opportunity to know other cultures, languages and life styles!

After some attempts with posterous, this WordPress blog is my first experience with blogging and I like it more and more! I start to get in contact with people from my field and it is a chance to enhance my target language. Moreover I find a lot of interesting articles which extend my general knowledge.

I decided to specialize in Marketing because it’s a large field, always innovative and all-around! It fits in with my personality, I am curious, committed and interested in so many domains. That’s why I write about topics which are dignified to discuss, from every field in Marketing, Advertising and PR. Have fun!

At the beginning of a new year, I am always wondering what will happen in the next 12 month, especially in the world of Marketing. I was searching for 2010-trends when I found an interesting blog about PR (http://www.davidwmullen.com/2009/12/17/four-pr-trend-predictions-for-2010/). The author brings up four points which he considers as the most important ones for the next year and I think he has some great points!

PR or advertising?

The first idea I would like to present is the blur of PR and advertising. But what is exactly the difference between those two terms? In brief, advertising is aimed at sell’s increasing whereas PR means communication with stakeholders. (If you would like to know more about Marketing and PR, you should have a look on http://www.buzzle.com/articles/difference-between-marketing-and-public-relations.html). The author argues that there are many ways to get in contact with customers, and they should be part of the campaign and interact with the company’s brand. Thereby, advertising campaigns and communication ways melt one into the other.

Analysis of the company

The second point is that PR people often do not know exactly what the client’s businesses are, due to a too quick analysis of them and their industry. The author’s opinion is that PR experts will have to study in detail what the company is doing for giving better advices. However, I am not sure that the PR experts’ mission will be so relevant for the company’s strategy. PR is PR and not a strategic consulting, isn’t it? In my opinion, Public Relations will keep their one and only mission, the question how to represent the company face to face with stakeholders. Sure, they need to know the company, but hasn’t it always been like this?

Social Media as the main trend

Finally I would like to join the last two point together. The author deals with the importance of Social Media, which is for me the most relevant change in the near future. Social Media represents some really important Marketing tools, and PR can benefit from them as well. Twitter, Facebook and Blogs are as meaningful for PR strategies as TV and print medias. However I perfectly agree with the author that Social Mediawill not be the “cure-all” for a company’s success. It could be beneficial to use them, mainly by analysing the forecasted trends as described on http://www.proactivereport.com/c/pr/pr-trends-in-2010-the-future-of-pr/, where you can see that numerous peolpe are interested in Social Media and and Networking.

In addition I found an interesting video about the importace of Social Media for Marketing in 2010. Have a look if  you want to learn more about it!

Other trend visions

I especially liked the author’s four points, because they open a lively discussion. It is really interesting to read what other people think about the article, to get an idea about what PR experts and other PR interested peolpe say about his trend visions and give their own opinions. Keith Trivitt thinks that relationships is an other key factor, whereas Arik Hanson assesses mobile marketing. We will see in the next months how PR tasks will evolute, and if Social Media will maintain it’s success as most people predict.