Insightful tips provided by public relations heavyweight experts at the Frocomm Crisis Communication & Social Media Summit 2009 related to specific social media tools that are of utility: ‘dark’ websites, videos, forums and Twitter are discussed.

Public relations’ tactical, hands-on tips for using social media in a crisis.

An organisation should customise stakeholder communication in respect of, and in response to, stakeholders’ core values. This means aligning an organisation with societal and stakeholder expectations. This is often driven by CSR and thought leadership which, when strategically applied, will lessen the impact of a crisis and lead to a faster ‘reputational’ recovery post-crisis. All of which will be enhanced by the involvement of a best practice public relations professional.

A crisis communication plan that does not include social media is incomplete and seriously flawed. This was the overarching key message to come from Frocomm’s 2nd Annual Crisis Communication & Social Media Summit 2009. A free report summarising the summit content is available here [link].

Social media allows for issues to be identified, monitored and managed extremely quickly, as well as real-time stakeholder interaction and relationship enhancement. But it also facilitates bad news spreading like wildfire. These fiery themes were all-pervasive at the recent Frocomm crisis communication and social media summit and are discussed here.

The strategic dimensions of public relations.

In a nutshell, public relations is about creating, enhancing and/or maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its stakeholders. When operating at its optimum level it is less about control than facilitating dialogue and understanding.