By: Tanya Borthwick
The use of social media, (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) to communicate with the public can be a very efficient and effective form of communication during an incident. With the release of one small statement the company can potentially notify a large segment of the population.
Social media provides a form of two-way communication with the public during an emergency situation. Social media provides the ability to directly see how a situation is affecting people and gives the opportunity to respond to them, keeping them informed, preventing panic, and keeping rumors at bay. By following keywords and hashtags, the Company is able to easily monitor what the community is saying about the incident and respond accordingly.
WestJet’s Twitter Crisis Communications
Recently, the Canadian Airline WestJet received a number of hoax bomb threats on different flights. The company was commended by MarketingMag.com on their use of Twitter as “a master class in crisis communications”. They demonstrated how to manage communications through ongoing posts “reiterating safety was its top concern, thanking local emergency crews and stating that it was working with the local police and would share more information when appropriate”.
The communications response WestJet employed helped boost their public profile and instilled a sense of confidence with their customers. They were open and transparent through all the incidents and provided small details like “guests were provided food and water” or they would be “accommodated overnight in hotels”.
WestJet maintains an active presence on Twitter, answering customer questions, addressing complaints, and putting out notices that affect the public.
2013 Calgary Floods
The use of social media during a crisis was even more evident during the 2013 Calgary floods. Calgary Police Service (CPS) used Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and an internal blog to keep its citizens safe and informed about the floods, evacuations, and location of emergency shelters. The City of Calgary’s “Twitter account posted 1,483 tweets during the floods that were retweeted about 20,000 times. It had 54,000 followers before the event and 80,000 after it.” The City’s YouTube account had 272 posts, which were viewed 460,000 times. During the floods citizens turned to many different social media outlets to keep informed on events as they happened.
The City of Calgary and the Calgary Police Service used the different social media avenues to reach out to as many citizens as possible during the floods. After the events, they were commended for the constant communication updates and the fact that they used every service possible to keep the public informed.
Social Media Strategy For Your Company
All companies should develop a Social Media strategy that can be employed during an emergency. It could be as basic as assigning a person to follow trends and replying to questions posed by concerned citizens.
In this age of the 24 hour news cycle, news organizations are increasingly monitoring social media as a way to find news stories; in some cases finding out about events before a company knows what’s happening. As WestJet and the City of Calgary show, it’s better to be on top of what’s happening and respond quickly and openly. The public has a growing expectation for immediate access to information and companies need to answer that call.
Contact Black Gold Emergency Planners where one of our Social Media experts can help develop a strategy that suits your needs and walk you through this new expectation of immediate reporting.
