When a crisis strikes, you ideally have about 15 minutes to respond.
Something bad has happened.
Your organisation is in crisis media management mode and has been making headlines and trending on social media.
How can you convince your customers to trust you again?
Trust can take years to build and can be lost in a day if a crisis is poorly handled.
And rebuilding it is an often-overlooked part of crisis communication. But customers are not always forgiving.
And that’s why it was the focus of a masterclass for members of The Media Team Academy.
Sean Ryan, a communications expert and former Sunday Times journalist, led the session.
And he began by exploring the value of trust with a quote from Erin Meyer, from INSEAD, a leading business school in France.
She said: “You can’t buy it, you can’t sell it, you can’t even see it.
“But if you have more of it, your employees would work harder for you, and your customers would stay with you longer.
“Trust is one of the most valuable intangible assets that a company can have.”
So, how can you rebuild it?
“You have to take control to rebuild trust,” Sean said. “The worst thing you can do is to be passive and defensive.
“You have to acknowledge there is a problem and take responsibility for it. You have to apologise and show you mean it.
“You need to commit to credible change – don’t just say ‘safety is now our top priority’, show the mechanics of what you are doing to improve it.
“And keep generating positive stories so your coverage is not dominated by what has gone wrong.
“If you can do these things, your brand will stand a better chance of recovering.”
Let’s look at this in more detail.
Sean identified Facebook as a company that has struggled to rebuild trust following crises.
He said: “During the 2016 election battle between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, a lot of fake news was circulating on Facebook, most notably the claim the Pope had endorsed Trump, which got a million reactions and is still believed by some people.
“When Mark Zuckerberg was asked about this after Trump’s surprising victory, he said, “the idea that fake news on Facebook, which is a very small amount of the content, influenced the election in any way, is, I think, a pretty crazy idea”.
“In other words, he dismissed it.
“Now fast forward to the past couple of weeks where Facebook has been at the centre of the inquest into the death of Molly Russell, a 14-year-old girl who tragically took her own life after reading thousands of pieces about self-harm and suicide on Instagram – owned by Facebook – and Pinterest.
“The coroner summoned someone from Meta – the new name for Facebook – to appear before him. Elizabeth Lagone appeared, rather against her will, and started in a defensive position. She said the information Molly had seen on Instagram was safe for children and was, by and large, within the permitted regulations of Instagram, with perhaps two exceptions.
“And this position caused outcry, some aggressive questions from the QC cross-examining on behalf of the family and criticism in the press.
Instagram ‘wellbeing’ chief insists posts viewed by Molly Russell before death were 'safe'LBC
Meta defends 'safe' Instagram posts seen by Molly RussellSky News
“So, the next day, she grudgingly apologised. Having started by saying we don’t allow content that encourages self-harm, she said she was sorry Molly had seen any material that wasn’t complying with Instagram regulations.”
Facebook’s response lacked compassion, empathy and accountability. Compare it to how Pinterest has responded to similar crises.
Sean said: “Pinterest had a similar problem to Facebook with misinformation when the covid pandemic began. It was being used by the anti-vaxxers to spread misinformation about the dangers of vaccines.
“It decided to take immediate action, blocking searches for the word ‘vaccination’, so people could not get through to the anti-vaxxer propaganda.
“And it referred searches for ‘covid’ to the websites and Pinterest boards of global health organisations, such as the World Health Organisation. It saw there was a problem and quickly fixed it, and it has been given a lot of credit for that.”
Pinterest was also involved in the Molly Russell case because some of her exposure to self-harm content happened on its site.
“Pinterest sent Jud Hoffman to the inquest, and he took a different view and struck a different tone to the Meta representative,” Sean said.
“He said he deeply regretted Molly was able to access some of this material. He said he wouldn’t have wanted his children to see it, which added a human dimension and added a degree of sincerity.
“We wait and see what Pinterest will do to take this material off its site, but we know already it has taken firm and decisive action on misinformation.”
So, what can we learn from this?
Sean said: “What you can draw from this in terms of rebuilding trust is that you have to acknowledge the problem and accept accountability.
“You have to apologise in a way that resonates with the audience you are targeting.
“And you have to fix the problem and stop it from happening again.”
Short and long-term fixes
Sean believes there can be short and long-term fixes for rebuilding trust.
“You may remember the amazing Academy Awards of 2017 when the Best Picture award was given to the wrong film,” he said.
“This mistake lay with PWC, one of the big four accountants, who were responsible for the envelopes backstage.
“It issued a classy statement almost immediately.”
That statement said: “We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error.
“The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when it was discovered, it was immediately corrected.
“We are currently investigating how this happened and deeply regret that it occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees and Academy handled the situation.”
PWC’s investigation revealed the person who handed the wrong envelope to the presenters was on his phone at the time. And that no one noticed the mistake until a minute or two after the celebrations began.
Sean said: “What PWC decided to do was to ban its employees from using phones backstage and to make them memorise the winners of every Academy Award so that if there was a mistake again, it would be immediately realised and corrected faster.
“It acted quickly to restore trust and it has retained the trust of the Academy, presiding over the envelopes for the 2018 Oscars.
“So, that was a pretty impressive recovery on their part.”
But another brand recovery took much longer. You may remember the crisis at Alton Towners where 16 people were injured on a rollercoaster in 2015. The company was fined £5m a year later for breaking health and safety regulations.
Its CEO Nick Varney said “a far bigger punishment for all of us is the knowledge that on this occasion, we let people down with such devastating consequences.”
Despite that excellent crisis media management response, problems continued.
“Every time a car stopped on an Alton Towers ride, someone would take a video and sell it to The Sun,” Sean said.
“So, there was a need for Merlin to rebut false allegations quickly and point out that the cars are designed to stop if a sensor is triggered – that is a safety feature of the rides.
“When it is checked out and deemed safe, the ride can continue.
“They decided to set up a website called Backstage which included stories about how they have improved various safety features.
“And they trained their staff at all the attractions they run around the country to respond and quickly rebut false stories appearing online.”
Following media stories reporting the routine stoppage of Oblivion, here is Operations Director Francis Jackson to explain what happened. pic.twitter.com/U0Uo48RF3q
— Alton Towers Resort (@altontowers) July 25, 2017
CARE
Sean believes Merlin’s response reflects an acronym we use in our crisis communication training – CARE.
Compassion: We look for compassion. And we saw it in Mr Varney’s media interviews.
Action: The Merlin website Backstage showed specific actions taken to resolve safety issues.
Reassurance: We heard this in the tone of what Mr Varney said and in the video from the Alton Towers operations director.
Examples: The specific examples of safety actions Merlin highlighted on its website provided reassurance.
Other examples of CARE Sean identified during The Media Team Academy masterclass included Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson’s video for customers, employees and shareholders about the covid impact on hospitality and the company.
A message to Marriott International associates from President and CEO Arne Sorenson. pic.twitter.com/OwsF14TZgb
— Marriott International (@MarriottIntl) March 19, 2020
And Optus boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin’s emotional response to her company’s colossal data breach.
“Humility is increasingly something people expect to see in leaders,” Sean said.
“They don’t want them to be abrasive, rash and arrogant in the way that was fashionable in the 80s and 90s. They are looking for much more of a human touch.
“Leaders should not be afraid to show vulnerability. You wouldn’t have seen it a generation ago, but we now have leaders who are happy to talk about their mental health, the impact a crisis has had on their family or the impact it has had on their colleagues.”
How should you apologise during a crisis?
Research from the Harvard Business School says the ‘ideal apology’ contains six elements:
- Express regret
- Explain what happened
- Acknowledge responsibility
- Declare repentance
- Offer to put things right
- Request forgiveness.
“I’m not sure I agree with the last one,” Sean said. “I don’t think an appeal for forgiveness would make me trust the person.
“But acknowledging responsibility, explaining what has happened and showing what you are doing right is crucial to rebuilding trust.”
The same academics looked at the four components of trust in companies:
- Competence
- Motives
- Means
- Impact
To explore that, Sean looked at Uber.
“Uber created a brilliant app many of us are dependent on,” he said.
“But it was motivated largely by money and particularly ruthlessly handled the case of a six-year-old girl who was run over and killed by an Uber driver in the States. It said it could not take any responsibility because the driver did not have a passenger and, therefore, wasn’t working at the time.
“After a long and painful process of litigation, Uber was forced to accept responsibility.
“In 2015, there was a whistle-blower who talked about the toxic culture of sexual harassment at Uber. It emerged there had been more than 200 reports, and no action had been taken in 100 of them.
“So, Uber has this reputation for competence. But it is not enough to be trusted as it does not have the moral ingredients people are looking for these days. And its market share is slipping away now to Lyft. It shows that if you fail to rebuild trust after a crisis, you will face financial consequences.”
What do you do with journalists who attack your organisation?
Sean says that if you are on safe ground, “let people know it.”
To highlight this, Sean looked at the RNLI and the coverage it received in the Daily Mail.
“It had a series of run-ins that began when it emerged it had stood down two volunteers on the basis they had been looking at pornography while waiting for an emergency call.
“But then it emerged from the RNLI that these volunteers had been joyriding lifeboats at night. It put out a robust response on social media, pointing out the paper had ignored a lot of material it had provided.
“The Mail came back with a second story saying the charity had spent around £1m trying to stop people drowning in Africa. And on burkinis for women learning to swim in Tanzania.
“The paper claimed the charity had gone ‘woke’ and had ‘betrayed’ donors who thought they were paying for lifeboats around the coast of the UK.
“The RNLI took each sentence of the article and responded. And it was a devastating destruction of the story. It led to donations going up and support from other charities on social media.”
What else can you do when journalists attack?
“Engage with critics and don’t hide in a bunker or behind lawyers,” Sean said. “Acknowledge where things have gone wrong and rebut false information and rumour.
“And measure how you are doing with rebuilding trust. Use brand tracking to see how you are performing.”
What about the role of internal comms?
“This is sometimes seen as the less glamourous part of comms, but it is crucial,” Sean said.
“There is research from the Business University of Oxford which says you have to build trust from the inside out.
“If you can’t command the respect of your employees, people outside the organisation are not going to trust you.
“But if you create trust and goodwill among your employees, they become the best possible ambassadors for your brand.”
To secure their confidence, you must:
Ensure they hear the bad news first – don’t let them find out about it in the Daily Mail
Demonstrate that leaders are responding well – ensure they are showing compassion and are taking action
Keep up morale – it can be demoralising to be the focus of negative coverage and receive hostile enquiries. Tell them the good things that are also happening.
Wellbeing – having reporters at your door is stressful. Make sure your people feel reassured.
Don’t forget, you can catch up with all the previous masterclasses, including the two previous parts of Sean’s crisis series, in the video library section of The Media Team Academy hub.
