Month: February 2020

Today’s announcement that Ofcom will have more powers to force social media firms to act over harmful content is no surprise, but what does it mean in reality in terms of social media regulation?

DTW Director Pete Whelan takes a look at the new proposal and gives four top tips for harassed and harangued social media managers in the brave new world.

1) We’re already responsible for our content

Say a million content creators throughout the UK are reading the news today! Of course, no-one managing any social channels spends any time checking and re-checking their content and carefully crafting posts to make sure they’re on message and don’t have any unfortunate typos…

The reality is that the Ofcom proposal is grabbing the headlines. However, it is likely to have much more impact on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat than any of us responsible content creators. That said, it’s a great time to review social media regulation and what we’re doing to make sure we are absolutely bang on.

• Be clear in your objectives
• Understand your audiences
• Create some great and relevant content
• Speak like a human
• Evaluate and do more of what works!

2) Regulation isn’t new – take a look at the Advertising Standards Authority code

The Advertising Standards Authority’s CAP Code has covered social media content in the UK since 2011.

Yes – that does include organic content posted on your own channels – not just ad campaigns. The ASA can and does rule about the appropriateness of organic content.

Still not sure? Try this quote for size – “marketers should be aware that any content that bears a relationship to the products or services they offer has the potential to be considered directly connected and therefore within the ASA’s remit.”

You can read all about the ASA’s remit on social media in its handily new updated guide.

3) The big social networks will continue to tighten up the rules

There are already things that social networks are doing to better police content.

For example, Facebook has cracked down a lot on the use of clickbait headlines in the last 12 months. You need to factor this into your strategy and make sure you’re playing to the ever-changing whims of each individual network to get the best audience engagement.

4) So what’s next?

The biggest point for me on this is how will Ofcom, as a regulator, communicate the work it is doing to its stakeholders and ensure that the public, in particular, understands its remit.

This is going to be particularly challenging given the global nature of social media. We know from our work with clients like the FCA and the SRA where we helped them with communicating complex UK only issues such as regulatory changes that this can be achieved successfully, but the work plan for this will need to start now in order for it to be a success. Get in touch with our team today if you’d like to learn more about the work we undertake daily on this topic.

Thanks for reading

Pete

Developing an effective crisis communications strategy

With today’s 24-hour news cycle, it’s now even more important to be on the ball when responding to a crisis. It’s therefore important that you have an effective crisis communications strategy.

With this in mind, I headed to Newcastle for a CIPR training session last week.

The workshop saw comms professionals from across the North East tackle a hypothetical crisis. Using listening skills, concise writing and a whole lot of empathy, we can make a huge difference.

Here are the five key points I took away from the session when thinking about developing an effective crisis communications strategy:

1. You already know what your crisis could be, so why not prepare the response?

While ‘crisis’ suggests ‘unexpected’, good comms pros will be able to predict what their crises may be.

If you work in the food industry, your greatest fear could be a customer suffering an allergic reaction to one of your products.

If you work for an international airline, the worst-case scenario is obviously a fatal incident involving passengers and aircrew.

A crisis will never develop in the way you thought, so you can never completely prepare. Yet, you can consider the risks, your immediate responses and your tone of voice.

Having a strategy for how you respond will enable you to get the wheels in motion when the time comes.

Practice makes perfect – so by running through a variety of scenarios, it will help should you face a real-life crisis.

2. Don’t hide something that you know to be true

While most of us know that denial is a sure way to double (or triple!) the size of a crisis, too many organisations still instinctively want to try and hide something for as long as possible.

This should never be accepted as the route out of a crisis.

As communication professionals, we need to know everything from the outset – warts and all. We can only advise and protect an organisation if we know the true extent and scale of the issue.

Be honest from the start as lies and deceit will only come back to bite you.

3. Only comment on the facts

Social media is a hive of gossip and misinformation at the best of times, but when a crisis breaks, the rumour mill goes into overdrive.

Fires can become explosions, illnesses can become pandemics and arguments can become full-blown wars.

Remember, if it’s your crisis, people will be looking at you for the true facts of the situation. Take ownership and take control. If you don’t know if something is true, then don’t mention it.

4. Make sure your statements and actions are consistent

You’ve got your statement written. It’s as good as it can be; proactive and reassuring. Make sure it’s on your website and social media channels, all your messaging is consistent and your senior team is well briefed.

Don’t run the risk of your CEO going off-piste by playing things down or diminishing the issue altogether in an interview or on social media.

It’s vital that all messages are consistent and reflect what you are actually doing. Actions speak louder than words!

5. If apologising is the right thing to do, then do it

Many companies and organisations are wary of issuing an apology. But sometimes, saying sorry is the only thing to do.

If the crisis is a result of a genuine mistake, make sure that your response includes an apology.

Regret, reassurance and response to a crisis can protect your organisation from further animosity. We all make mistakes so let’s be brave and hold our hands up. It can win you respect and friends in the long-run.

Above all else, just make sure you communicate with your audiences on a regular basis.

In the era of instant responses, they expect it.

Thank you to CIPR North East and Newcastle University Lecturer in Public Relations, Ramona Slusarczyk, for hosting the event. If you are responsible for managing public communications within your organisation and would like to discuss your crisis communications strategy in further detail, we would love to hear from you.