What do you want to say today?

At the end of July, I facilitated a dialog on social media policy at the monthly San Antonio Healthcare (#sahc) tweetup that I help organize on behalf of my client, the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health. It’s an amazing group of individuals with way more brain cells than should ever be in one room together.

As I shared an Air Force flow chart detailing how service members online should respond to blog postings, I mentioned I thought it was a good start on helping non-public affairs professionals know how to respond to negative online mentions. Business reporter Laura Lorek responded that she thought it was somewhat intimidating and probably meant to put some ice on those who might want to venture into social media.

And so the discussion began. How do we respond to crises in the age of social media when one tweet can be retweeted a thousand times over and one musician can post a YouTube video singing about his broken guitar and get nearly five million views?

Having spent nearly half of my career managing disaster public affairs response with the American Red Cross, I find myself pondering whether or not the rules have really changed all that much. I don’t think they have.

I have always structured my planning and response around three key features…

• One size does not fit all. Never did; never will. While good crisis communications planning can help avert long-term impact, it’s still a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to whether or not something will go viral with any amount of long-term impact. And no matter how much you plan, there’s always that one thing you never thought of in a million years – like pizza employees posting a disgusting video mishandling food. I’m just guessing Dominos never saw that coming.

• When bad stuff gets said about your company, it may be because your other systems failed, and you – frankly – deserve it. Case in point: United Broke My Guitar. Seems like Dave tried plenty of offline ways to get someone at United to respond. And they didn’t. Crisis communication #fail. The best (and often least costly) way to manage a crisis is to prevent one from happening. This means taking a look at all systems within an organization and making sure rules, regulations and poor training aren’t getting in the way of taking care of the customer.

• A lack of relationship translates to a lack of support when you most need it. On the other hand, efforts that seek to build a solid foundation of communication and trust can often withstand the firestorm when it occurs. I love this quote from Tylenol’s former CEO James Burke: “Whether people will take one’s word when one badly needs them to do so will depend on how much confidence has been built by the organization over the years before the crisis occurred.” It is important to note that Noah started to build the ark before it started to rain.

For me, social media presents crisis communication’s greatest opportunity. In ways never before experienced, we have the opportunity to….

• Authentically build trust and rapport.
• See in real time what people are saying about us.
• Respond in real time.
• Ask friends to show their support and share our side of the story when the you-know-what hits the fan.

So, until someone creates a magical 9-1-1 number we can call when there’s a crisis, proactively listening, engaging, responding, holding conversation, being humble and transparent will help us build the strongest fortress against the storm if and when it comes. Social media is perfectly positioned to help us do just that.

What do you think? How has social media changed the way you think about and respond to crisis?