Crisis communication and social media

Hi everyone, i am here to upload my blog with the topic of crisis communication and incorporating it with social media.

Crisis communication
Crisis communication is a Public Relations function that taken by a company to communicated with the public and stakeholders when an unexpected event happened which will damaged the reputation of the company. It refers to the management of perceptions during the time of crisis. Instead of dealing with the problem, it is about the communication that take place during the time of crisis. It involves tools like press conferences, media relations and social media.

Importance of cooperating social media into crisis management plan
1. To give the information and responses in a shorter time
Social media enable the users to spread the information and give the response in the very first minutes once the accident happened. This is aim to give the public and stakeholder the most clearer information so that they can be comfort. Social media is the best platform for doing this in this century.
For example, in the accident of Air Asia plane crashed on  December 2014, the CEO of Air Asia, Tony Fernandes is giving the information through Twitter to the public and stakeholder to clarify what is the situation now and what effort that they are having now to comfort the audience.

Tony Fernandes is giving the information through twitter.

2. Monitoring the situation
The company can monitor the situation by using the social media based on the comments and feedback that given by the public. This can help the Public Relations Practitioners develop the better strategies and solution in the crisis management process.

3. Tone
In social media, the company can express their feelings not only in words but also in colour. This is an emotion way to stimulate or comfort the feeling of the audience. This show that the company is be with the audience, they can feel what the audience feels now.
For instance, while managing the crisis of Air Asia plane crashed, Air Asia changed their logo into black and white color which show the sadness of Air Asia instead of continue using their official colour, red colour. Tony Fernandes also did the same thing on his own personal twitter.

Air Asia changed their logo's tone on their Facebook page and Twitter.

4. Two way communication
Social media provide a platform that enable the users to have the two way communication with their audience. During the crisis management process, the company can use social media to communicate with the victims and victim's family in order to know what is their concern and request.

In conclusion, crisis communication is the most important part in crisis management. Every organization should have a good social media policy when using the social media in crisis communication as poor crisis communication will lead to a bigger problem. Every organization should alert how powerful social media is in this 21th century.

Thanks for reading.