Social Media Crisis Communications: Preparing for, Preventing, and Surviving a Public Relations #Fail

1. What Is a Crisis?

As established in this book’s introduction, crisis is a part of doing business, regardless of your industry. That’s a given.

Before we dive into crisis communications in social media, we need to talk about what a crisis is. The word crisis has different meanings to different people. What is a crisis to one may not be for another. So we need a solid definition as a starting point. There are many interpretations out there. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines crisis as “unstable or crucial time or state of affairs whose outcome will make a decisive difference for better or worse.” Let’s work with that one.

Common Types of Crises

Crises vary from one industry to another and there aren’t really cookie-cutter crises. However, ...