Crisis Communication Strategy: A Plan for Managing Online Media Scares

This report addresses the critical need for a crisis management plan within a consumer goods company facing an online media crisis. As a business executive, the report emphasizes the importance of a proactive approach to protect the organization's reputation and operations. It argues for the necessity of a comprehensive crisis management program (CCMP) to handle potential risks stemming from online presence, especially in the context of consumer goods. The report proposes a crisis plan that incorporates social media management, audience engagement, and a dedicated gatekeeping department to regulate and proofread messages. Strategies include a 24/7 social media plan, audience reach strategy, and dynamic media engagement to build stronger relationships with audiences, ultimately aiming to mitigate the impact of online media crises and safeguard the organization's brand image. The report concludes that a well-developed CCMP is essential for effective crisis management and organizational resilience, supported by relevant academic literature.

Running head: CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
Introduction
Organizational crises are situations that pose significant threats to the reputation,
function, operations and ultimately the survival of any organization. If not controlled effectively
thy can escalate and become larger problems for the efficient functioning of any organization.
Crisis management concerns the effective management of all the challenges that are present due
to crisis situations that have emerged. The study focuses on a crisis situation that is faced by an
organization to understand the various factors that determine or affect crisis management. The
organization is engaged in the sale of consumer goods and is a for-profit business organization. It
has recently faced and online media scare. As a business executive, the formation of a crisis
management strategy is much required given the emergence of this crisis.
Importance of Crisis management plan for the organization
Organizations operating in the present corporate scenarios need to be well aware of the
power of online media. The tremendous potential of new age online media can be harnessed to
gain positive outcomes for any organization. However, the various negative ways in which the
organizations can get affected are also widely prevalent. It is necessary that a strong crisis
management plan is in place to tackle the situations that can emerge from a host of different
sources. It is important for the CEO that an effective crisis management plan is in place. This
would reduce the risk factors that can negative affect the organization’s development. Presently,
the organization is facing a significant issue in regards to the online media scare. In this situation,
an online media crisis management plan can help the organization to develop better ways for
tackling online risk. Moreover, it is important to consider that the organization deals in consumer
goods. The organization’s reputation can be affected my many important factors that can lead to
critical failure of its business functions. Online media scares can be very dangerous as an overall
negative perception about any brand can be created in the minds of the existing and potential
customers. It is important to note that the organization would not be able to tackle the risks that
emerge from online presence of its marketing division.
It is important that the role of a business executive is utilized to provide the higher
management with effective plans to establish crisis management programs. A comprehensive
crisis management program (CCMP) needs to be implemented. As a business executive it is the
responsibility of the person to provide the organization with an effective solution to the entire
problem that has emerged. It is important that all the important risk factors that are related to the
media handling of the organization are considered while developing the (CCMP). All the
important stages of the CCMP would need to be drafted on a planning document at first. As a
business executive the most important function is to consider and record all the elements that are
related to the online media handling aspects that are much important in light of the
organizational media functions. In this case it is much important that the crisis is treated as an
organizational crisis and not a disaster. The crisis is created due to the inappropriate handling of
the media accounts of the organization.

2CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
Introduction of the Crisis plan
It is important that an effective media based crisis plan is developed in this scenario. It is
much important that an effective team is formed to tackle the social media accounts of the
organization. This would help to develop comprehensive crisis management programs that are
focused on the effective utilization of the social media functional areas that are much important
for the developmental prospects of the organization. The primary activity that is involved with
the development of the crisis plan is an effective planning process. There is a need to develop a
strong planning and management exercise.
Firstly, an effective social media plan needs to be created. A 24X7 social media handling
plan needs to be in place to stop the spread of any form of misinformation. Secondly, an
effective audience reach strategy needs to be created. This would help to tackle all the issues that
can be created due to the ineffective handling of the audiences. Thirdly, there needs to be a
dedicated gatekeeping department that would be regulating and proofreading all the messages
that are presented through the social media account of the organization. There is a need to
develop significant strategies to optimize the social media performances of the organization.
Fourthly, the media engagement should be dynamic and interactive. Fast messages can create
better scope for relationship building. There is a need to create stronger relationships with the
audiences. If any crisis situation arises, then this can be used effectively as the audiences would
have greater reliability on the message being shared by the organization.
A specific strategy is the formation of a comprehensive crisis management program (CCMP).As
a business executive it is the responsibility of the person to provide the organization with an
effective solution to the entire problem that has emerged. It is important that all the important
risk factors that are related to the media handling of the organization are considered while
developing the (CCMP). It is very important that an effective plan is created to tackle all the risk
factors that can emerge from any major social media problem.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it was found that handling crisis is an important business function that
cannot be overlooked. Moreover, crisis situations need to be predicted and determined. There is a
need to develop CCMP that can help in the management of crisis. The CCMP that was
developed can help the organization to develop a more effective crisis plan.

3CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
References
Coombs, W. T. (2014). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding.
Sage Publications.
Frandsen, F., & Johansen, W. (2016). Organizational crisis communication: A multivocal
approach. Sage.
Lin, X., Spence, P. R., Sellnow, T. L., & Lachlan, K. A. (2016). Crisis communication, learning
and responding: Best practices in social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 601-
605.
Roshan, M., Warren, M., & Carr, R. (2016). Understanding the use of social media by
organisations for crisis communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 350-361.