Congressman Joe Wilson’s “You Lie” outburst, Sen. George Allen’s “Macaca” video, Howard Dean’s scream…not every campaign crisis is this extreme, but almost every major campaign will have one. With the viral effect that social media has brought to communications, even the most minor issues can become big ones very quickly. So the question is, do you have a plan? When an issue does occur will your team be able to jump on it and resolve it quickly? If the answer is no, you are taking a very big risk, one that could easily cost you an election.
First step, get involved
The first step that any campaign (or business) can take, is to get involved in the online community (note: I’m focusing on the online communities here, but it’s important not to neglect your offline community).
Social Networks
Have an active Facebook group and be engaged on Twitter (see last week’s blog post). If you have a strong presence before a crisis, you will have built in community support when you need it. If you’re only getting on when you’re having the crisis, you will be forced to build support and explain your story at the same time. An army of Facebook fans and Twitter followers helping spread your message is much more powerful than your team going at it alone.
Blogs
Establish relationships with local/national bloggers (comment on their posts, link to their stories, and treat them like members of the press). Just like your social communities, you need to reach out to bloggers before you need their help. Figure out what bloggers are on your side, which bloggers will give a balanced opinion, and which bloggers don’t support you. Establish a strong relationship with the first two, and know how to avoid the third. For your die-hard supporters ask them to be on your crisis response team and have a special distribution list for them. Even blogs with small readership will help keep your story on the front page of google and will help get it out to other active social media users. For the blogs that you know will take a balance approach to reporting a story, treat them just like press. Give them the story, give them quotes, and if possible access to a spokesperson.
Email Lists
Establish a strong, engaged email distribution list. You have a list of people who want to support you, and a lot of them have already invested time, money, or both. They have a huge investment is seeing you succeed, so let them help. Stats show that over 60% of the entire online population are involved in social communities. That means that you have a list of people who can spread the word faster and wider than you can alone. Cultivate that list, educate them, share information, and ask them to share it with others. When you need them most, provide them with the whole story and let them know how they can share it.
Step two, have a plan in place
The last thing you want is to have a crisis hit on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when all your staff has left town and have no plan in place. Plans let you respond in a fast and organized manner so that you’re entire campaign isn’t taken over by the crisis. A couple of things to keep in mind when making a plan:
- Map out several of the most likely scenarios. It’s unlikely that any of them will be exactly the same as the crisis you experience, but it will give your team confidence and a good platform to work from.
- Figure out who owns what communication outlet during a crisis and make sure they are trained. The same person can’t be on Twitter, writing a press release, talking to bloggers, emailing supporters, and answering questions from your major donors. You’ve (hopefully) built a strong team, it’s important to give them ownership and trust them. Establish the expectations and the parameters for their communication ahead of time.
- Write it all down, discuss it, and it keep it simply. If you end up with a 50 page document, no one will read it come emergency time.
One last thing, have an attack plan too…
Just as it’s likely your campaign will likely have a crisis at some point, it’s likely your opponents campaign will too. So make sure you have a plan to attack them when it happens. You can follow the same points as above, but reverse the situation. It’s just as important to have a plan to attack, so that you can get your entire campaign on message and owning the conversation before the other side can respond.
Two Final thoughts
Think outside the social media/online/traditional media box when planning… Get your finance team on the phone to raise money and calm big donors. Get your field team on the phone and email to reach out to your prominent supporters to spread your message. A crisis is no time to disappear, if your supporters aren’t hearing the message from you…they are hearing it from someone else.
Once the crisis does hit you, explain yourself truthfully and fully. Let your supporters know everything and let them know how to help. If you have a good candidate and are truthful with them, they will continue to support you. If they sense even an ounce of b/s in your story, you will lose all credibility.
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