After the United incident, some PR professionals went online to share their thoughts on how companies should handle a similar nightmare. One very informative post came from Casey Boggs, who is president of the Portland, Ore.-based public relations firm LTPR and has credit unions among his clients. Another good one, although written before the United incident, was by Ireland-based PR professional and author Katie Harrington. Here are some pointers from these two pros that credit unions can keep in mind should they find themselves in a worst-case scenario:

Be prepared. Boggs recommends developing a tailored crisis plan, building a crisis task force, identifying spokespersons for internal and external communications, and regularly simulating real-life crisis situations and practicing each task force member's response.
Get the timing right. Don't give in to the knee-jerk reaction of posting to social media right after an incident occurs – instead, communicate to your board, executives, staff, members, partners and constituents first, Boggs said. He also stresses communicating "promptly, factually and often."
Tailor your message appropriately. If the crisis is due to a straight-up employee mistake, an apology is appropriate, while if it's the result of an ongoing problem like a service outage, a regularly-updated explanation of what's happening is best, Harrington said. In crafting an apology, consider Boggs' advice: "An appropriate apology is simply taking ownership, communicating that lessons have been learned, it won't happen again and fast action is being taken to address the issue."
Remind people why they should trust you. Pointing out your track record of reliability can be an effective damage control strategy, Harrington noted. As an example, she said after this year's Best Picture mix-up at the Academy Awards, Price Waterhouse Cooper stated, "For the past 83 years, the Academy has entrusted PwC with the integrity of the awards process during the ceremony, and last night we failed the Academy."
Take action. A promise to do better next time only counts if you actually do better. Both Boggs and Harrington emphasized the importance of following through and making noticeable improvements as time goes on.

Instant Insights /

Damage Control in a Viral, Oversharing World

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