It pays to have everyone on the same page when it comes to crisis management
Crisis management professionals and legal teams have historically had a relationship full of clashes, with one wanting to communicate profusely and the other seeing new legal threats emerge with every spoken word. Now that social media has become deeply entwined with crisis management, it’s time that your legal branch and your social media team get better acquainted. In a SmartBlog on Social Media post by Stephen J. Easley, Rich Pesce and June Casalmir, social media managers for Capitol One and Sprint, respectively, shared this tip to get both teams off on the right foot:
Bridge: Build relationships. Whether you like it or not, social media mavens are going to be spending more time getting legal review and approval — and lawyers are going to need to learn to use the power of social media to transform companies. Take your lawyer to lunch or coffee — one of Pesce’s first lunches when he moved from Sprint to Capital One was with his legal counterpart. Try to find areas of common interest. Two of the social media manager’s biggest responsibilities — crisis management and improving customer experiences — are also legal team goals. So open a dialogue about these shared responsibilities. Also try to understand that a lot of lawyers are also creative and can provide valuable insight and ideas to your campaigns.
But wait, maybe you’ve got a small business and you farm out for both legal and social media. Now what do you do? The same thing, that’s what! Tell both that you’d like them on the same page, regardless of whether they’re in the same city or halfway across the country. Arrange a live meeting, or Skype if that’s not possible, and all of you will be better prepared for crisis management.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/