Be prepared to help your community
When natural disasters get bad, they often take out wired communication sources, namely cable and telephone lines. In these times, people look to anyone they can for information about the outside world.
If you are a service provider, be it electricity or firefighting, you need to be prepared to assist with crisis management by alternate means. The prevalence of mobile phones makes social media the logical vehicle for this, as this quote from a Kelliher Samets Volk blog post explains:
Only when we’re in the eye of the storm do we realize how important it is to provide the most basic of information to our customers – to help them in their time of crisis and need. In these circumstances, customers don’t have the patience for corporate-speak or marketing messages – they want help, a sounding board, a trusted friend.
That’s you.
Fortunately, social media and digital channels afford brands an incredible one-to-one and one-to-many two-way connection with customers. And, for those customers who lose power, it is perhaps their only connection to the outside world.
During hurricane Irene, everyone from University employees, to local police stations, to utility companies pitched in to provide updates about emergency services, shelters, first aid stations, and the storm’s movements, saving lives and preventing damage in the process. The better prepared we are, the more effective the response, so get to planning.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/