As a public relations major at Central Michigan University and having studied crisis communication, I was excited to see a real life example so close to home. Unfortunately I was disappointed in how your PR was handled and think it ultimately lead to your downfall.
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| Statement made by the group. Picture provided by Fox17 |
I am not here to yell at you for the act done this past week. Instead, I am here to talk about how I perceived how your organization handled the crisis.
Since the person in charge of social media of the College Republicans at Central Michigan University is not a public relations major, I thought I would it could be useful to have some help in the event of future crises.
Below are three tips that any organization should use when in a crisis situation:
1. Public Relations is Not to Spin or Cover Up
One of the first things any PR major learns in class is the definition of public relation. Simply put, it means relations with the public. Our job is to have the honest relationship with the public, to create and keep the trust of those we interact with. No matter how much it may hurt, people would rather organizations be honest, own up to their mistakes, and do something to fix it.
This brings me to my second piece of advice,
2. Don't Delete Public Information
A mistake the organization made was deleting the information of the eboard members from their Facebook page. While trying to protect your eboard members from hate messages, it made it look like you were trying to hide something (or a someone). Those on Facebook did not appreciate this. Some users even got screenshots before they took the information down.
Once someone has evidence that proves you did or did not do something, it is hard to comeback and defend yourself.
While it is impossible to prevent people from sending hateful words, it is possible to reduce it. Instead of taking down information, do the third piece of advice.
3. Talk About Actions, Not Excuses
A statement was released saying you do not approve of this act. This was a good move by the group. Not only did you finally respond to the many angry Facebook comments, but you also stated you did not approve of the action. Where the mess up happened was not saying what actions were going to be taken. Instead you tried to clear your name.
What needed to be done was provide the answer of what you were going to do the member who performed the act.
Examples which could have used include:
- Removing the member from the group
- Taking away her eboard position (if she is on eboard)
- Having her apologize to the receiving student and Hillel (the Jewish organization on campus)
- Participating and speaking at the march against hate speech
- Anything you see fit for punishment
A great example for taking action, even when it would cost them, (talked about in almost every one of my classes) is the Tylenol crisis case.
If you said and performed your planned actions, I believe not only would people be happier with the organization but in world news, it would have shown everyone your organization really did not support the act.
Please feel free to follow these steps in future crisis situation.
Sincererly,
A public relations student
