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Social Media Monday (Vol 1, No 18)

 

August 29, 2011

Crisis Management

 After the week of the great Maryland “Hurriquake”, I thought it appropriate to write a quick blog about crisis management and the power of social media.  Social media sites play a vital role in disseminating information and in allowing people to connect in an emergency.  The messaging prior to Hurricane Irene was clear and concise coming from the state which allowed people to implement emergency plans and prepare for the “72 on you” that was consistently pushed out.  There will be days and possibly weeks of analysis to see where we could have performed better but at first look it appears that our citizens took this weather crisis seriously, prepared appropriately and most importantly hunkered down for the duration of the storm which limited loss of life.

 Communication in a crisis is vital and more people are now reaching out to social media sites to gain valuable information in real time through our state sites.  We saw a huge uptick in followers during the hurricane and received consistent feedback from all state accounts but especially through the MEMA twitter and Facebook sites.  Lay the foundation for an emergency by building you’re following and feeding your accounts consistently so that your followers have already formed a bond of trust with you. 

 In the moments and hours after the earthquake it seemed that everyone wanted to call and check in on their loved ones and tell the story of where they were when they felt the building shake.  It is human nature but the result was a lot of jammed lines.  First responders need the lines clear so that they can get the help they need in an emergency.  The message to utilize text, email and sm technology to check in on family and friends rather than to make cell phone calls was pushed out all over the state through social media as the hurricane was approaching.  Again, more analysis is needed but it seems that we were fairly successful in influencing our followers to change their habits for the second weather related confrontation in under a week.

 Promoting a hash tag campaign prior to a crisis keeps everybody from the various state sm managers to the total audience on the same page.  The use of #mdhurricane was hugely successful throughout the crisis.  While I am not privy to the data, there appeared to be widespread use of this hash tag and those of us working through the storm searched and analyzed it extensively to gage perception, look for problems and respond to trending discussions.

 Social media has become a strong tool in our messaging arsenal.  It is essential that all of the state departments spend some time considering what potential emergencies could arise in their areas and develop a messaging plan.  Build your followers before an emergency so that they are your partner in communications in the storm. 

 Industry News:

 We are promoting the #MDStateFair and MDGranPrix this week.  Please use these hash tags whenever they are applicable. 

  Lori Livingston

 [email protected]

410.260.8006