At any time, a crisis can develop, but a crisis does not have to be something that throws your business into the gutter. You can prepare for these crises, and the best way is through media monitoring.
What Is Media Monitoring?
Media monitoring is a PR strategy in which you watch the news on television, read the news in the newspapers and listen to the news on the radio for the keywords that are relevant to your business. It allows you to know what people are saying about your brand so that you know how your brand is being perceived by the public.
How Media Monitoring Can Help a Business Prevent PR Disasters
Anything can happen in this world. You can receive complaints on your social media websites, or someone could write a negative review on your products or services. This can create a PR disaster that can seriously damage your business, but you do not have to wait until the damage is done before you take action.
Rather than use scissors to cut out pertinent stories, companies use software to monitor their businesses. Information is moving at breakneck speed these days. Once it hits the news outlets, it quickly travels to social media, and you need to be at the forefront of this. That is because you must head disasters off in the beginning. After all, your customers will not forgive you if your company is involved in a PR disaster.
According to research, two-thirds of customers said they would cease patronizing a store if the store did not address a crisis well. This means that you do not have all the time in the world to deal with a disaster that is in the making. This is why you need to engage in media monitoring.
You can set up media monitoring practices that will alert you before a crisis hits in the following manner:
Engage in Early PR Crisis Detection
Detecting a possible crisis gives you more time to create a strategy to combat it. This prevents the CEO from coming to your office and asking you why you weren’t on top of this problem earlier.
Create a Guided Crisis Response
Knowing that a crisis is brewing gives you time to gather the facts that you need to address it in the fastest manner possible. Ask what people are saying, ask who is saying it and ask where they are saying it. When you know all of this information, you can respond to your customers with the knowledge that the situation deserves.
Determine How a PR Crisis Progresses
Crises do not have to be seen as events that you do not want to occur. You can learn a lot from problems in business, and it could mean that you will end up in a better place once you are on the other side of the disaster. The crisis flexes your muscles and shows everyone how well you can deal with difficulties. Most importantly, a crisis gives you the opportunity to increase your customer base and build new media relationships.
PR Disasters Every Business Should Avoid
Even though disasters can lead you to a better place in your business, there are PR disasters that you should avoid, including the following:
Underestimating the Power of PR
The only thing that you will do in PR is not going to be distributing press releases. It will be different in 2025, so you will need to expand to interactive content, influencer programs, digital storytelling and thought leadership. You must use several methods of putting your messages out there to remain relevant. This means you must use social Questions & Answers, webinars and podcasts, or else the public will not see you as trustworthy.
Not Developing a Good PR Plan
You will need to make sure that your business goals align with your PR. These plans cannot be set in stone and must be amenable to digital launches, partnerships with influencers and media showcasing. If you do not have a strategy, no one will even notice your PR efforts.
Failing to Place Content, Digital Initiatives and Multimedia in Your Strategy
It is dangerous to remain in the past and continue to do the things that were popular back then. People will pass you by if you do this. In order to ensure that people are aware of your brand and are willing to engage with you, you must have live streams, interactive infographics and video in your strategy.
Failing to Be Human
PR is not a one-way street any longer. This year, it will be a dialogue between two individuals. If you have a live audience, you must be willing to speak with them. The audience may have praise for you, but they could also have complaints. You must be willing to listen to both praise and complaints and address both in the same manner. Using social listening tools will make it easy for you to gauge your customers’ sentiments so that you can react to them in the most appropriate manner.
