“Truth is no longer dictated by [news] authorities, but is networked by peers. For every fact there is a counter-fact and all these counter-facts and facts look identical online, which is confusing to most people.”
That’s a quote from Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired Magazine and a contributor to the 2017 BBC report , “Lies, Propaganda, and Fake News: A Challenge for our Age.”
With the spread of false information multiplying via social media, communicators are left to try and protect their brands against false information and outright smears that take on a life of their own.
- Build and maintain relationships with journalists covering your industry. They still count. Most traditional media have web-based digital presence; a controversial news story in a newspaper or on a broadcast or cable program will be promoted extensively online and can be spread with a single “click” by social media and bloggers.
- Reporters will reach out to contacts they know and trust before publishing a damaging story. State your case to try and get the story more balanced or even killed.
- Think about other ways to combat a story. Perhaps most credible is an op-ed that corrects the facts. A letter to the editor is less visible, but does show up in web searches. The counter point is that you may keep a story alive that would otherwise quickly fade from coverage.
- Monitor articles, web and social media posts, and comments by tone as well as the number of “likes.” Identify your “influencers” and activists with the most followers. If you find a social media or blog post that is false or misleading early on, try to engage directly to see if he or she will take it down or correct it before it goes viral. Often the poster just wants to get your attention and demonstrate their influence.
- Act quickly; it’s better to contact the reporter and engage the blogger or social media poster sooner than later. Provide any facts and data you can to counter the story or post to create doubt about the story’s accuracy.
- Recruit 3rd party allies to post comments and data that support your organization or brand in reply to false stories or posts.
- Measure the overall impact of the false stories and posts on the public, stakeholders, and customers, and evaluate if a proactive reputation restoration campaign is warranted. If the issue involves potential litigation, make sure legal counsel is on the crisis response team.
When responding, remember a cardinal tenet of crisis communications: Success isn’t always having the problem go away; it’s usually keeping bad from becoming worse.
Whether you’re in the middle of a crisis, see trouble coming, or want to be prepared, CommCore’s award-winning Crisis Communications Services enable your team to understand the process better, so they can respond more effectively.