From BP to Spirit Airlines (strike and flight cancellations), there’s a simple lesson to be learned here in the new era of social media. If you don’t communicate with your audience in a consistent manner, somebody else will. And that consistency shouldn’t merely encompass “spin” but how you’re putting together a real game plan for making things right. It also consists of eliciting feedback from your audience via multiple methods: An 800 number. A Twitter handle dedicated to responding to ideas and complaints (and you must respond to many of these tweets as well). A YouTube channel of daily updates. And more.

You have to be realistic about the situation at hand. You can’t hide the fact that gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf or that flight after flight is cancelled, inconveniencing customers at the airport. The goal isn’t to put lipstick on a pig of a situation. People are too smart for that and you’ll draw the ire of customers and prospects alike.

Instead, I find the organizations that 1) Make their leaders regularly accessible and visible to the press and public, 2) Communicate next steps with their audience consistently and 3) Don’t pretend they know all the answers and 4) Provide multiple avenues for feedback are companies that tend to minimize the fallout as much as possible. In BP’s case, it’s not like a new logo or new name is going to hide the fact that their product is ruining an ecosystem. The focus has to be on taking complete responsibility (which they didn’t at first) and how they’re going to be helping the environment — from wildlife to economic — as a result of their ongoing efforts. Again, this is where social media can shine a light on that story. People aren’t going to fall in love with them, obviously, but ignoring the affected isn’t an option either. In such scenarios, 2-way communication via social media becomes more important than ever.

CEOs can either choose to engage or have the story written by people who will fill in the blanks with commentary against the company.

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