For the most part, the more media attention your organization receives, the more your stakeholders will recognize you. But visibility isn’t enough. It’s the content of news stories and online posts that determine whether your audiences will have a favorable impression of you.
So how do you know whether the content was good or bad? And what do you DO with that information? We conduct in-depth analyses of our clients’ media coverage, including the tone of the stories (positive, neutral or negative), on a regular basis. We also monitor competitors and the industry in general. This helps us to measure the success of our public relations initiatives, and also provide well-informed advice for real-time decisions the organization can make.
Today’s technology makes it easy to engage with employees, customers, the news media, and the community when things are going great. But what about when things aren’t going so well? You certainly can’t run and hide. How you engage with the media – and the community – during these difficult situations can have a big impact on your organization’s reputation, and even survival.
It’s important to take control and respond to a situation, addressing concerns with empathy and offering a solution or at least an explanation. This allows your audiences to feel that there is open communication with your organization – instead of simply receiving an automated response, or worse, no comment.
There is definitely a benefit to having a steady stream of good news coming from your organization. This lays a solid foundation for keeping you top-of-mind, and providing support when something goes wrong.
But the “80-20” rule certainly applies when it comes to the quality of media coverage. You will spend 80% your time on 20% of the media activity, which is the higher quality. And while you may want to ignore the bad news or delete the online comments, by responding, you can still have control over how the situation is addressed. This can be as beneficial for your organization as a front page feature story.
That’s your Strategic Minute, brought to you by Strategic Communications, LLC – and WRVO Public Media.
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