Crisis readiness is critical for businesses in today's unpredictable environment. Yet, as companies create plans to mitigate potential reputational risks and unforeseen challenges, they often overlook a strategic, cost-effective measure: building and maintaining a consistent brand experience. Two key brand touchpoints, your company website and social media presence, are crucial in shaping and preserving positive perceptions.
A crisis can escalate rapidly and jeopardize stakeholder confidence in your company when you’re ill-prepared. Your website and social media are two of the first destinations people will turn to (and scrutinize) when looking for information. Prioritizing clear, consistent, positive messaging and professional presentation across key brand touchpoints is an essential ounce of prevention for companies of all sizes.
Moreover, your ability to leverage and/or restore established trust and credibility with stakeholders will rely heavily on their perceptions and experiences with your employees. Within the website and social media touchpoints, focus on the corporate bios and LinkedIn presence of leaders and other key players as part of a crisis readiness strategy.
An executive team plays a vital role as the spokespeople and leaders guiding their organization through challenges. As a preventative measure, help company leadership earn and maintain a vote of confidence by communicating their expertise, experience and commitment to the company’s mission and values through well-written and easily discoverable bios on the company website. Consistent branding across bios and other touchpoints also reinforces that leaders are authentic, credible voices whom stakeholders can trust to act on behalf of the company.
It’s worth noting that bios alone won’t inspire confidence in leaders; in addition to branding collateral, encourage executives and other highly visible employees to prioritize relationship development with stakeholders as part of a proactive strategy for crisis readiness. Leaders often need to draw on established rapport with their networks to restore trust and alleviate concerns more quickly. The social capital generated from these relationships can prove to be invaluable.
Employees can have a substantial impact on a company's reputation. There’s strength in numbers – and unified messaging. Supporting highly visible team members with informative, well-written LinkedIn profiles – and providing instruction on how to engage effectively on the platform – empowers them to be brand advocates, an invaluable crisis communication resource. Not only can their LinkedIn profiles reflect and amplify the company's values (and promote a positive brand image), posts and content shared by employees have an average of 10X more reach – and are 3X more trusted – than posts shared by the company or CEO alone (source: LinkedIn).
A strong team LinkedIn presence complements other components of a consistent, positive brand experience and proactive crisis management plan, such as transparent communications, stakeholder engagement and aligned digital touchpoints.
Point Road Group emphasizes the importance of a strong brand strategy, which includes impactful company messaging, consistent brand voice and clear communications. These elements are critical for long-term growth and success – and during a crisis when corporate communication is crucial.
We dive deep into a company’s brand experience with a thorough brand consistency evaluation to develop and deliver a measurable, transformative program.
