Do companies still need to conduct media opinion risk checks before March 15?

Every year, March 15 is a disaster for brands. Do companies need to prepare for public opinion risks in advance? Do they need to conduct media public opinion risk screening in advance? Let's take a look at the author's opinion~

01

It’s March 15 again, and it’s another public relations “disaster”!

On this special day, I recalled that when I was working in a public relations company, we had to conduct media opinion risk checks for corporate clients on March 15 every year. That is, we would communicate with relevant media in an appropriate manner. If we found any negative topic plans related to the client or if related reports happened to be submitted for review, we would inform the client in a timely manner and discuss appropriate handling strategies, or try our best to intercept them or prepare response plans in advance. This is also the prelude to the companies' sudden launch of CCTV advertisements (preferably 315 Gala advertisements) before March 15, which many people talk about.

However, with the development of the Internet and social media, the media communication environment has undergone tremendous changes, and the development and evolution mechanism of public opinion crises has also changed accordingly. The necessity for companies to conduct media public opinion risk screening before March 15 has begun to be questioned by everyone.

In the past, public opinion crises faced by companies were often reported by the media after the crisis was discovered, and then reached the public through media channels. The public participated in the discussion through subsequent media reports, and the media would set agendas to guide the overall direction of public opinion.

This is a chain-like crisis development model. The media is the origin of the public opinion crisis and the center of the communication chain. It drives waves of public opinion dissemination around the topics it sets. Many small communication chains will branch out on a clear main communication chain, but the overall public opinion is still controlled by the media, with obvious planning and relatively slow dissemination speed.

02

Now, in addition to the traditional development model, the public opinion crisis faced by enterprises is more likely to encounter the following situation: an individual releases a relevant negative through a social media account, which triggers the public's attention and heated discussion. At the same time, more individuals or self-media accounts will try to dig out more similar negatives, and public opinion is pushed up and becomes a social hot spot. Subsequently, authoritative media will follow up with reports and try to set the agenda, but self-media will continue to participate in the dissemination and compete with authoritative media for the right to speak or cooperate with each other to continue to promote the public opinion. Public opinion may not be calmed down until official agencies intervene to put a final conclusion on the incident, but of course it may be difficult to calm it down completely.

The new crisis development model is a network model. In the process of public opinion crisis evolution, it is decentralized, with small key nodes. These nodes may be individuals or self-media. The communication links are constantly split and intertwined into a network, accumulating huge damage to the brand. Some nodes can lead the rhythm in the communication process, but the overall process is not completely controllable and the transmission speed is extremely fast.

In the traditional centralized public opinion crisis evolution model, companies can block the source of information from speaking out or control the evolution process by setting topics by controlling the central point, thereby shortening the duration of the crisis and reducing the damage caused. This is undoubtedly an effective public opinion crisis management model. Therefore, checking public opinion risks before March 15 is an inevitable measure for capable companies.

In the new decentralized public opinion crisis evolution model, it is difficult for enterprises to accurately detect where and when public opinion originated, and it is difficult for enterprises to control all key nodes in the dissemination process. It is difficult to effectively control the duration of public opinion, the direction of mutation, and the damage caused. In this case, do enterprises still need to check public opinion risks in advance before March 15?

03

A friend discussed this issue with me before, and the answer I gave was: It is necessary for enterprises to check risks in advance before March 15, but the scope of risk checking should be expanded to not only check public opinion risks, but also internal business risks and external cooperation risks. At the same time, real-time risk monitoring work should be strengthened.

First of all, traditional media public opinion risks have not disappeared, but have been deeply integrated with the new public opinion development model. The media will be the origin of the public opinion crisis and the key node in the communication process. Once the public opinion risk originating from the self-media evolves into a crisis, its intensity and damage to the brand will be greater.

This is because the media are undoubtedly experts in capturing sensitive topics, digging deep into the value of information and setting agendas. Once they plan negative special reports against a brand, the initial force of the public opinion risk outbreak is enormous. Through the new network communication model and the media as key nodes or main links, the crisis capacity continues to be amplified, and the speed of communication and the damage caused are difficult to estimate.

Therefore, capable companies should still conduct media public opinion risk checks before March 15, but the scope of the check should be expanded to include relevant traditional media and self-media (whose communication expertise and ability to create crises are no less than traditional media). The specific targets of the check should be determined based on the company's specific business and potential risks.

Secondly, the decentralized public opinion crisis development model is characterized by randomness. It may be caused by a message released by any person, media or self-media. The risk may come from a small matter in any link of the business management, which makes it more difficult for enterprises to predict public opinion risks.

04

No enterprise can be perfect. Even if an enterprise has extremely high moral requirements and a perfect management system, it may still have omissions, contradictions, conflicts and the germ of risks in the process of production and operation. These risks will not immediately evolve into crises under normal circumstances, which can give enterprises enough reaction time and buffer space to properly deal with them. However, during the period around 315 Consumer Rights Protection Day, public opinion is closely watching any disturbance. Once the risk is exposed and captured by public opinion, it can easily evolve into a crisis, which brings great difficulties to enterprises in dealing with risks and managing crises.

When the media receives the reporting materials, omissions, contradictions and conflicts have already occurred, and the first spark of public opinion has been handed over. It is best for the company to prevent the first spark from appearing. If it is possible to prevent risks before they occur and try to nip them in the bud, of course, every company would like to see it, but this is by no means a problem that can be solved by checking media public opinion risks.

To this end, it would be best if enterprises could conduct a comprehensive investigation of internal operating risks and external cooperation risks before March 15: closely check all aspects of the company's production and operation, strengthen management to eliminate existing hidden dangers to reduce the possibility of risks; strengthen communication and cooperation with suppliers, distributors and other partners, and try to require them to eliminate their existing hidden dangers, or formulate corresponding plans to strictly control the impact that external risks may have on themselves.

However, this requires huge investment of resources and places extremely high demands on the business management capabilities of the enterprise and the level of control over external partners. Not all companies can operate successfully. Companies need to do this according to their own risk levels and the capabilities and resources they possess.

If "preventing trouble before it happens" is difficult to implement, then what the company can do is "prepare for a rainy day and act on the news". It is necessary to formulate disposal plans for existing hidden risks, monitor risks in real time, and immediately activate the plans to deal with them once they occur. It should be pointed out that real-time monitoring of risks not only refers to the monitoring of public opinion risks, but also includes the monitoring of internal business risks and external cooperation risks. This requires the company's crisis management system to operate efficiently before and after March 15, especially the production department, sales department, service department, marketing department, public relations department, etc. to remain highly vigilant and have the ability to monitor risks required by the internal early warning system, public opinion monitoring system, and partner communication mechanism. Relevant personnel must be on high alert and work closely together to deal with the monitored risks in real time, scientifically, and agilely.

In fact, companies should further strengthen crisis management not only during the special period of March 15, but also during periods of great significance to business development such as IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring: comprehensively check risks in advance, actively eliminate hidden dangers, formulate crisis response plans, and keep the crisis management system in an efficient state. Even if a crisis really occurs, it can be properly handled to minimize the damage.

Finally, I would like to send a picture to my fans and friends, hoping that it will help you improve your crisis management capabilities.

Author: Chen Hao; WeChat public account: Brand Market Relativity (ID: Brand-Marketing)