World in Union

Alas, another Six Nations Rugby tournament has ended. I never know what to do (apart from do work) with my weekend when the tournament ends.  However, 2011 is a year to look forward to if you are a fan of Rugby Union!  We have the Six Nations 2011 and then Rugby mad New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup September 2011.  Already, they have set up a Facebook and Twitter page and YES I have joined both ... in the hope that I'll be in New Zealand (possibly the best country in the world) for it.

"Social media provides the perfect platform for RWC 2011 to engage with the global Rugby family. Through the latest content, including video, news and discussion topics, fans will have a fully interactive involvement in the Tournament like never before," said Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

Indeed the official website for the 2011 Rugby World Cup is very detailed and professionally done.  The tournament itself does not start until Friday 9th September 2011, yet the organisers of the Rugby World Cup 2011 have embraced social media to its full potential.  In December 2009, they announced that they had created a Facebook page.

Social media isn't a new thing when it comes to rugby or indeed sport.  On the IRFU's website they have a forum for fans to discuss games, what type of scrum cap should one buy and how bad the referee was.  Unlike commentators on BBC like Keith Wood, who criticise and analyse the games with usually a cool head; sometimes on online forums you can get a heated discussion about how bad a certain player was or why was Ronan O'Gara not put on earlier on Saturday (not my opinion). Basically, you hear what fans think of what is happening in rugby, that would've only been heard in the pub.  For some reason, people let go and are very open to feelings and emotions on these online forums!  This free and easy attitude to air frustrations or opinions online is a trend in social media, which can sometimes cause issues with reputation management with organisations.

Theses online forums have been around for quite a while; it is the Facebook and Twitter that has changed the way fans are communicating with each other and to the organisations that are involved in Rugby Union.  The Rugby World Cup 2011 will see an increase in use of social media as it is a global event and therefore will create "a virtual community across continents" (Beresford and Fawkes in Tench:2009).  As New Zealand is hosting the World Cup, it will bring many people to the country and it seems that the organisers were not slow to involve potential stakeholders who will take advantage of the audiences.  Already there are companies within New Zealand tweeting to fans about rugby world cup package trips and selling official world cup merchandise.  As L'Etang (2006: 243) says, "Sport is necessarily political as well as commercial, and sports organisations at all levels require communications expertise to achieve their political as well as economic goals."

I am pretty impressed by how organised Rugby New Zealand are.  They are ensuring that they build relationships early with all stakeholders, shareholders, publics and audiences. With the increasing numbers joining their Twitter and Facebook pages, I think it will prove to be an excellent campaign.  It is whetting the appetites of all Rugby fans by having a YouTube Channel and social media is getting the fans involved more so than ever before.  I shall be following the pages the next(as of today) 533 days until kick off ... If anyone know can spare me a travel package to New Zealand in 2011, please feel free! 

Who do you want to win (if you care that is)? I, of course want Ireland to win, but if they play like they did in 2007 then the All Blacks are always the team for me!  Are there any sport campaigns that have impressed you? Enjoy the below YouTube video.

References: Picture from the RWC 2011 Official Website

Irish Supporters page

Think You Have a PR Crisis in Your Hands? ... Then Plan Ahead!

As part of our MSc Strategic Public Relations and Communications Managment we have to do a crisis communications exercise, which quite frankly scares me to death.  I'm sure it will be an interesting exercise that will teach us many lessons on how to cope under pressure and how to answer all those tricky questions. In this week's PR Week website update, I found a helpful article by Kate Magee on what companies should do when facing communication crises; and how they should be using social media to ensure stakeholders, publics and audiences are given up-to-date information.  

Kate Magee's No. 1 top tip on how to plan crisis communications involved the internet:

"The biggest change for crisis management is the revolution of social media... Social media make crises spread faster and allow the public to voice their opinions and experiences or propagate rumours in a highly visible manner.  And crises are increasingly breaking online, without the knowledge of the management."

Kate Magee used the recent Eurostar crisis in December 2009 to justify her claim that social media is crucial.  "Passengers were tweeting complaints and updates about the situation online.  But Eurostar was hindered from the outset - it did not own its "eurostar" or "eurostar uk" name on Twitter.

Her article was very helpful in what to do if you have to deal with crisis communication management, but I particularly liked her tips on using the internet:

1. Make sure you set up early warning systems.

2. Identify your key online influencers in advance.

3. Respond online first, then follow up with a traditional approach (such as a press conference).

4. Remember to still be selective about who you respond to, and where.

I found this news clip from Sky News with PR expert, Chris Reed from Brew Digital.  He explains how social media is so important for communicating with disgruntled, stranded Eurostar travellers wanting to go home for Christmas.  He explained that Eurostar used social media for marketing tools, but failed to use it as a way for passengers to communicate with Eurostar, and vice versa.  "This is a watershed case for crisis communications."

Sweetser and Metzgar investigated the impact of blogs on relationship management during a crisis, (Public Relations Review 33 (2007) 340-342).  They seem to think that blogs are a great tool when in a crisis communications situation, as it is an emergent PR tool.  They comment,

 "Because blog style writing lends itself to more frequent publishing in its shorter statements through a personal/human voice, it seems logical that organizations could deploy crisis blogs as a means of quickly communicating during a crisis."

I think this comment is very apt in regards to the crisis that hit Eurostar.  They should have had their own Twitter account up and running so passengers could have found out information via their mobile phones or indeed a computer/laptop.  As Sweetser and Metzgar concluded their report,

"...exposure to an organizational blog has the greatest impact on readers and decreases the feeling that a company is in crisis... organizations in crisis should continue to employ open communication practices during crisis situations and consider adopting blogs as another tool through which to disseminate official messages."

As globalization continues, the importance for companies and organizations to use social media as a ways and means to calm crisis situations increases.  The early months of 2010 justifies this as the world saw car company Toyota being slammed for their slowness in reacting to claims of faulty cars; a politician having an affair with a nineteen year old; and natural causes such as the Earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.  The quickness of PR practitioners' reaction to the situation seems to be the key to prevent further anguish from their audiences and to prevent reputation disrepair.

REFERENCES:

Crisis Communication Top picture taken from:Silver Fox Communications

Eurostar train picture taken from: Boncherry

Twitter bird picture taken from:Silicon Vally Denmark