Expert tasks reputation managers on proactive management of social media
Effective stakeholders’ engagement is a critical element in successful crisis management, especially in the new communication world order ruled by social media, according to Emeka Oparah, director of corporate communications and CSR, Airtel Nigeria. He therefore calls on reputation managers and public relations practitioners to continuously engage and connect with their various stakeholders.
Oparah, who urges communications executives to pay close attention to social media, says that with the overwhelming influence of this new media, it is extremely important for media managers to adopt a proactive and robust strategy in managing its influence on stakeholders.
The Airtel executive, who delivered a paper entitled ‘Contemporary Challenges in Reputation and Crisis Management,’ recently at the Performing Arts Theatre, Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, as part of activities marking the 60th birthday colloquium for Wole Adamolekun, provided insights into how Airtel Nigeria managed its 2011 call centre crisis and a bomb attack on one of its flagship showrooms in Kano, in 2012.
Speaking on the 2011 Abuja call centre crisis, he says Airtel leveraged on its massive goodwill to engage all the various stakeholders, however, noting that without a clear social media strategy at the time, the telecoms briefly lost control of the crisis which cost it significantly in reputation and financial terms.
According to him, the crisis management team, constituted by the management to address the crisis, was able to rebound due to the good relationship the company had built with its stakeholders including the traditional media, which aced the way for them to manage their concerns and expectations until all the crisis was amicably resolved.
On the Kano showroom terror attack, he explains that notwithstanding the complicated security operations associated with such an incident, the company was able to do the needful, including contacting all employees and their families, issuing regular communications, engaging the relevant stakeholders and ensuring the disruption to its operations was minimal.
He emphasises the need to have a crisis plan in place as a crucial first step in managing a crisis and, in some cases, preventing crisis from occurring, adding that the first 24 hours of a crisis is most crucial and can be a success or failure depending on how prepared an organisation is for crisis.
He further advises communication managers to pay close attention to social media in planning, anticipating and managing crises situations, saying both the call centre crisis and the Kano office terror attack occurred in the new world communications order where a PR manager has little or no control over what gets said, seen or heard by stakeholders.
Against this backdrop, he advises communication managers to be proactive, open, transparent, thoughtful and calm when dealing with crisis, adding that reputation managers should always set the right expectations and manage access to social media platforms carefully and professionally.
The lecture, which was attended by students of Elizade University, also had in attendance several dignitaries including the celebrant, Wole Adamolekun; the vice chancellor of the university, Valentine Ayobore Aletor; former managing director, Rosabel Leo Burnett Advertising, Sam Johnson, and managing director of CMC Connect Perception Managers, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya.
Currently director, corporate communications and CSR at Airtel Nigeria, with responsibility for PR, internal communications, corporate events and sponsorships, Oparah’s 23 year career has traversed the communications world taking him through journalism, advertising, public relations, consumer public relations, social communications and new media management, public and government affairs.