{"id":1617,"date":"2011-08-24T07:13:05","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T11:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:07:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:07:54","slug":"a-content-strategy-approach-to-online-crisis-communications-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/a-content-strategy-approach-to-online-crisis-communications-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"A Content Strategy Approach to Online Crisis Communications (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Do you know your role as a communicator during an emergency?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most important communications plans at our universities are the ones we hope we never have to use. These are our plans for crisis communications, to be activated when a threat is posed to the health and safety of our campus community. Nowadays, these plans revolve heavily around electronic communications.<\/p>\n

Many universities shifted their crisis communications planning into high gear following the fatal shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007. Money was thrown into robust multiplatform alert solutions, and hours of committee time were spent developing giant binders of crisis workflows and procedures. Beyond the “gunman on campus” scenario, the expectations for communicating campus closings due to inclement weather have evolved thanks to the advent on the web\u2014the scroller on Channel 5 is no longer enough.<\/p>\n

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There is no content more useful or usable than that which you need during a crisis. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But how many of us feel truly prepared? Are our crisis communications plans living documents \u2014 are they regularly revisited, reviewed, revised and rehearsed? How many of us contributed to those giant binders only to later use them as door jambs? <\/p>\n

With the new academic year upon us, I’ve been thinking about crisis communications and how it could benefit from a content strategy mindset. According to Kristina Halvorson, “Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” And there is no content more useful or usable than that which you need during a crisis.<\/p>\n

While we don’t have much time to think and plan as a crisis is unfolding, we do have that time right now.<\/p>\n

Core Principles<\/h2>\n

We don’t get to pick when or how a crisis hits. But we can control how we communicate once it does. In my view, our crisis communications should be:<\/p>\n