Using social media to address a PR crisis was the focus of the September Luncheon of the Georgia Chapter of the PRSA - which I attended last Thursday, courtesy of Steve Robinson of Business Wire.

Lynnette McIntire, manager, UPS Public Relations and Debbie Curtis-Magley, manager, UPS Public Relations discussed their response to a multimillion-dollar “Brown Bailout” campaign waged in traditional and new media.  It was launched by rival Fedex who claimed  UPS was taking a “government bailout.”  It’s all part of a dispute over the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, which contains a provision that would change the labor law covering FedEx workers. The bill was passed in the House of Representatives but the Senate has not yet voted.

Starting in June when the Brown Bailout campaign began, UPS had a crisis on it hands.

Needless to say, since that time, UPS has been busy countering charges and communicating their position.  The work has all been done in house with a very small team.  Not surprisingly, social media has been at the heart of their strategy to protect their brand and reputation – using Twitter and blogs to address questions and accusations made on blogs, Twitter and of course YouTube.

So what lessons has the UPS PR team learned so far:

- When the issue is emotionally charged, don’t get emotional – stick to facts and correct misleading ones.

- Pick your battles.

- Be nimble.

- It is helpful to have a monitoring program in place before a crisis hits when you have the luxury of time.

- Start Twitter accounts now to build a credible voice and presence  in the channel before a crisis hits.

- Know when to intervene with an “official” vs a conversational response.

- Educate internally.

- Monitoring key words can be tough – UPS the company and ups the verb yield very different results.

- Words without credibility fade.  The truth does prevail.  Errors, misleading materials, misguided conversations eventually get sorted out.

- Being young doesn’t mean you are comfortable with social media and commenting or engaging with the public.  Training is critical for everyone in an organization.

Bottom line, it’s clear crisis communications begins before a crisis.  Tools will change, but given the speed of social media, preparation is critical in containing a crisis caused by  a customer, competitor or an employee.

Let me get back to you.