How do you communicate and collaborate with your media monitoring team in a crisis?

1 Define the crisis

The first step is to define the nature, scope, and impact of the crisis. Is it a reputational, operational, or legal crisis? How serious is it? How long will it last? How does it affect your stakeholders? By answering these questions, you can establish a clear and consistent message for your media monitoring team and your target audiences. You can also determine the goals, objectives, and strategies of your crisis communication plan.

2 Assign roles and responsibilities

The second step is to assign roles and responsibilities to your media monitoring team members. Who will be the leader, the spokesperson, the analyst, the reporter, and the coordinator? What are their tasks and expectations? How will they communicate and collaborate with each other and with other teams or departments? By clarifying these aspects, you can ensure that your media monitoring team works as a cohesive and efficient unit, avoiding confusion, duplication, or conflict.

3 Choose the tools and channels

The third step is to choose the tools and channels that your media monitoring team will use to collect, analyze, and share the media data. What are the sources, platforms, and formats that you will monitor? What are the criteria, metrics, and indicators that you will measure? What are the tools, software, or systems that you will use to automate, visualize, or report the media data? By selecting these elements, you can optimize your media monitoring process and make it easier to access, understand, and act on the media data.

4 Monitor the media landscape

The fourth step is to monitor the media landscape and identify the trends, issues, and opportunities that emerge from the media coverage of the crisis. What are the key messages, themes, and narratives that the media are using? What are the tone, sentiment, and framing of the media coverage? What are the gaps, risks, or challenges that you need to address? What are the best practices, examples, or solutions that you can learn from or leverage? By monitoring the media landscape, you can gain insights, feedback, and intelligence that can inform your crisis communication strategy and tactics.

5 Report the media findings

The fifth step is to report the media findings and provide actionable recommendations to your internal and external stakeholders. How will you present, format, and deliver the media data? How will you highlight the key findings, insights, and implications? How will you suggest the next steps, actions, or solutions? By reporting the media findings, you can demonstrate your value, credibility, and accountability as a media monitoring team and as an organization.

6 Evaluate the media outcomes

The sixth and final step is to evaluate the media outcomes and measure the effectiveness and impact of your media monitoring and crisis communication efforts. How will you compare the media data before, during, and after the crisis? How will you assess the progress, performance, and results of your media monitoring and crisis communication goals, objectives, and strategies? How will you identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your media monitoring and crisis communication process? By evaluating the media outcomes, you can learn from your experience, improve your practice, and prepare for future crises.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?