A single headline-making crisis can permanently alter how the public perceives your institution.
In the face of a crisis, your reputation is on the line. How should you communicate a crisis to your stakeholders and how can you manage your reputation in the process?
These questions and more are answered on this episode of The Higher Ed Marketer.Bart Caylor, President & Founder atCaylor Solutions Inc, andTroy Singer, Senior Account Executive atThink Patentedchat withChristy Jackson, Senior Director of Reputation Management and Communication at UNC Charlotte, about:
- Examples from her work at Virginia Tech and Sweetbriar during their defining crises.
- Crisis communication and reputation management.
- Operational crises vs reputational crises.
- How to manage stakeholder expectations.
- How social media plays a role in crisis communication.
Know of a higher education marketing change agent you’d like to hear on the show? Does your university have an interesting story to be featured? Connect withBart CaylororTroy Singer. If you’re not on LinkedIn, check theCaylor SolutionsorThink Patentedwebsites instead!
To hear more interviews like this one, subscribe to The Higher Ed Marketer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.
The Higher Ed Marketer podcast is brought to you by Caylor Solutions, an Education Marketing, and Branding Agency.
Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:07.190 You were listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals 2 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:11.910 in higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student 3 00:00:11.949 --> 00:00:16.070 recruitment, don't a relations, marketing, trends, new technologies and so much 4 00:00:16.070 --> 00:00:20.230 more. If you are looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, 5 00:00:20.750 --> 00:00:29.579 this podcast is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to 6 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:34.579 the Higher Ed Marketer podcast. I'm troy singer here with my cohost, Bart 7 00:00:34.659 --> 00:00:39.130 Kaylor. And Bart, I am excited and I want the world to know 8 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:42.250 is I got to see you in person for the first time in a while, 9 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:47.810 as we both attended our first higher read conference in over a year. 10 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:50.520 Yeah, that was great, try, I really appreciated being able to hang 11 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:55.320 out with you, and it wasn't on a screen recording to for a podcast 12 00:00:55.359 --> 00:01:00.240 with, but going to the Association of Biblical Higher Education, the Abh Conference 13 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:03.159 in Florida was just wonderful. I know so many the other folks attending more 14 00:01:03.239 --> 00:01:07.390 grateful to be able to be out and certainly be masked and socially distanced, 15 00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:10.549 but it was. It was good to be able to be kind of back 16 00:01:10.549 --> 00:01:14.709 in that environment. That's right, Barton. Other than not knowing how to 17 00:01:14.829 --> 00:01:19.299 first approach someone, whether you wanted to shake hands, bump this or touch 18 00:01:19.459 --> 00:01:26.140 elbows, it was great getting out among other higher ed marketers and presidents and 19 00:01:26.420 --> 00:01:33.090 leadership and talking about things like it was almost normal and having a very positive 20 00:01:33.090 --> 00:01:36.930 outlook. So again, it was great seeing you. Was Great participating at 21 00:01:37.010 --> 00:01:41.250 that conference. At this time, if you would tell us about today's guest, 22 00:01:41.370 --> 00:01:46.489 Bart Yeah, I had a chance to meet meet Christy Jackson. She's 23 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:49.359 the senior director of reputation management communication at you and see, Charlotte. She's 24 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.799 actually was introduced to me. She's a friend of Jamie Hunt, our episode 25 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:00.590 two interview, from Universe Miami, University of Ohio, and so A. 26 00:02:00.629 --> 00:02:05.829 Christie has a great deal of experience in her career and crisis communications, and 27 00:02:06.390 --> 00:02:09.909 I won't steal her thunder, but she's been in a lot of different crises 28 00:02:10.389 --> 00:02:15.710 and we'll have a chance to learn from her on how how that expertise has 29 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:19.900 really been helpful and how it could be helpful for any school of any size. 30 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:25.180 Great. Well, at this time, let's bring Christy in. I'm 31 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:30.650 excited to welcome Christy Jackson, senior director of reputation management communication. At you 32 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:35.810 and see Charlotte to the conversation. Christie, thank you so much for joining 33 00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:38.729 our podcast today. Thank you for having me try. It's great to be 34 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:43.409 with you in Bart today. We are going to get into some wonderful, 35 00:02:43.530 --> 00:02:47.960 maybe a little heavy, conversation around reputation management. But before we do that, 36 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:53.199 can you give our listeners a little bit about you and something personal that 37 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:57.800 they might not be able to get from your linkedin profile? Well, there's 38 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:00.349 a lot they probably won't be able to get from my linkedin profile because I'm 39 00:03:00.389 --> 00:03:01.669 not great at keeping that up, but I pledged to do better. Well, 40 00:03:01.750 --> 00:03:06.349 as you said, I am currently the senior director of reputation management and 41 00:03:06.389 --> 00:03:09.909 Communication at UNC CHARLOTTE. I have been in highered my whole career. I 42 00:03:10.030 --> 00:03:15.500 started my career at Virginia Tech and then I moved to Radford University and then 43 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:19.539 I was at sweeper our college before I came to Charlotte five years ago, 44 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:24.219 and throughout that time, unfortunately, crisis has sort of punctuated my whole career. 45 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:29.689 It started on April Sixteen, two thousand and seven with the shooting at 46 00:03:29.689 --> 00:03:34.610 Virginia Tech, which is widely known and understood and then from there I have 47 00:03:34.689 --> 00:03:38.889 sort of had different kinds of incidents at all of my institutions that I have 48 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:43.360 learned from and grown from and I hope that I can maybe help others learn 49 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.400 and grow from those experiences to wow, Christie, thanks for sharing that. 50 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:47.919 You know, when we first spoke about the show, we did a kind 51 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:52.360 of a pre interview, you mentioned that crisis is relative. You know, 52 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:54.439 every crisis is relative to the situation. So tell me more about that. 53 00:03:54.949 --> 00:04:00.750 Sure. So in my career I have unfortunately dealt with two school shootings, 54 00:04:00.389 --> 00:04:08.030 I have dealt with a college closure, I have dealt with a student enrolled 55 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:13.580 at our campus murdering a police officer at another campus and then I have dealt 56 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:18.339 with sort of everything in between and what I have learned in that process us 57 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:23.819 and what I said, you know, crisis is relative, is what may 58 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:27.850 seem like a big deal to someone on their campus are in their organization may 59 00:04:27.889 --> 00:04:30.930 seem like Tuesday to someone else. And I say that in Bart you and 60 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:33.490 I talked about this. My hope is that I am in a very exclusive 61 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:39.240 club right you don't want people to have that same friend of reference that you 62 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:42.680 have, and you've been through things like that. But it doesn't have to 63 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.240 be that for it to be a crisis. There are reputational crisis that can 64 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:48.560 affect organizations at every level. We see them in the news all the time 65 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:55.430 and they are brought on by decisions people make or don't make or, you 66 00:04:55.509 --> 00:04:59.829 know, mishandling of an operational crisis that turns into a reputational crisis, and 67 00:04:59.829 --> 00:05:06.939 I think as communicators sometimes it's challenging for us to sort of help our leadership 68 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:12.620 understand what truly is a crisis, what truly rises that level of stop the 69 00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:15.259 presses, hold everything. You know, we all have to turn our attention 70 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:19.420 to this and I'll give you an example. After the institution that I was 71 00:05:19.699 --> 00:05:25.850 working at announced closure, I was in conversation with the president of another institution 72 00:05:26.050 --> 00:05:28.970 and we were talking about what had happened and how it had happened and the 73 00:05:29.089 --> 00:05:32.810 response, and this person was trying to empathize with me and they said to 74 00:05:32.889 --> 00:05:36.680 me, you know, I get a crisis is so hard. I understand 75 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:41.319 what you're going through. Last year the Health Department gave our dining hall a 76 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:46.600 be rating and this person meante with every good intention and to them, to 77 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.230 them that was a crisis because they had they had never really experienced that level 78 00:05:50.269 --> 00:05:55.550 of scrutiny before and their students were upset. The families were upset. They're 79 00:05:55.550 --> 00:05:59.589 paying for this money, but these dining plans and you're giving my child subpar 80 00:05:59.709 --> 00:06:01.350 food, and it was awful for them in the moment they were in it. 81 00:06:02.029 --> 00:06:06.779 Now, for me and others of my colleagues who have perhaps experienced something 82 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:11.819 that's a little more intense, we would say that's probably a Tuesday right a 83 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:14.699 be health writing on a college campus, probably a Tuesday. You need to 84 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:16.779 address it. It's an issue, but you can manage it. It's not. 85 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:21.209 It is not a seismic potential seismic shift for your organization if you don't 86 00:06:21.209 --> 00:06:26.250 handle it correctly. But for them it was very much a huge deal. 87 00:06:26.649 --> 00:06:30.329 And and so it's relative. It's relative to the people living it, it's 88 00:06:30.370 --> 00:06:32.360 relative to your audience. It's also relative to where you are in time. 89 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.519 I think we've probably all had those things that we felt were going to explode 90 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:39.120 and they didn't, and then the things that we never dreamed would be a 91 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.839 big deal and they did. It's kind of an unpredictable environment when you're dealing 92 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.040 and working in crisis. Yeah, that's a that's a really good point and 93 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:48.069 I think that you know, even as you just demonstrated there within your own 94 00:06:48.069 --> 00:06:53.310 career. I mean you you mentioned crisis and as you've experienced, it comes 95 00:06:53.350 --> 00:06:56.910 in all shapes and sizes. I mean, certainly Virginia Tech versus the dining 96 00:06:56.949 --> 00:07:00.540 hall getting a bee rating is a much different size and shape and, like 97 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:04.819 you said, it's relative and there's certainly a difference in I know you and 98 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:09.339 I talked earlier about the idea of when a crisis is being done to you 99 00:07:09.699 --> 00:07:12.740 and your school and your organization, for is, when it's a result of 100 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:16.050 a decision that's made by the school or the organization. I mean, tell 101 00:07:16.089 --> 00:07:19.129 me about that. I know there's there's a difference there. So there is. 102 00:07:19.290 --> 00:07:24.250 Both are both can be equally awful but in different ways. When you 103 00:07:24.410 --> 00:07:28.689 have, or what I have discovered, when you have sort of that crisis, 104 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:31.199 it's brought on by a threat, whether it is an act of violence 105 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:35.399 or a hurricane or or something like that, it's an operational crisis. What 106 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:40.279 we really where I am now, we really deemed an operational crisis. In 107 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.709 a lot of ways, it's almost easier to manage initially because the needs are 108 00:07:44.790 --> 00:07:48.149 so similar and they're very simple. It's life health safety. That's what your 109 00:07:48.269 --> 00:07:53.750 first action is to do that, to protect life health safety, to make 110 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:57.110 sure people have what they need to do that. It's a simplistic message, 111 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:01.779 at least initially. When you're dealing with more of you know coming out of 112 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:05.579 the gate this is a reputational issue and it is complex and it is messy 113 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:09.899 and perhaps you know the decision is what the decision is, but you know 114 00:08:09.980 --> 00:08:11.459 people are going to fall on all sides of that decision. I think that 115 00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:16.889 is a harder thing to manage because the communication needs and the expectations are so 116 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:22.410 vast and varied and your audiences are coming at this from a completely different frame 117 00:08:22.449 --> 00:08:26.290 of mind. They are what they need in that moment. Is is very 118 00:08:26.329 --> 00:08:28.199 different than if you know there's a tornado coming, well, you need to 119 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:33.799 get to the basement, versus your CEO has embezzled money and now you have 120 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:37.919 to to announce that. It's just a different kind of message and it takes 121 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.750 a different kind of management, which is not to say again, you miss 122 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:46.269 manage a hurricane, you're on your way to a reputational crisis. And you're 123 00:08:46.350 --> 00:08:48.870 on your way to having to explain a whole lot more than you than you 124 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:50.590 thought you were going to have to do. I will also say I think 125 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:54.230 there's also more grace expended in one than the other. With your audiences, 126 00:08:54.820 --> 00:08:58.820 people can genuinely agree that a hurricane is bad and an act of violence is 127 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:03.740 bad and that shouldn't have happened to you. And there is grace and there 128 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:09.620 is compassion and there's kindness, usually from in the in those moments, where 129 00:09:09.700 --> 00:09:15.570 as announcing poor choices by leadership, controversial decisions by leadership, that grace and 130 00:09:15.690 --> 00:09:20.049 that kindness and that patience isn't always immediately extended. You don't have any sort 131 00:09:20.090 --> 00:09:24.169 of space to kind of get your footing beneath you. You have to just 132 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:28.440 be out of the gate right away. I really appreciate that perspective. In 133 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:33.480 along the lines of managing I often hear that a big part of communications is 134 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.759 managing expectations. So can you do a little farther and tell us what your 135 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:41.509 experience is with that? I think with as a communicator, you have to 136 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:45.750 manage expectation sort of up, down and out. So you have to manage 137 00:09:45.990 --> 00:09:50.629 with your leadership what is possible in this situation. When can we when can 138 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:52.740 we stop it? When can we make it better, and when can we 139 00:09:54.139 --> 00:09:58.139 apply pressure until the bleeding sort of eases? And when is our only hope 140 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:01.820 just to come in and clean it up? Not Always, but sometimes that 141 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:03.820 I think most communicators have had this experience at some point in their career. 142 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:07.409 There's this expectation that no matter what, PR can fix it. Well, 143 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:11.929 we'll just spin it, we'll just spin it, and that is a naughty 144 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:13.610 word as far as I'm concerned. With, you know, spinning. We 145 00:10:13.850 --> 00:10:16.529 don't spend. We tell the truth. We tell the truth. But there 146 00:10:16.570 --> 00:10:20.210 are sometimes, and I'm sure you gentlemen have seen it, there is nothing 147 00:10:20.409 --> 00:10:24.960 you can do except wait for the storm to pass and start the clean up, 148 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:28.360 and I think you have to be honest with your leadership when that happens. 149 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.159 You all have to go in face in the situation, on the same 150 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:35.190 page, and I would say there's a lot of that managing down to with 151 00:10:35.470 --> 00:10:39.509 with your team and with others in the organization on this is what this is 152 00:10:39.590 --> 00:10:43.590 what's possible for us to do and what's not. And when I when managing 153 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:48.269 out, I mean with your audiences. I have discovered over the course of 154 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:52.779 my career that even if you can't tell people what they want to know, 155 00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:56.179 if you can tell them why you can't tell them, it often goes over 156 00:10:56.259 --> 00:11:01.779 a little bit better and I think it is important to be up front with 157 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:05.330 this is what I have, this is what I can tell you and this 158 00:11:05.450 --> 00:11:07.129 is why I can't, and if I can't, I'm going to tell you 159 00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:09.210 why I can't. You know, working in public education we faced that a 160 00:11:09.289 --> 00:11:13.009 lot. We are under a lot of federal guideline state guidelines for information we 161 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:18.919 can release and, as you gentlemen have probably also discovered, the right to 162 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:22.919 know versus be want to know is often very confused, especially in a crisis, 163 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.559 and it and it's managing that. And the other thing I would also 164 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:31.159 say is understanding the expectations of your audiences. And my most recent are my 165 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:37.149 current job. We did a lot of research with our campus constituents, our 166 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:41.669 faculties, at students and families and sort of what they wanted to hear in 167 00:11:41.710 --> 00:11:46.149 whine a crisis, in a non crisis situation. And you know, I 168 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:48.700 think it's really easy when you're in the room where it's happening, to assume 169 00:11:48.740 --> 00:11:52.659 everyone has the same information that you have to work from and that their understanding 170 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:58.620 in the same context that you have. And what we found out is just 171 00:11:58.740 --> 00:12:01.769 because we didn't think someone would want to know that, because it didn't seem 172 00:12:01.769 --> 00:12:03.850 like a big deal, didn't mean they didn't actually want to know it. 173 00:12:03.370 --> 00:12:09.009 Sometimes our audiences just wanted us to reassure them that we we saw the hurricane 174 00:12:09.090 --> 00:12:13.009 to even though it wasn't here, but we're watching it and if anything happens 175 00:12:13.049 --> 00:12:15.919 we're going to let you know, but if you don't hear from us, 176 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:20.639 you're good. And we did that and we started operating in that way and 177 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.720 it really, I think, helps build that goodwill and that social capital so 178 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:28.720 when the big things happen you have more to draw from because you've shown up 179 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.350 for your audiences in the small moments. That that makes sense. They'll give 180 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:33.950 you more grace in the big moments if you showed up in the small moments. 181 00:12:33.470 --> 00:12:37.990 That's really, really good. I think that plays out so well and 182 00:12:37.350 --> 00:12:41.029 so much of these, whether it's crisis communications, are just communications in general. 183 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:46.539 I think that's that's quite quite a good point. I know that, 184 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:50.940 Christy, one of the things when we were talking earlier you'd mentioned how much 185 00:12:50.059 --> 00:12:54.340 crisis communications and reputation management has changed with, you know, social media. 186 00:12:54.460 --> 00:12:58.169 I mean obviously you know even this year, you know, two thousand and 187 00:12:58.169 --> 00:13:03.889 twenty one, we've seen the crisis and in the capital insurrection in the district 188 00:13:03.889 --> 00:13:07.090 of Columbia and things like that. How do you think social media plays a 189 00:13:07.129 --> 00:13:11.250 role in crisis communication and planning and reputation management? You know, with with 190 00:13:11.610 --> 00:13:15.919 that, I mean certainly over your career, it is changed vastly. You 191 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.480 know, I think it's the wild card in everything we do in a lot 192 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.279 of ways, and especially in crisis. I often tell my team assume in 193 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:26.360 most crises you're going to be two steps behind out of the gate because of 194 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:31.070 social especially when it comes to the more operational kind of situations. Assume your 195 00:13:31.309 --> 00:13:35.350 you are likely to find out something has happened on your campus because you just 196 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:39.190 got tagged on social media and someone is, you know, taken a video 197 00:13:39.309 --> 00:13:41.340 of it and and is letting you know that way, and I think that 198 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:48.700 makes it far more challenging to do what we do because you will never have 199 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:52.860 complete control of the message. I mean you can't with social journalism and you 200 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:58.929 know, keyboard warriors and keyboard courage, and so I think. But I 201 00:13:58.970 --> 00:14:01.889 would also say I think you have to give respect to that space and you 202 00:14:03.009 --> 00:14:05.649 have to treat that space like you do other mediums. In a crisis, 203 00:14:05.730 --> 00:14:09.559 you have to be delivering content for that space, you have to be monitoring 204 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.480 that space and you have to take it seriously. I have worked in the 205 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.840 past with folks, Oh, that's just social, which is social? Well, 206 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:20.759 it's just what are no one's paying attention to it, except they are, 207 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.029 except our students are. That's where they all are. So if there 208 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:30.710 is a rumor running rampant that we can dispel, we should dispel it, 209 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:35.070 in my opinion. Now that's not to say I believe engaging controls, because 210 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:37.269 they don't, and I think that's going back to my managing expectations. I 211 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:41.259 think with social you kind of have to have that. What's our baseline of 212 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:46.179 tolerance here? What are we going to say? Is a normal level of 213 00:14:46.299 --> 00:14:48.820 negativity and nastiness that we're going to see in this moment? And when do 214 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:54.370 we engage in when we don't? But I think it has shifted everything we 215 00:14:54.529 --> 00:15:01.250 do as communicators. You know, there is no it. It forces the 216 00:15:01.330 --> 00:15:03.210 rapid response in a crisis. There is. No, we got to gather 217 00:15:03.330 --> 00:15:07.519 all the facts and we got to make sure everything is perfect and then we'll 218 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.399 send out a press release. No, no, no, no, you 219 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:15.240 are out there and you were saying something fast, and you know. That's 220 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.679 where the holding statement comes in, acknowledging here's what we know, here's what 221 00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:20.240 we don't here's what we're going to go back. But it has, it 222 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:24.350 has forced the speed at which we work as professionals, especially in a crisis, 223 00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:28.710 because if you're not out there, they're going to be out there and 224 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:31.750 I promise you, whatever they say is likely not going to be accurate. 225 00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:33.909 You know. Just with that in mind, I mean so much of social 226 00:15:33.990 --> 00:15:37.139 to whether it's crisis or just in communications with you know, you know you've 227 00:15:37.139 --> 00:15:41.460 got a troll out there. Many times you can rely on those allies that 228 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:45.419 are there on social media to help along the way. I mean, like 229 00:15:45.539 --> 00:15:48.419 you said earlier, you invest in the small and you can you reap the 230 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:50.730 trust in the bigger things. How much do you think that plays into? 231 00:15:50.730 --> 00:15:52.850 I mean, as I look at, you know, the schools that are 232 00:15:52.889 --> 00:15:56.529 listening to this, I mean they might not necessarily be in crisis mode all 233 00:15:56.570 --> 00:16:00.850 the time, but it seems to me that there's a little bit of investment 234 00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:03.639 that you can make on social to start gathering around those, you know, 235 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:07.279 allies that are going to, you know, come to your support when the 236 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:11.519 time comes. I absolutely agree with that and my team and I, all 237 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.480 my teams and I, we talked a lot about rapport building versus reporting and 238 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:21.389 using social to also to build that rapport to have those allies, to have 239 00:16:21.710 --> 00:16:26.429 those fault leaders that will come to your defense, and not even come to 240 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:30.230 your defense, but just share the right information it. That's what it is. 241 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:32.860 Half the time it's just correcting that and I will tell you, there's 242 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:37.100 nothing I love more than that self regulation and correction on social where you don't 243 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:41.299 even have the way in because fifty other of your biggest supporters have just done 244 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:47.409 that for you. But I do think it is it is about and I 245 00:16:47.529 --> 00:16:49.450 am not a social expert. That's why we have people who are. But 246 00:16:49.649 --> 00:16:53.009 to me, when you're when you're building that content and you're putting on social, 247 00:16:53.049 --> 00:16:56.730 you really are strengthening and building your relationships with the people who are out 248 00:16:56.730 --> 00:17:00.730 there. That is how alumnice day connected it tell student. I mean it's 249 00:17:00.049 --> 00:17:03.279 it's relationship building, it's pride building. So again, if you invest there, 250 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:07.319 then when something bad happens you are more likely to have the people coming 251 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.920 and say it. Actually you can believe them because here, here are all 252 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:15.359 the ways that they've they've told the truth before, they've shown up for us 253 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:18.630 before, and I do think we're lying on that network to help you. 254 00:17:18.789 --> 00:17:22.750 Is Critical and I think that often is far more authentic to the people receiving 255 00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:26.509 that information when it comes from others than when it comes from you. I 256 00:17:26.630 --> 00:17:30.940 mean, I can set there and type on facebook responses all day that I'm 257 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:34.420 telling you the truth as a university, but if you know you bart, 258 00:17:34.619 --> 00:17:38.619 the respected Alumna, alumnus, is saying it, then I think that often 259 00:17:38.660 --> 00:17:41.619 carries more way. Well, I don't know about you, Bart, but 260 00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:48.250 thank you, Christy. I just feel I've experienced or audited a three hundred 261 00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:52.890 and one level communications course. They're in the last twenty minutes and you gave 262 00:17:52.970 --> 00:17:56.529 it so passionately. It's very evident why you are good at what you do. 263 00:17:56.650 --> 00:17:59.960 At the end of each one of our episodes, we like to ask 264 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.519 our guests to offer a quick tip or something that other marketers could either implement 265 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:11.200 or take away as a nugget usable in the next thirty days. If we 266 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:14.910 were asked that of you, what would that be? If you don't have 267 00:18:14.950 --> 00:18:17.710 a plan, get one. If you do have a plan, dust it 268 00:18:17.829 --> 00:18:22.670 off and Polish it up and test it. I think so many people oftentimes 269 00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:25.549 with there's so much going on right now, right there's always too much work 270 00:18:25.549 --> 00:18:29.420 to do and the crisis is the thing you hope never happens, so it's 271 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:30.859 easy to sort of push it away, but I think you need to view 272 00:18:30.859 --> 00:18:34.259 it as an insurance policy. You invest in it and you hope you never 273 00:18:34.339 --> 00:18:37.940 need it. But in addition to writing the plane, you got to practice 274 00:18:37.940 --> 00:18:41.769 your plan, you've got to get it out and and build that muscle memory, 275 00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:45.369 because there is only so much that can be templated and flow charted. 276 00:18:45.730 --> 00:18:48.170 You as a person, you as a leader, need to know how you're 277 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:51.730 going to respond and make sure you have built that depth of knowledge so that 278 00:18:51.809 --> 00:18:53.769 when it does happen, and I hope it never does, that you are 279 00:18:55.170 --> 00:18:56.720 your you know what to do, you know how to do it and you 280 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:02.200 can do it successfully. While Christy, thank you for that and thank you 281 00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:06.359 for joining us and sharing your journey today. I thought that you provided not 282 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:10.789 just that, but many other takeaways and insights that others will be able to 283 00:19:11.670 --> 00:19:15.509 implement as they think about how they'll handle crisis in the future. Again, 284 00:19:15.670 --> 00:19:22.150 thank you to everyone. The Higher Red Marker podcast is sponsored by Kaylor solutions 285 00:19:22.390 --> 00:19:26.299 and education, marketing and branding agency and by thinking, patented a marketing, 286 00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:30.980 execution, printing and mailing provider of higher red solutions. On behalf of my 287 00:19:32.099 --> 00:19:38.609 cohost Bart Taylor, I'm choice singer. Thanks for joining us. You've been 288 00:19:38.650 --> 00:19:42.769 listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure that you never miss an episode, 289 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:48.250 subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. If you're listening with 290 00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:51.690 apple podcasts. We'd love for you to leave a quick rating of the show. 291 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:56.559 Simply tap the number of stars you think the podcast deserves. Until next 292 00:19:56.559 --> time.