Staying out in front of your audiences with clear, consistent communication is always beneficial. But, with the rampant spread of misinformation and disinformation, it’s now a necessity.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks disinformation as one of the top global risks for 2025. With AI being used to create fake content, more brands will undoubtedly face crises.
“Disinformation – especially when amplified on social media – can cause massive financial and reputational damage, leading to stock price crashes, revenue losses and consumer distrust,” says the WEF.
With AI being used to create fake content, more brands will be facing crises.
Let’s take a closer look at the problem and the risk – and what brands can do to help prepare and fight back against it.
My guest is Jennifer McGinley, the founder of JLM Strategic Communications.
Show summary:
In this episode of PR Explored, host Michelle Garrett discusses misinformation and its impact on public relations with guest Jennifer McGinley, a PR consultant specializing in healthcare.
They delve into the definitions of misinformation, disinformation, and malformation, providing insights into how organizations can prepare and respond to these challenges.
The conversation covers proactive crisis communication strategies, the importance of internal communications, media training, and the role of community building in maintaining trust and credibility.
They also emphasize the need for continuous monitoring and engagement on social media platforms to manage and address misinformation effectively.
00:00 Welcome to PR Explored
00:15 Introducing Jennifer McGinley
00:44 Understanding Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malformation
05:24 The Importance of Crisis Communication
09:26 Building Trust and Internal Communication
17:51 Navigating Social Media and Information Overload
24:48 Preparing for Misinformation in Healthcare
34:20 Navigating Trust in Health Advice
35:25 The Overwhelming Flood of Information
35:56 Skepticism and Trust in the Digital Age
36:18 The Importance of Media Literacy
37:13 Purpose and Motivation Behind Sharing Information
38:34 Managing Misinformation in Companies
39:33 Proactive Crisis Management
40:39 The Role of Social Media in Crisis Response
42:30 Monitoring Online Discussions
45:55 Leveraging Social Proof Against Disinformation
46:52 Building Community Trust
49:33 The Impact of Crisis on Reputation and Bottom Line
50:03 The Importance of Accurate Information in Research
53:38 Generational Differences in Brand Loyalty
55:20 The Role of Reviews and Feedback
56:46 The Importance of Clear Communication
58:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Show notes:
JLM Strategic Communications: https://jlmstrategiccommunications.com/
Follow Jennifer McGinley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-mcginley/
Full transcript:
How to Develop Effective Communication Strategies in the Misinformation Age
Michelle: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of PR Explored. This is a PR podcast where we delve into trends and topics related to public relations. I’m your host, Michelle Garrett. I’m a PR consultant and writer, and my guest today is Jennifer McGinley. Hello, Jennifer. Hello. Nice to see you. Yay. I’m so excited.
To have you, you and I have known each other for, oh gosh, quite a while. At least five years, at least, I should say five to seven years. And we met online,
Jennifer: of course. I know. In our group. In our group.
Michelle: I know. Yeah. Yeah. So I’m so excited that, that Jennifer is here. We have a great topic today. We’re gonna be talking about misinformation, disinformation, bowel information, and what it means as.
Far as coming up with a, communications, strategy and approach that’s effective because I think every, organization really needs to be [00:01:00] aware and prepared. And we’re gonna talk all about that. But first I want to, talk a little bit about Jennifer. I know she’s a public relations consultant who specializes in working, with healthcare clients.
And I, but I wanted to talk a little bit more, tell us a little bit more about you, Jennifer.
Oh. Thank you. Yes. Over 30 years in public relations specializing in healthcare. And that’s, academic health centers, especially, medical school, pharmacy school. and so I even specialize even more in mental health, working at a couple of psychiatry or psychiatric hospitals, mental health facilities, or behavioral health organizations.
There’s a couple ways you can, word that. But I think my, as a business owner for almost eight years, I really specialize in media relations, community outreach, and reputation management. with the goal of increasing connections, visibility and [00:02:00] credibility for my clients. And, I think especially now, really as always, it’s really important for everybody to have their ducks in a row, so to speak.
Michelle: Yes. And, we will, we’ll get into this, but you and I were talking a little bit beforehand about just how important it is, as far as just, really every company needs to be ready for this now. There isn’t really an organization, anywhere that doesn’t need to be thinking about.
Today’s topic, so I agree. I agree. So we’ll get into this. let’s see, how should we start? Let’s start with, definitions of these terms, because I think a lot of times, people think they know what it is. I myself have to, Look up the definitions to make sure that I understand, which way you know which one it is, because they’re all related, [00:03:00] but they’re just a little bit different.
absolutely I will put those definitions up.
and I can go through them too for misinformation. And this is, yes, I went old school to the Oxford. to find misinformation is defined as. Wrong information that is given to someone often in a deliberate attempt to make them believe something which is not true.
It refers to false or inaccurate information shared either by mistake or with the intention to deceive. Then you have disinformation false information that is spread deliberately to deceive, mislead, or confuse people. And then the third, and this is actually new to me, by. A friend, that owns truth in common malformation is real information shared out of its original context or manipulated to cause harm.
So that’s information taken out of context. So it could be [00:04:00] real information, but, and they’re all a little bit confusing. It an apropos for the definitions we’re trying to explain here.
Michelle: Yes, I’m not, I was not familiar with malformation until we started preparing for this, and you mentioned it. So I think that’s important because, maybe not everybody doesn’t, again, I think first of all, I always think of, misinformation is somebody that’s just misinformed.
They’re not doing it maliciously, They’re just sharing information that is wrong. factually incorrect. Yeah. Disinformation. And we, I think we have a pretty. Recent example of this is false information that’s spread deliberately. And then the malformation is information, the manipulated information.
And that’s what we’re probably gonna see more of with AI and deep fakes and all of that. I think, I don’t know, it’s good to [00:05:00] get the definitions, correct in your head, but like also it’s a category that, everybody needs to be thinking about and, yeah.
I agree.
Absolutely. I’m trying to think, where do you think your viewers, want as to what path should we take with all of this? Oh,
Michelle: I, the, thing is, None of this is new as far as, we talk about, fake news and that’s been around for a while and that’s where this falls, but it also falls into, just crisis communications.
And you said something before we started and I want you to talk about that a little bit. Talk about, how everybody. Needs to be in crisis mode.
Yeah. I, do, and I hate [00:06:00] to go back to five years ago, but I think I learned so much that we all now as organizations need to. operate from a crisis situation so that we’re always prepared.
And I think if break down your communication, your communication strategy, by being prepared. But the other thing that I talked to preface that is I thought about your reputation precedes you. And that’s that starting point for all organizations, even for startups, you need to think about your mission, your core values.
What do you as a leader stand for? What does the organization stand for? And then, you take that information with a proper internal communications to your employees. You start with your internal communications plan. And I think then you go for the PR crisis [00:07:00] mode, which is practicing scenarios, making sure ev the proper leadership or administration, or shareholders, stockholders, trustees are, properly media trained.
and then practicing scenarios that could happen. And coming up with a template for, responses or, press releases or, crisis responses. And make sure everything is mobile, whether it’s through a Google Doc or something more sophisticated, all contact information.
but I remember when I did a video series a long time ago, the most important thing is to create an environment of trust surrounding your organization. So when there is a crisis. You’re already ahead of the game because if somebody sees false information, they’re gonna think, wait a minute, that’s not like them.[00:08:00]
You know that they wouldn’t do that, and then they could reach out and say, Hey, I saw this, this information online. Is that true? Or something on Reddit, you had mentioned, or all the other social media outlets popping up a lot of times on a daily basis. But I think it’s that no and trust factor within, communications on public relations professionals that we’re always hammering to our clients.
You need to create trust, so that when a crisis hits, and I think that goes for creating, trust with your local media. The local media outlets. So that local news, a lot of stuff goes local first. and if it goes up on a Facebook post, sometimes you can be screwed, I know like the examples from that, h that Harvard Business Review article that, stuff happens, but you need to get ahead of it.
Michelle: Yeah, I can [00:09:00] spread very quickly. and unfortunately people are just all too ready to believe, information that isn’t factually correct. again, people. obviously can be, can believe whatever they would like to believe. However, we’re gonna talk a little bit about facts and, I think you have some statistics to share as we get a little bit further into this.
But what, always gets me is that I feel like a lot of companies, I’ve been, doing PR a long time, as have you, they often don’t think that they are gonna be in a crisis. And they don’t really have a plan in place. They don’t have, a team. There should be somebody from, obviously, your, leadership, but then also somebody from the legal team, somebody from communications or PR.
There should be certain people, from your, your company on this, [00:10:00] Crisis team, this core team of people, and those folks should know, what to do, how to, immediately address, we’re gonna put out a holding statement, we’re gonna, there’s gonna be things that they know to do and they are gonna have run through maybe a scenario or two of, what might happen, how it might work, just to be prepared so that they’re not just caught, Running around, in the midst of a crisis.
And two, I always think about HR and how they have to be careful, and I know with social media, what are the protocols and systems in place so that the employees know their boundaries and guardrails and what is expected of them. we’ve had a lot of crises nationally lately, that people go online and say things in, the heat of the moment.
I think a lot of it is about emotion. And emotion or behavior and being tired and [00:11:00] frustrated and upset and scared. I and I, do look at it from like a behavioral health perspective and how people feel about things too. and I think that’s important. Yeah.
Michelle: Yeah, I think, it’s hard to, if you, have it prepared, of course, I think it’s easy for emotion to just kick in and take over and, especially if you’re, you’re public facing, so you know, you’re out there as the spokesperson or, what have you, and you’re, you don’t have any.
Like you said, media training really, or experience you haven’t practiced, you don’t know, like it’s just, it would be very difficult to come across, I think as calm and credible and all the things that you would want to be in that situation. So I think it’s really important, for companies to be.
Have a crisis plan in place and have that core team in place and make sure, people leave companies. And so if you do, if you have a crisis plan and it [00:12:00] sits on a shelf and you never revisit it, maybe half the people that were on the core team have changed jobs or left the company. And it’s just good to revisit it from time to time in addition to having one.
that’s something I think, to, To talk about. and I, just as an example, the other day, if something that we talk about fake, what is, a fake, example of a fake news story, that was created by ai? I saw this example of the, the CN Tower in Canada. It was on fire.
it was all generated by AI was not a real crisis. You just don’t know when that could happen. Obviously, I think some organizations are more likely to be targeted than others, however, you just don’t know when it might happen to you. I put that link up there if [00:13:00] anybody wants to check that out, but it looked very real.
And again, it could be your CEO, maybe they create a fake video of your CEO saying something and that is. That would affect your stock price, or it could just be any, number of things. So I think companies are not really thinking about this yet, but it’s starting. it’s happening. So I think, we need to.
Remind people that, it’s good to, to be thinking through and preparing.
Yeah. And I always think too about talking points, and I remember listening to a, oh gosh, I don’t remember his name, but he was doing a media training and talking about, and I think this is good. It’s a shape, it’s a triangle and have three talking points prepared, so that at least you go in and interview or if it’s a standup live shot, or it’s a, Last minute interview. I know with podcasting sometimes you have more time, but if you can quickly jot down three points, [00:14:00] I think that’s like a fair amount of information to get in, to have, To be prepared. but, I think. We’ve seen a lot of people interviewed lately that are not prepared, and then mistakes can happen and I, it is our job as peer professionals to be the ones preparing as long as our clients listen to us or they bring us in the loop, right?
Because sometimes, yes, not at the last minute either. I always like to be, part of the day to day so I can suss out things and distill information, and so I’m on top of it and I’m always thinking. Worst case scenario, I just, that’s the way my brain works. Anyway, just to what, is the worst thing that could happen and we need to be prepared.
The
Michelle: wor. Yeah. What is the worst thing that can happen? that’s a good way to think about it, because if you prepare for the worst thing and something less bad happens, at least, [00:15:00] yes, At least you’ll have some.
Yeah. Yeah. And it’s, and I think that’s how you survive a crisis in a positive way.
Not only, again, that reputation and the trust, but communicating. clear communication, concisely. Consistently internal shareholders, stockholders, trustees. Yeah. and then, I know a lot of times people find out information online, but they were never briefed ahead of time. And I think, taking that moment and taking that breath to, do the internal communications first, it’s really respectful.
and, things in a crisis move very, quickly, so everybody needs to have their act together.
Michelle: you don’t want your employees to be finding out about it, like on TV or whatever. Like you really want everybody internally to be informed, ahead of time. and I think you were also, you [00:16:00] mentioned, employees have social media too.
And so then, they could be out there sharing misinformation, maybe even in innocently because you didn’t take time to communicate. What’s really going on with them. And so then they’re just like, oh, they see something and they’re running with it, before they really know, what’s real and what’s not.
Yeah. And that’s about, that internal trust and bonding as employees need to do with their leaders. That starts from the top down, and also, you know what, protocol is in place. You can’t share your personal beliefs online if you’re an employee. I think. Apparently that hasn’t been discussed often in organizations, and a lot of people in the heat of the moment get their anger out online.
And, I think, there’s a huge amount of compassion understanding that’s needed [00:17:00] too. because of where we are right now. And it doesn’t matter, I think it’s, employees need to, be respectful and considerate.
Michelle: I think that’s really good. Yes, of course we can’t, we can’t always no dictate how that comes out, but I do, I think if you treat them with respect, hopefully, that will, at least it’s, a better tone, an example of that, so that, maybe they’ll follow suit, because again, if you neglect them, it might come back to haunt you if you’re not, yeah.
Forthcoming with them and, being respectful of, what they need to know before everybody else finds out.
Yeah. Employees deserve to be taken care of. They really do. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I’m trying to think, should I go down with, I can talk about factors that influence spread of false information, [00:18:00] and.
that would include human behavior, emotion response, algorithms. And I think people are so confused right now about algorithms and how quickly they change. And I think a lot of, I test it out on my own platforms that if I start watching something, all of it comes in. If it’s. I’m about to take a trip.
All of a sudden I’m getting all this, oh, trip advice and clothing and packing and all this stuff. If I’m doing research on a topic, all of that comes forward. So in one way, we can control the information coming in, and one way we can’t. And I, I sometimes I feel like we’re all we’ve all been sucked in and we’re all suckers with social media.
and, taking that break is really important. Yeah,
Michelle: I think, I forget that not everybody, has a journalistic training. I have a journalism degree, so my filter is gonna be different than someone [00:19:00] else’s filter. Yeah, absolutely. So I’m looking at it from, I can almost tell right away, if something seems.
Off. I’m not gonna share it at least until I double check it. And then there are certainly sources that are, I think, more credible than other sources that I trust more than other sources to share stories. And if a source that I don’t know is sharing something and it seems at all like off, why would I, but again, that’s my thought process.
And I know that not everybody, thinks critically and, thinks about that before they just hit share. And then it’s. Off and running,
Yeah. It’s exhausting. I think it’s, exhausting now. To just read something, especially online, and you have to really, I know you need to vet your sources, check several outlets.
there’s a website called Fact Check I use, and then ground. I forget, it’s, I forget, and [00:20:00] I, apologize. It’s Jessica Yellen. She is a part of News Not Noise. She’s a former White House correspondent that’s gone off on her own and she’ll post information, factual information and it’s really going to a source you trust.
But I tend to look every time. If I’m not sure, I’ll do, I’ll vet three different sources to see. That the commonalities show up.
Michelle: I also go into Google News and look it up and then it will show, it’ll have a whole bunch of stories will come up if it’s, something, a hot news story and then you can see, okay, so which sources have.
Have written about it? Are they all saying the same thing? are there, a few in there that I trust? And then that seems like it’s probably a, real, but then even the headlines can vary. So I sometimes will, if I’m gonna share something, I’ll pick and choose based on, okay, how is this framed?
Because some, a lot of people don’t read [00:21:00] past the headline. Agreed. Or the first, paragraph of, a
story. yeah.
Michelle: Yeah.
Yeah. But it is, you’re right. I think in journalism and PR communications, we’re curious and we also have become very good at taking big loads of information and narrowing it down into very succinct sentences, so people can understand it and Bite-sized pieces. but that takes a lot of work. I saw something like this, the, least bit of information is the most work to curate because, we’re trying to get information that’s very, You want it to be palatable and understandable by other people,
Michelle: yeah.
We’re
ourselves overloaded with information and news all day long. I
Michelle: just saw too, and I, I don’t know, I forget the source of this, but that, [00:22:00] the majority of people are getting their news from Facebook and YouTube, which I saw that trend happening over the past, probably nine or 10 years.
and that always disturbed me. And, I don’t know. obviously there are. Reputable news outlets that have, news that they share on YouTube or Facebook, however, and when I hear that, I just think. it’s not reporters. It’s, a lot of it is not organizations that are, credible news gathering or so, so that’s a little, tricky I think too.
Yeah, it’s
unnerving. I know when I look at something, I click on to read the bio of that person and if there’s nothing there. It’s probably a bot or and I know a lot of people are going onto Substack, so it’s, it’s, becoming more difficult. And so I empathize with people that are frustrated, about where to [00:23:00] get good information.
I know Pew Research came out with something that said more than eight in 10, and this is global yet more than. Eight in 10 adults across 35 countries surveyed, said, made up News is a big, problem. 59% said it’s a very big problem. And, 51% of Americans said made up news is a very big problem.
and then from science direct.com, 50% of social media users believe fake news, If
Michelle: you believe
it, it’s true. yes. And I think we’re too tired to look and then, if it’s along our normal, I think, what is the word I wanna say? aligns with our personal identity and the belief system we already have, then it works for that narrative, but for people to step out.
And have [00:24:00] a different perspective. I think that’s a lot of work and can be very tiring sometimes. and I from it, from the American Psychological Association, it said people are more likely to share misinformation when it aligns with their personal ident or social norms. And when it elicits strong emotions such as fear or outrage, and you’re gonna sh and that’s what I think shows up on Facebook and Reddit.
You know when people are in heated discussions and, I’ll go in and click and, look at comments and I’m like, wow. That’s where we come up with our own emotions and the exhaustion can set in.
Michelle: Yeah. let’s talk about from a, from a a, company, an organization perspective. what can, how can companies really best prepare, for all of this?
obviously there’s no One, [00:25:00] one best way to do it or one answer to the problem. ’cause we, we’ve set the stage and discussed how it’s just a, kind of a growing issue. But, let’s put on our, counselor, peer counselor hat for a bit and just think about how, what can they do?
If they wanna be, stay prepared, in the event that they are, a victim of a deep fake or, misinformation.
Yeah. And I think it does go back to being aware of the crisis communications plan, but it starts way before that. It starts with, listening to your employees having task forces.
I know, when I worked at a hospital years ago, The, I think it was the housekeeping staff wanted to join a union to become a part of a union. And so what we did in our department with was we began having [00:26:00] town halls 6:00 AM 6:00 PM the CEO. And the COO gathered the employees to talk about all their frustrations, their complaints, their fears, their concerns, so that they could really boots on the ground, understand why they came to that.
Desire in the first place. So I think, I know one of my clients is a huge, academic health center and they do these often where the CEO will get on virtually or within the organization at all different times of day so that they can meet with everybody and talk about, Hey, what’s going on? Or this is our update.
So it’s almost like a campaign creating a branded campaign to get to know your employees. And I think everything starts inside first. So that. The information filtering down is valid information, statistical and factual information, and your calming nerves, and you’re keeping the [00:27:00] heat down, keeping everything a little bit more, logical and calm, cool and collected.
I think that, is really helpful because I think a lot of. Angry employees and upset and employees that don’t feel heard or respected. I think a lot of problems can stem from that situation, so starting internally, creating a communications plan, internal communications plan, and then going outside and making sure that if you’re holding events that you’re getting, good positive media coverage.
And also it’s filling in the puzzle pieces so that is your CEO interviewed and doing podcasts, are your employees photos on social media? I know we’ve had really, good luck and great engagement. When we are highlighting our [00:28:00] employees, it’s like employee of the quarter, employee of the month, or they’re doing, some community outreach and we have photos from an event.
They love it so much and employees are getting engaged online in a positive way. And so that’s just been so much fun. I think highlighting your employees and all the good things that are going on that increases the positive energy in an organization. And then, a media relations plan and a marketing plan that aligns with all of those things.
And everything needs to run in alignment and I think, run together. Does that make sense?
Michelle: It does, and I’m sitting here thinking about, how healthcare organizations are probably really. They really have their work cut out for them, right now, and it’s, nice to see, ’cause I feel we are seeing some come out with their own kind of speaking for themselves, not necessarily just, okay, yes, we’re going along with, [00:29:00] information that’s being shared, publicly that may or may not really be correct.
So I love to see that and I’m, it must come from. Preparation and forethought, or, at least quick, response, able to, being able to put together something quickly and being able to respond.
Yeah. And that’s. I was thinking about social media, like on a personal level.
I wouldn’t be on it at all if I didn’t have to, but I do social media management and it’s a way to engage and increase awareness and visibility. But the good thing that I love so much about social media is creating community. It’s creating, platforms to spread good, credible information so that people you can, calm the fears.
And I love, there’s so many medical organizations and public health organizations and experts that I follow that they are out there [00:30:00] so quick with a statement to debunk a lot of this stuff that’s been online right now. And I think. Having that out there creates the rise of good information that’s really helpful.
Michelle: For
patients, and consumers and the public and communities overall. So I think, Again, it’s who do you trust? I remember interviewing several pediatricians before I picked one, and it was word of mouth from my OB GYN, because I trusted her. So I think that word of mouth is really important too, as long as the information is, it’s not that, telephone game from decades ago where, you know, so on and so on, where you’re, getting little bits and pieces of information, but you are getting the real.
Factual, most up-to-date information. Yeah. And and consumers unfortunately have to take, they have to take, the onus is on [00:31:00] them in terms of getting the factual information. But I think, and I hope that all of us are, Blessed with going to medical professionals that we trust. I love my providers and I trust them and I question them and I’ll bring information like, is this true?
Is this not? What is your opinion? Yeah. especially with all the menopause stuff that’s out there, there’s, in social media there’s just so much information and I know my provider said, be careful when there is our products being sold. just be aware of when Somebody is selling something.
as well as providing medical information, just as these little tips.
Michelle: we do not have time to get into the health and wellness, misinformation and malformation and all of it, today, but
yeah. That’s a good, that’s a good [00:32:00] topic. That’s, I think
Michelle: anybody, I think what you said is anybody trying to sell something, anybody that’s gonna benefit financially from whatever they’re saying.
not that we all don’t market and try to sell our services or our products, But I feel like. if again, you just, you I’m just very skeptical Yeah. All the time. And I, really don’t like that, that it has to be that way, but I feel it, it does serve you well if you have a, a, a critical eye when you’re looking at anything almost.
Yeah. Unless, again, you know who you can trust. I, you could, hopefully, you could trust your, Healthcare provider, your doctor, hopefully, you have professionals in your network you can trust, depending on what you’re looking at. But, yeah, I think, that’s why the trust matters so much, Yeah. And it’s not something you can create overnight. It’s something that you work on. [00:33:00] continually, constantly, yes.
It’s that slow trajectory. I was explaining that to a potential client two weeks ago that, when you talk about the importance of trade publications and inter media relations and, building, building that trust, building that visibility.
it, it takes time, but that’s worth it. When anything is done too quickly, that’s when mistakes can be made. it, it takes time and then it’s solid and you’ve got background information that people can find to show, they said this, and then people know that long, bit of information that the journey has been there, and I, like what you said too about the trust and, I trust a board certified physician.
Or other credible experts look up their information, Look at, you’re not gonna, you’re not gonna buy a dishwasher or other appliance without getting reviews on it. So [00:34:00] we should do the same thing with everything. And maybe this is a good thing in terms of being a little bit more skeptical and educating ourselves.
Yes. this is the positive part. if you need a silver lining, it is, weeding out, a lot of this stuff on social media, there’s no barrier to entry. And that’s what I remember when all of this started. I’m like, people can come out of the woodwork and, try to sell you something and you don’t even know who they are.
What is their educational background? What is their purpose? And there are some really well educated. certified mp, registered dieticians and physicians out there, and they are selling things so then that, there’s no, blanket, there’s no black and white here. it’s all, a case by case basis.
but,
Michelle: yeah. you were talking about pediatricians and I remember being, a new mom and thinking, because it’s like [00:35:00] you hear all kinds of advice, but it’s like, who are you going to trust? And then somebody said that to me. You have to figure out who you’re gonna listen to, whose advice you’re gonna follow.
And that was my pediatrician. So even, even if another mom told me something, that didn’t necessarily mean that I would go buy that advice unless I checked with my trusted. doctor, yeah.
Yeah. Being a mom. I think being a parent today is so hard because we would go to books Yeah. To look and now it’s just this flood of information all day.
That’s, it’s all over. It’s so conf, it’s, it’s, this misinformation, disinformation, malformation age that we’re in is CR causing chaos and crisis and confusion. And that’s the hard part. That’s the sad part.
Michelle: and some people benefit from that and want, that’s what their goal is, right?
Yeah. it’s, and again, that’s something to be skeptical about. So why is this [00:36:00] person who isn’t a expert sharing this information, what did they stand to gain from it? Yeah. So that’s again, it’s being skeptical. It’s looking at who you trust. it just comes back to those things over and over again.
Exactly. Exactly. And I think weeding out the, the experts that aren’t valid, I think that’s gonna be, The hard part, but I think if we’re armed, with fact checking, there’s debunking, pre bunking, there’s literacy training, and I wanna shout out to Deanna Truist of, truth in Common, it’s Truth in common.org.
And she is doing fabulous work in bringing communities together to do media literacy. And I, it doesn’t matter. Where you sit, but just coming together to understand [00:37:00] information and The positives and the negatives, I think is, it, behooves all of us to educate ourselves, and also our right, our purpose and our why behind things too.
That why are you gonna, Float off an email to somebody or a text or put something up online and I know personally, do I need to share this? Why am I sharing this information? What’s your purpose first? Even if it’s a great travel picture, why am I doing that? And then I’m like, it’s not necessary.
I’d say 98% of the time, I’m like, I don’t need to do that. I’ve been doing
Michelle: that more and more often. I’m like, yeah, okay. I don’t know, because we, I think it becomes like a habit to oh, I’m doing this thing. I’ve gotta share it. I’ve gotta post about it. It’s maybe not,
and our private lives can be private.
I think, you get in the habit of do we need to share everything? Do we really need to, what’s the purpose? Yeah. What is your true purpose or [00:38:00] motivation?
Michelle: from a company or organization perspective, it’s good to think about that too because obviously, you wanna be careful and be, use forethought in what you’re posting and Right.
And you know who you’re, amplifying to. Because I think sometimes, we have, partners or industry, Other companies in the industry that we might respect or, know. And so it’s important to understand like which ones, are, credible, before you’re, doing that.
So just trying to look at it through that lens. I wanna talk a little bit about, we’ve talked about well. you, here’s how to prepare. First of all, we have to be aware. We have to know. It’s the, information, the misinformation can get us, can be out there, can come for our company.
We have to be prepared, with a crisis plan and a team and so forth. But what happens, what if a company actually [00:39:00] does see misinformation about it? Shared,
what should it do? Yeah. I think. It depends on the protocols they have in place about what is their daily, can’t, like what is their daily social media purpose, and their plan.
And I think as long as it’s consistent, I would recommend, the, social media manager and going to the leadership team and advising or counseling them on what to do. It just, I think if it’s a crisis. On a normal day without the social media back in the day, you’re gonna wanna get ahead of it and you’re gonna, talk about this misinformation and what the truth is.
I know some organizations let things slide, like it’s not that big of a deal. Let’s just Put it under the carpet. Nothing’s gonna happen. But I think now it behooves [00:40:00] organizations too. And I know when I’m watching social media, if it’s a great post and there’s all this positive stuff and then somebody has to put a zinger in there, like that is not the experience I had when I was a patient.
I go right to the communications director, I’m like, listen, this is what happened. We need to address it. So I think it’s better to nip it in the bud and be honest and transparent about it, because otherwise it’s gonna bite you in the rear end on the back end. Plus, if an organization gets ahead of it.
That’s increasing trust. Again, that’s that, it’s, information for good.
Michelle: Yeah. Don’t just sit back. you have to be proactive. ’cause I wanna go back just for a second. ’cause when you said that, I’ve, seen companies talk about, and people have told me this. that they’ll, they don’t do anything.
If there’s something out there, they, because it’s gonna blow over so fast, they think that in another day or two, [00:41:00] there’s gonna be another news story that’s gonna take over and it’s not even gonna be a thing. So we’re just gonna act like it didn’t happen. So I, that just, that when I heard that, and this was probably, I don’t know, two or three years ago, somebody was talking about it.
I was like, wow. Really?
yeah. The system that keeps us up at night.
Michelle: Say that again?
I said that’s the stuff that keeps PR people and communicators Yeah. At night.
Michelle: Yeah. that’s, that was just something to me. I was like, wow, really? Okay. That’s your, that’s the strategy now. Okay. it’s still online though, right?
So somebody, yeah, that’s the thing. And it’s nice
when someone says something and they quickly. Say actually this is what happened, that’s online. And they can go back saying, oh, there is a consistent response time and a consistent response, and somebody’s listening and watching, and they do care.
So that’s another way for an organization to [00:42:00] promote themselves in a way or increase their visibility and credibility, that they’re actually watching what goes on because. It’s not so much on your six o’clock news as it is on social media platforms. That’s where all the energy is and all the information and misinformation.
Yeah, and never, assume. Never assume it’s gonna blow over because something so tiny can blow up because of heated discussions online.
Michelle: Yeah. And again, and a lot of companies, here’s something else. I don’t think a lot of companies always monitor what is being said about them online.
Yes. in places like Reddit or, obviously some more companies probably pay attention to Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram or whatever, but they may not be in some of those other, platforms like Reddit. And there’s a lot of discussion. And that people on Reddit do not pull any punches.
No. And it comes up in search. it’s, Yeah, that’s true. [00:43:00] it’s just, again, you, if you have, I don’t know, social listening, software or a team that, that can monitor what’s being said about you, you do, you can set up alerts. there even. Free, obviously Google alerts, Talkwalker has free alerts.
You can set those things up so that at least even if you are a small company on a limited budget, you have some idea that if people are talking about you and what they are saying, ’cause you do need to know those things.
Yeah, absolutely. that’s, I know one of the fun things I.
We’re gonna post it actually for our work tomorrow. what is being said on such and such, I think it was Reddit about the organization and some positive things have come up. And actually the organization I work with had such a beautiful testimonial and it was just online and she even said, I hope somebody sees this.
And oh my gosh, I’m so glad I was monitoring because I was like, you know when to. my, contact and [00:44:00] she was just floored. What a beautiful, review that this wonderful. A woman had said, and so it’s not always bad stuff, but you wanna promote the good stuff too, and that’s really good for employees to hear.
Employees need to know that they’re doing a good job, because people tend to, especially in like the restaurant business or service industry, they only hear complaints and the bad stuff. But what about when something beautiful comes in, something positive and motivating, we need those too.
Michelle: Oh yeah.
I think in general you just need to know what’s being said about you, right? Yeah. And it’s helpful even if it isn’t negative, it’s helpful to know, because you can use those things, as you say, for morale boost for, you could use it in your PR or marketing efforts. it’s just good to know, maybe there’s feedback about your product or service that you know, you’re, Your product marketing folks need to know, or your, your engineering team, your IT team, somebody needs to know. and, customer service, that’s another [00:45:00] place, I think where, you’re going to get that, be able to get some of that feedback so you can, your customer service team if you have one, is probably hearing from customers.
Yes. positively or negatively. and so it’s. It’s really good to know, to check in with them as well. And I used to work at customer service a long time ago, so I know, you hear a lot of bad things, but occasionally you do hear good things too. So
same, I used to work with, patient satisfaction.
you hear the good, the bad, and the ugly, but that’s, what helps with growth in organizations is how do they take that feedback and put it into action.
Michelle: Yes, I’m putting the source of this, quote I have, in the chat so that people can see this Harvard Business Review article had some interesting points.
I thought. they were saying that, Th three ways to [00:46:00] leverage social proof to counter disinformation. and they are, monitor for social resonance. Ensure transparency and activate your allies. And I wanted to talk a little bit, about that third one because I think, if we are doing everything we can beforehand to build our audiences, our fans and followers, we were talking about this.
The beginning you were saying, that can, your, kind of, your, followers, your fans can come to your defense. ’cause they know you, they know the company. They know, hopefully they know that it, is not going to maybe engage in the behavior it’s being accused of. so I just feel like that’s really, again, something community building.
I don’t think it’s, I, just think it’s so important and I think it gets overlooked.
Yeah, no, community outreach is huge. you think about, that’s really the core of public relations is relationships. It’s building trust, [00:47:00] in a very genuine, organic, grassroots way. You need to help your community, and whatever that looks like, whether it’s, for profit, nonprofit, you’re still gonna have a community to serve.
And I think. When there is consistency in the programs that are done to increase that, they come to your defense and in, in crisis response speak. You need to build that team before a crisis happens can, because then they’ll come to you and especially with the way media used to work if you worked.
I used to love working with TV stations and radio outlets, and if there was a crisis, they would call me right away and say, Hey Jen, I heard this is happening. What’s going on, actually? and that response time within 30 minutes is always my goal to respond, saying I don’t have anything yet, but I’ll let you know.
And then making sure that’s that relationship building. And so now it’s with [00:48:00] freelancers. And it might be, now I know a lot of like in higher ed and healthcare too, organizations, they’re using influencers to get the word out. so that’s in, and I think that’s. Can be very serious work because you need to trust those influencers and what they’re going to do and what they’re going to say.
that’s a lot. That’s another thing when you say influencer, I don’t have a, that doesn’t, no it doesn’t. It’s, it can have a very negative connotation and, I think. Being careful in who you trust to hold your brand and your business. It’s, that’s really crucial and it’s a very precious thing to, all of a sudden, instead of doing ad spots or normal, regular TV spots and interviews that you’re, taking a chance on somebody to [00:49:00] spread your message.
I know there are contracts and payments involved and that’s a whole nother conversation, but yeah, it’s, it’s very fascinating how social media has just been such a game changer in everything that we do.
Michelle: We know. No, I know. And definitely not always. for the, yeah,
it’s challenging.
Michelle: Yeah, I was just gonna put up a question about, how does you know if, a company has to deal with misinformation, finds itself in a crisis, how does that impact their bottom line? what, obviously I know because I work with, Some brands in the food processing industry, if there is some kind of a, crisis as far as a recall or, food poisoning of, anything like that, it can be a really serious issue.
it impacts them, their reputation, but it also impacts their bottom line. I don’t know if there’s [00:50:00] any research on that, but curious.
Yeah, I don’t have stats on that, but I think the same thing goes for, a brand new maternity wing opening up or brand new research study that is just inputting out information and is sending out a press release, First of all, when I would do work in a medical school and do a press release on research, I cannot tell you how many eyes and how long in the red tape. And it used to frustrate me. I was in my twenties and thirties and I’m like, let’s just get this done and out. But I look back and I’m like, thank goodness.
That’s the whole point. Is to have so many people involved so that when precious research is done and a study goes out with the results, we’ve had a lot of people overlook, over, overseeing this information from legal and. All the scientists and the peer professionals, the communicators, and the [00:51:00] the dean of the medical school and the whole team and trustees.
And so you’ve got so many people making sure this is valid information that’s going out because we’re supposed to serve the community and take care of people. And this is human beings involved. and like you said, in agricultural and food safety. It’s the same thing. We’re dealing with human being safety.
we take that to heart and we really, care about the statistics and the facts, and they need to be right and they need to be perfect. You can’t, it’s not, you’re not flying by the seat of your pants. When, I used to visit scientists and labs and learn about things and I would, interview them and take all the research back and then start doing more research and more writing and, they’re approving the approval process, like I said, was so lengthy because.
it’s something they’ve been working years or decades, it’s no small [00:52:00] feat to get information out there, but if it’s incorrect, it needs to be corrected. And, this, a spokesperson needs to come out immediately and admit wrongdoing and make it right. And I know that’s very hard. I feel like people get it more now, but, it depends on the organization and, I, think the integrity of the organization is on the line. in those situations. And you can really see, true colors of organizations and how they handle crises. So I think that’s another thing consumers and the public can look at is how do they handle that situation and am I going to go to them in the future?
And am I going to trust them in the future? So it’s a great way to build a reputation or burn it down immediately.
Michelle: Yeah. And then people will always go and look at the stock price. And I’m like, I don’t know though. Like over [00:53:00] time, there are people who won’t get over that. Yeah. Who won’t go back to that brand.
They’ll switch to another brand. I’m, thinking, several things came into my mind, but one of them was the Jif peanut butter from a few years ago. I used to buy Ja, I don’t buy it anymore, Yeah. Yeah. and I probably won’t because not only because of the crisis, because I found out, that they, have practices that are maybe not, Totally ethical as far as, yeah, some of the pro, some of the ingredients they use. but yeah, it was really, it’s really interesting ’cause then once you lose that, consumer, that buyer, yeah, the loyalty, it’s be hard to get ’em back.
yeah. And I know too generationally, it hits generations differently on how organizations handle a crisis.
I know millennials really look to the greater good. Of, how organizations are doing. And even my own daughter in her twenties is like, we don’t buy there anymore. [00:54:00] We don’t do this anymore. We’re not buying. Oh, yes. I’m like, okay, update me. I know. Yeah. And they’re very aware.
They’re very astute and they are really good at educating themselves on what’s going on. Yeah. organizations need to be up on all of that too.
Michelle: yes. And that’s
behavioral science probably. so That’s so fascinating to me too.
Michelle: Yeah. If they don’t have kids, they need to. Spend some time like that, that, that My kids are one of my best sources of, keeping me up to speed on things. Sometimes they’re blunt, like
they’re blunt.
Michelle: Sure. I’m, sure my friends that don’t, have kids of the same age are like that. Have no idea. Maybe, like no. Yeah, but a lot of what they say there is, there’s truth to it.
It’s yeah, no, you’re actually right about that. Yeah. And I might not have thought about it that way had you not brought it to my attention. So I appreciate that.
Yeah. And they’re very opinionated. They’re extremely [00:55:00] opinionated. It’s amazing how quick they are to like, absolutely not. Or yes, if they’re in, they’re all in with a, company.
If they’re out, it’s,
Michelle: Yeah. Ooh,
that’s tough.
Michelle: That’s, it’s impacted the way I look at my buying choices in many cases. Yeah. So I would say that they’re very influential. yeah.
And it is, it’s picking a physician, picking a healthcare organization or a hospital, you’re gonna go and look at reviews.
And reviews are so huge now. every time I go to a doctor’s appointment, they wanna know, those pa patient satisfaction surveys are huge. They’re really pivotal. They really, And physicians, just like professors in the academic setting are graded on how they handle themselves. So everybody’s watching, it’s, we all have to, be very careful how we conduct ourselves.
Michelle: No pressure.
Yeah. Yeah,
Jennifer: So [00:56:00] it’s a, lot on the line.
Michelle: Everybody’s watching That is maybe what we will leave people with. Yeah. Everybody’s watching.
Jennifer: Yeah. Be careful what you say. The mic. The mic is always on. Yeah, it is. Somewhere. Somewhere. Take a breath. Take a breath.
Michelle: again, yeah, do, yeah, just speaking off the cuff, just be, be prepared.
And again, look to your comms team, your, PR and comms team to help you. Job
is to guide you and lead you. And, after over 30 years, I’ve seen a lot, I’ve heard a lot and I’ve learned a lot. And I can take that into that next client or that next meeting or say, you know what, this could happen.
Or worst case scenario or just being prepared. Yeah. And being careful, and always having your thoughts and the clarity before you speak. You can’t talk off the cuff and, we go into interviews and it’s it’s [00:57:00] not off the record. Nothing’s off the record.
Michelle: No.
We could cite a lot of examples of, executives putting their foot in their mouth. And I think that just because they think they don’t need, maybe they are actually caught off guard, but maybe they think they don’t need. counsel or coaching or, yes. Forethought, but they do.
Yeah. And you can see those who have been trained and those who have not been trained.
Michelle: Yeah.
Yeah. It makes, I love a good speaker. I love a good, I know. I just, I, it makes me so happy. I’m like, oh my God, I don’t even know them and they’re on the news or a podcast. I’m like, oh, they did so well. just so clear and crisp and, I really appreciate good speakers and good communicators.
Good clear communicators.
Michelle: Yeah, we really need that. AI or not, we need human beings that know how to think critically Yes. And speak thoughtfully. Absolutely. Yes. We absolutely
need that. We need to care and, have compassion for others and see all sides of situations. I think that’s so important.
[00:58:00] It, it’s the big picture that helps us come to a really good, logical decision.
Michelle: Yes. I think, I think that’s a great note to, leave this on. And, again, I want to thank you for being here. I thought this was a really, oh, this is so great.
Jennifer: This was so good.
Michelle: It went by faster. You’re right. Yeah, it did go fast.
It’s a, it was a really helpful conversation for me and I hope for people that are listening or watching. and I wanna thank Jennifer McGinley for being here. Please, my pleasure. Check Jennifer’s website, follow her on LinkedIn. if you have questions, maybe you’re watching or listening to this after the fact, I’m sure Jen would be happy to, answer your questions at any time.
she’s a wonderfully, not only insightful professional, but just a very, caring and, warm, person. and, I know that to be true, so thank you. Thank you for being here and I will, we’ll, I will see you again soon, and I will make an [00:59:00] announcement about our next, guest very soon.
Thank you so much.
Have a beautiful day. Bye.
About the host: Michelle Garrett is a B2B PR consultant, media relations consultant, and author of B2B PR That Gets Results, an Amazon Best Seller. She helps companies create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured by Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s a frequent speaker on public relations and content. Michelle has been repeatedly ranked among the top ten most influential PR professionals.
Learn more about Michelle’s freelance PR consulting services here. Book a no-obligation call to talk about your needs here. Buy Michelle’s book here.
