The events of the recent Coldplay “kiss cam” incident, and the subsequent fallout that gained international media attention and gripped the global online community, has wider lessons from crisis communications professionals.

Public reaction has largely fallen into three buckets: those who have found it funny, and have driven the hugely ‘meme-able’ content; those who recognise that tragic private circumstances are playing out on a worldwide stage; and those who thank their lucky stars that it was not them shown on the big screen. A fourth category may have regarded the real embarrassment as being caught at a Coldplay concert at all.

Yet, while we are all tittering away, it would be remiss to not recognise that a complicated corporate situation is playing out in real time.

A recipe for a crisis

From a crisis communications standpoint, the moment had all the ingredients of a hard-to-manage scenario: a viral video, a spiralling narrative, questionable – but not illegal – behaviour posing questions of personal and leadership integrity, and an emphatic public reaction, resulting in damage to both corporate and individual reputations.

Given the global eyeballs on the story, there are many avenues that journalists and other online commentators have already dissected in detail: lessons learned from the first 48 hours, the need for crisis preparedness, initial lack of company recognition not posing an obstacle to international interest, and the prevailing ethical standards to which corporates are apparently held to.  However, arguably the most interesting dimension has been is the challenge posed to the company’s control of the narrative by the public’s need to keep the story moving.

A sky full of statements

The capricious appetite for developments that would deliver the dopamine hit users craved meant that new content spread like wildfire, creating a pronounced difficultly in verifying individual public statements.

Soon after the event, a large volume of unverified content and statements – including those “issued” by Astronomer, its CEO, the CEO’s wife, the HR lead, the HR lead’s husband, and internal company memos – were ostensibly taken at face value by social media users, influencing how the story was perceived by millions of people, without knowing if they were even legitimate.

Preparing for the unforeseeable

From a communications standpoint, what should a company do to handle and mitigate this type of situation?

Firstly, it is crucial to ask whether the statements are likely to impact the stakeholders that matter to the client. Let’s use Astronomer as an example: are the consumers of this content likely to interact with the business, either as customers, investors, employees or partners? Is it possible that the content will influence their viewpoint, decisions and behaviours in relation to Astronomer? If the answer to both is yes: does Astronomer have clear messages and ways of reaching those groups to correct any misinformation they are seeing? These, and more, are the kinds of questions companies need to be able to answer and address rapidly in high stakes situations.

In any crisis taking flight on social media, it is vital to:

1. Never underestimate its power and sprawling reach. The old adage that “tragedy plus time equals comedy” does not apply online – social media will make light of a situation almost immediately, and the underlying humour will drive click bait and engagement.
2. Meet the audience where they are. If they are online, your tone needs to, at least in part, reflect the content they are already consuming. Speak plainly, do not trip over corporate jargon, and keep things easily digestible.
3. Remember that if news-cycles are popular, they are not 24 hours. Publications and content creators will feed high engagement narratives, and companies need to remain alive to updates that can turn sentiment on its head. With the help of strategic communications, companies can manage active situations while effectively planning for bends in the road.
4. Keep your focus clear. In situations where there is a lot of noise, it is important to determine what content can be trusted, what needs to be corrected, and to whom that correction matters.
5. Get on the field. It can feel intimidating facing a wall of social media content, but sitting on the sidelines will only make things murkier. This does not mean companies should jump on a TikTok trend or go on Instagram Live in response, but it does mean they need to recognise and respond to the risks created.

Given the widespread appetite for the story, it is clear that this will not be the last of the Coldplay debacle. It is an important reminder to ensure that the twists and turns of a crisis are not dedicated by the whims of social media users, and the imperative need to keep the audiences that matter – and your routes to them – front and centre.