Is Your Organization Blogged?

In the summer of 2008 a small fertilizer manufacturer in west Indiana discovered  the word "crisis".  LizerTech had a total of 65 employees at the time, and it had been very successful in providing organic fertilizers to organic farmers.  Two employees, who are now facing criminal charges, committed a series of mistakes that eventually led to an accident inside the company's plant.  Propane gas leaked from storage tanks and caused an explosion that killed 7 employees.  LizerTech had never faced an accident before, and did not have contingency plans to deal with a crisis.  

The company's management had much contact with the media - except with the local town paper which had many times before published articles on community programs LizerTech was involved in.  LizerTech's owner, Bob Snider, was a conservative and respected community member who did not have the expertise to deal with the crisis.  

Snider came to us 4 days after the accident.  By then, the story had been front-page news on all major newspapers and throughout the Internet.  NTC proceeded to control the crisis using all available resources; press releases, news conferences, media interviews, etc.  But LizerTech's public image had been severely damaged.  According to Snider, sales dropped 25% just in the first week. 

Then, Carlos Paramo, one of our communications specialists heading the LizerTech account, had the idea to use social media to inform the general public about issues concerning LizerTech that the mainstream media had failed to publicize.

Paramo created a weblog and published information several times a day with information about the crisis.  With the blog, LizerTech was able to have its voice heard.  Paramo focused on all the positives about LizerTech.  One post that discussed how LizerTech was the only company to utilize cow manure to manufacture organic fertilizers was cited in the New York Times.  The day after the NYT mention - a Monday - the blog received over 200,000 visits.  By the next monday, the blog had received over 2,000,000 visits.

The public soon started to focus on how innovative LizerTech was.  Attention turned to the fact that the company was the only manufacturer of organic fertilizer in the world.  Paramo used the blog to discuss the community programs LizerTech was involved in.  Local high school students from Woodrow  Wilson High, were involved in a program, now called Greendiana, that took the iniative in planting trees throughout Indiana to counter the effects of global warming; LizerTech alone had donated over 1,000 trees.  

Meanwhile, the investigation on the causes of the explosion revealed that human error was to blame.  Paramo published every single piece of information that could help LizerTech restore its image.  The 2 employees involved in the accident were later discovered to have been intoxicated at the time of the accident.

Today LizerTech's crisis blog has turned into a comprehensive website.  The website receives a steady stream of visitors that increases each day.  LizerTech sales have increased 50% over the last year, and Snider is currently looking for a new site where he can build a new manufacturing plant.

Novus Tempus Communications now maintains more than 700 weblogs.  Most of these blogs are from clients that are currently facing some type of crisis.  Our experienced professional also maintain a variety of promotional blogs, and other blogs that are helping our clients to secure or improve their public image.