How does this help the consumer, and ultimately, companies? Can companies learn crisis management when situations flare up?

Let’s begin with the first question.

While negative press is always hard to combat, one of the best ways to retaliate to bad blog posts about your company is to take action if your product or service was at fault, apologize and correct the problem, then post or announce that you’ve fixed it.

There have been many cases where customers actually persuaded companies to change policies or fix problems by blogging about it. A case a couple years ago involved a video showing someone picking a Kryptonite bike lock. The news spread like wildfire through the blogosphere, and Kryptonite issued a recall of the lock.

They managed to handle it pretty well, all things considered, but imagine what a nightmare it could be if you were in a similar or worse situation. A good tip is to never try and hide form the bloggers: one will always find you. And you could really be in for some crisis management if mainstream media gets involved.

Dunkin Donuts took a different approach when confronted by the national debate blog. They handled it well, but the situation could of gotten out of control if not handled properly. Ultimately, this helps both the consumer and the company. The blogosphere acts as a net that catches the news and broadcasts it to the world. If a product is bad, the consumer will be able to find the reviews.

However, this system is beneficial for companies as well; it helps (though admittedly, not that effectively) them stay honest and up-to-date with the news and gossip surrounding their product or service and, as in the case of the Kryptonite lock, can act as an excellent alarm.

So what should you take away from this? Companies, have someone monitoring the blogosphere fairly regularly-it can save you time, money and a lot of potential embarrassment. You can anticipate problems and begin damage control immediately, like Dunkin’ Donuts. Consumers keep searching for news, reviews and advice about products and services. Better yet, get your own blog and write some yourself.

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About the Author

Geoff is based in LA and has experience in Public Relations and New Business Development for companies such as SS|PR, Grey Direct West, Acclivity Inc. and others. He is currently the LA sales manager for Social Media Systems online marketing company and co-authors the 3net Search Engine Marketing Blog.

I respect and like most of the Edelman bloggers, and give them the benefit of the doubt on this. I do not know what goes on internally at Edelman, I do not know the facts – not that this does not stop Steve from blogging on FedEx or Staples or Kryptonite – but the benefit of the doubt is what you give your friends (and we all know who I consider my friends).

One thought, though – it does not matter who works or does not work on an account. It’s an agency, and saying “I had no personal role” is not acceptable. You fall on the grenade, and take one for the team. It is our job to push internally, and sometimes push back on the client. It is not like the blog was a big secret – someone should have known what was going on, and Jeremy Wagstaff at the WSJ says it best.

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Jeremy Pepper is the CEO and founder of POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.

He authors the popular Musings from POP! Public Relations blog which offers Jeremy’s opinions and views – on public relations, publicity and other things.

It’s supposed to be this great answer to all that ails PR and ways to fix it. It’s great that there’s all this talk about the 25 percent … what about the 75 percent that is still screwed up?

What do I mean? Well, let’s take a look back at recent events: Tello versus Arrington; Alaska Airlines versus Jeremy Hermanns; Six Apart versus anyone that dares criticize them; Everyone versus Kryptonite. There are tons of examples, but these popped into my head.

Well, what’s so important about these? Well, it shows that blogging is not that elusive 25 percent, but that we need to worry about the other 75 percent, such as “who is an official spokesperson” for a company. I like Six Apart, for the most part. They seem like a nice company, blah blah. But, after Anil came to my blog, I called them up for a simple question … is he an official spokesperson? After a lot of avoiding the question – Apple PR people rock – and talking about what the future might hold for me and for PR and for blogging, I finally got an answer. No, not an official spokesperson.

And, that’s the issue – the old 75 percent of PR is where we craft messages, and in a crisis everyone sticks to that message. Is that such a bad thing? No, because PR can be transparent and honest about a crisis, and that’s what you are looking for. What is a PR person if they don’t have the balls to cut off a reporter, and their OWN spokesperson? Useless – and in this new era of PR, do we need those types of PR people?

That leads me to ask – well, what is PR to do with that 75 percent that we are used to working on, if we have problems with people commenting for the company. That’s where PR comes in (to help craft messages), and where a blogging policy comes in. Were those comments from Alaska Airlines? Were those comments from Tello employees or its PR firm? I don’t know – but the IP addresses (while they can be spoofed) usually don’t lie. And, well, it’s not just blogs we need to worry about – it’s message boards, where I am working on a fire for a client because, well, engineers like to talk.

The Schedule – Originally uploaded by philgomes.

But, there is that whole issue with the 25 percent. Do you remember that Gawker story on that poor PR person?

What happened there? By no fault of his own, Brandon became the story. He stupidly – yes, stupidly – pitched Gawker on a story for KFC. First, Gawker always seemed more ghetto than KFC to me. It’s more a Popeye’s type publication (best biscuits, btw and I am ghetto fab). And, second, read the freakin’ blog. Gawker is like Page Six without the Murdoch cash. Would you pitch KFC to Page Six? Not unless there was a good tie-in to Lindsay Lohan.

That’s why my personal hero right now is Phil Gomes. While others are talking about the 25 percent for personal gratification and to pretend to be leaders – notice the Wiki has died already – Phil is out on tour for Edelman speaking about the 25 percent. Kudos to Gomes, because he gets it (as his tour pic shows).

And, that’s why this news is news – I know that I am not going to affect change sitting in Phoenix, but need to be in the trenches and the foxholes in San Francisco at a large firm. I hope to help them not make such mistakes, be their Phil Gomes. And, btw, this is the only time you’ll see me blog about them.

But, the story isn’t about me, and shouldn’t be about me. It’s about the most important PR lesson, that seems to be forgotten in the era of PR bloggers … the story is about the client, not the PR person. Some of us are forgetting that, hoping to keep our A-list (no, not me, because I just don’t care) and looking for free invites to conferences and pimping for speaking opportunities. It’s not about us – the best PR people I have ever worked with knew that. They were never the story, even when they were the spokesperson. It’s about the client.

That’s a lesson we should all remember.

Jeremy Pepper is the CEO and founder of POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.

He authors the popular Musings from POP! Public Relations blog which offers Jeremy’s opinions and views – on public relations, publicity and other things.

Amazingly, while the Met and MOMA removed the artwork, as of Wednesday the two other museums still had the paintings hanging in their galleries. The Wooster blog had the story that same day, way before the press did.

Of course, the Wooster post is attracting huge blog buzz as well.

This episode – like the Kryptonite case before it – demonstrates why every organization, large or small, should have a PR team monitoring/analyzing the blogosphere who also knows how to respond.

At CooperKatz we have developed a new “Micro Persuasion Buzz Dashboard” as part of our new practice’s monitoring service that helps clients do just that. We assess a client’s vulnerabilities, develop a preparedness plan, and then actively track and analyze blogs/news search feeds via the dashboard. We also help firms address such issues via the blogosphere before they bubble up into the press.

It’s too late for the museums. But it may not be too late for your company.

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.

He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.