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Crisis communication plan? Check. Network of friends who can help if you lose power? Double check. Storm season’s coming, and Utility Pioneers are gearing up for a windy ride.
June marks the start of hurricane season, predicted to be more active than usual. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects up to 21 named storms in 2022, with up to six developing into major hurricanes.
While we can’t predict when or where a storm might strike, we’ve got several tools to help you weather the storm.
Coping with a Crisis (eBook)
To help you prepare for hurricanes, wildfires, snowstorms and other types of extended outages, we share best practices in Coping with a Crisis.
The publication offers insights from battle-tested communicators who survived losing critical communication channels during 2018’s Hurricane Michael. It also features crisis communication plans from Oregon, Nevada and Florida, with handy tools to strengthen your plan.
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Social Storms (eBook, webinar)
How often do you think of outage messaging from a consumers’ perspective? Anna Politano, director of public relations and communications at the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, took this task to heart. She wrote her graduate thesis on what needs drive consumers to engage with a utility during an outage. We partnered with her to turn her thesis into an eBook, Social Storms. Anna shared highlights from her research in a webinar (watch the recording in our archives).
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Peer Perspectives
If you lost all communications after a hurricane, would you be ready? The steps you take before a crisis hits can make a big difference with how you cope in the aftermath. We often ask Utility Pioneers what they wished they’d done before a crisis. Here are highlights from our blog, podcast and case studies.
Blog
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BlogWe can all use a little help sometimes. Get through the next crisis and maybe get a few hours of…
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BlogDuring a natural disaster, you may lose more than power. When Hurricane Michael hit Florida, it wiped out cellphone and…
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BlogTo understand how an extended crisis impacts communicators, we interviewed two #UtilityPioneers in our award-winning eBook, Coping with a Crisis.…
StoryConnect Podcast
Case Study
Pioneer Studio Hurricane Kit
Whether you’re a telco or an electric utility, we need similar support when a storm strikes. Pioneer’s team of utility storytellers drafted a set of press releases, safety messages, educational articles (watch versus warning, understanding storm surge) and more than 20 graphics to help tell your story before, during, and after a hurricane strikes. The content is free to download at pioneer.coop/studio.
June 22 Webinar: Weathering Social Storms
When Hurricane Ida hit last September, Pioneer Social members saw almost 500,000 engagements as members followed news on the storm and restoration efforts.Â
Social media activity spikes during a crisis. In our June webinar, Pioneer’s VP of Digital Solutions, Melissa Shaw, moderates a panel of utility communicators to talk about tools and messages to have in place before a crisis hits, then how to manage consumer questions during an extended outage. Register here.
There are no upcoming events at this time.
Need backup? We’ve got you.
Worried you’ll be overwhelmed? We hear you. Pioneer’s TwoFourSeven Response Program can help, adding eyes and ears to your team so you can stay on top of social media questions and updates during a crisis… and during your summer vacation, too. Schedule a call with Melissa today to learn how our team can support you before a crisis strikes.