By Jackie Kolek, Senior Director; Sam Ford, Director of Customer Insights; Peppercom

Economic experts are debating the primary causes of the most volatile U.S. economy since The Great Depression, but the catalyst is certain: the market's vitality was significantly influenced by the exponential spread of speculation.

Word-of-mouth has always greatly impacted markets, but digital communication has facilitated an intense proliferation of the speed and scope of the spread of information. If today's digital communication culture helped contribute significantly to the spread of investor skepticism, why isn't digital communication at the center of the discussion about how companies should bolster their reputation and prepare for potential crises?

Conversational digital technologies provide the tools to effectively and efficiently reach out to all relevant audiences during a crisis: customers, investors, governmental regulators, employees, etc.

Digital in Critical Times

The ability to directly speak to multiple constituencies without the filter and time lag of going through mainstream media is especially crucial during a crisis. Here are a few ideas on how digital tools can be implemented now to improve a company's communication management in preparation for potential crises:

• Putting Efficient Crisis Tools in Place. The current financial turmoil has proven it's impossible to predict when damaging news will break, as several major financial stories this year launched over the weekend. Since these stories don't wait until everyone is on-the-job and ready to respond, it's crucial to leverage digital tools such as internal microsites and wikis to share information quickly with the crisis team when a situation arises.

• Real-Time Internal Communications. Laying the infrastructure for internal digital communication now will make all the difference when a crisis strikes. An internal blog for the CEO, for instance, creates a centralized place to inform employees of shared communications policies. Getting everyone used to this mode of communication provides an easy way to reach employees during a crisis. Especially crucial, however, is ensuring any internal platform is participatory, giving employees the chance to get their questions answered efficiently and for the company to quash the internal spread of misinformation and panic.

• Employee Education. Teaching employees about digital culture now ensures a company's workforce better knows what to do—and what not to do—if crisis strikes. For instance, everyone (not just spokespeople) should understand how the blogosphere allows anyone to instantly become a reporter with a global audience. If employees better comprehend digital culture, they might better understand why sensitive information must be tightly controlled.

• Listening. While digital tools provide myriad instantaneous ways to get messages out to each target audience, remember the most critical use of the Internet is not to push messages out but to listen to what's being said about a brand. Since word-of-mouth impacts market confidence, implementing a sentiment monitoring program ensures that corporate communicators can respond quickly to an erroneous blog post which has the potential to send stocks sinking.

Remember that digital communication must emphasize quality over quantity. The number of touch points with key audiences is much less important than whether those audiences are actively engaged through this outreach and the strategy behind these initiatives.

Diagnosing Your Digital Health

We believe the best way of all to be prepared for digital response to a crisis is to be introspective through an honest assessment of the company's digital strengths and weaknesses. We've found that the greatest barriers to digital crisis preparation are internal gaps which can be identified and closed now, so that a company can be ready to respond quickly and efficiently if and when a crisis strikes.

These include:

• gaps in knowledge of what the company's digital processes and outreach strategy is, as well as what regulatory barriers are in place;
• gaps in perception of what digital outreach should achieve and its relative importance when compared to more traditional communication paths;
• gaps in communication about digital planning responsibilities internally;
• gaps in resources between what's expected for digital outreach and the human and financial capital required to make it happen.

At Peppercom, we've developed the Digital Aptitude Test to help companies identify where these internal gaps exist through a survey administered both vertically and horizontally throughout the company. This assessment tool is our way of identifying and solving these process problems so that our clients are prepared to respond effectively to a digital crisis. No matter what process you use, though, the key takeaway is that now is the time for introspection.

In today's economic climate, saving digital strategy conversations for tomorrow is an increasingly dangerous choice. Remember, the conversation about your brand will happen online, whether you are listening and engaging or not. Ignoring the impact digital communication has on your reputation, and the potential solutions digital tools offer to guarding that reputation, is one mistake you cannot afford to make.

Jackie Kolek is Senior Director and Sam Ford is Director of Customer Insights for Peppercom, a strategic communications firm with offices in New York, London and San Francisco. Ford is also a research affiliate with the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium.