False or deliberately misleading information can cause an organization the trust of its customers and can have an overall negative impact on its reputation. Falsehoods and malicious stories tend to take off like wildfire , destroying organizations in its wake. Public relations professionals should work proactively to help deter the spread of disinformation. Social media platforms also help to spread false news like wildfire. Addressing such incidents effectively would help an organization to protect its reputation. Given below are strategies that would help to minimize the harm caused by the spread of disinformation.

Use Superior Quality Content

To avoid the spread of misinformation, an organization should ensure that it uses superior quality information for its publicity. When an organization collaborates with reporters, it should only work with trusted publications. The spread of misinformation is something that will not change overnight, but an organization can take steps to ensure that false news has no place in the media. Working with trusted publications will only help to elevate the reputation of an organization. It would also help to increase the credibility and authenticity of an organization. Customers always appreciate an organization that has established its credibility.

Do Not Panic

Fake news can be of many types and often desire just drama and fear. The worrying thing is that people ask important questions about inaccurate news that they encounter online. Sometimes no action is necessary other than the media monitoring the situation regularly. The most important thing is to stay calm and collected and not to panic. The response to fake news is the real problem. Overreacting should be avoided, carefully considered answers are a much better approach.

Be Clear and Transparent

The information that is shared by an organization should be transparent and concise. Even for employees, the information that a company shares should be an information hub for them. This would help to build trust within an organization and outside it. Other than working with credible media, public opinion should be persuaded ethically. Any content that is shared should be fact-checked and PR professionals should act as gatekeepers for the content that is shared. Unverified and unchecked information should never be sent to a journalist. If that happens, then the PR team of an organization should hold itself responsible for the spread of fake news. The data shared should be correctly sourced so that it can never become part of a fake news story.

Harness Modern Technology

Only manual methods of analysis to identify fake news may not be sufficient to identify fake news. Advances in technology can be used to detect whether the content that has been shared is authentic. Artificial intelligence can speed up the process and prevent harmful content from going viral. Artificial intelligence can be faster in detecting the falsehood of a piece of news and can prevent an organization from facing a crisis as a result of it. Monitoring news with the help of data-led intelligence can help in the early detection of fake news. The pattern of fake news generally differs from true news.

About the Author: Mike Paffmann is CEO of Virgo PR, a leading PR firm.