YouTube PR: Why Regular PR Strategies Don't Work For Scandals

Recently, the drama has been big on YouTube with a number of beauty influencers being brought down by scandal. The only one that seems to be coming out alive is Gabriel Zamora, which oddly didn't take advice from a PR team when it came to his apology. So, what happened?

When social media influencers find themselves in scandals, they may think that a regular PR person can help them. The truth is that regular PR strategies don't always work for issues or a crisis such as a scandal. The job of a PR pro is to generate awareness but this is not what needs to be done when a scandal hits. 

There are PR pros, such as myself, who track and learn from scandals and we have become crisis communications specialists in the public relations field. Any PR pro that has a crisis background will tell you that honesty is number one. This brings me to why Gabriel's apology was so well received. It was honest. Not only that, but he took accountability for his actions. This characteristic goes hand in hand with honesty.

The reason that regular PR strategies don't work for these types of situations is really simple. Many PR pros think that an apology can be a half-hearted, "sorry for those I have hurt," when in actuality they need to be so much more. They need to be heartfelt, which is why I would advise anyone who releases an apology to actually believe it. It needs to be true emotions. Persuading people with smoke and mirrors just doesn't cut it in crisis communications. When people are angry, they are less susceptible to the glamour that we create with our words when dealing with regular PR strategies. So, it is very detrimental to release a statement or an apology that is not honest and doesn't take responsibility. 

So, YouTubers or PR pros who represent them, my biggest suggestion is to learn about crisis communications. It is not a typical public relations and it is perhaps the most varied and stressful field in PR.

Visit the Walden PR Blog for more public relations and crisis communications content.

Photo by Manu Camargo on Unsplash