Managing communications during a major service outage

A technical failure disrupted Alma TV’s services on a Friday evening, prompting customer complaints and discussions on social media.

While technical teams worked to restore service, the communications challenge was to keep customers informed, respond to their concerns and ensure employees had reliable information as the situation developed.

I was responsible for PR, social media and the company’s digital communications, including its website.

During the outage, I prepared customer updates for the website, wrote messages and response scripts for social media, and developed scripts for the contact centre. I also prepared internal updates through the company’s intranet so employees could follow developments and respond to questions.

As new information became available, I updated the communications across these channels and handled incoming enquiries and negative discussions online.

The priority was to give customers useful information where they were already looking for answers, while keeping messages consistent with the latest information from the operational response.

Customer complaints and discussions continued on social media, where the communications team addressed concerns and provided updates. The contact centre also handled enquiries using the prepared messaging.

Media monitoring during the incident did not identify significant separate news coverage of the outage.

The Friday-evening timing and reduced newsroom activity may have contributed to the limited press attention. The communications response focused on providing timely information, addressing customer concerns and maintaining consistency across the company’s channels during the disruption.