To the companies attempting to develop data centers around the country (or at least in Metro St. Louis): The lack of public relations work on your own behalf is astonishing and likely costing you a fortune.
I am not an expert on the pros and cons of the data centers popping up all over the country. I have no allegiance to one side or the other in this debate. But I know something about public relations and media, and the people who have been trying to build new ones in the St. Louis area are being eviscerated in the court of public opinion.
A chat with my father-in-law over the weekend spoke volumes. He is retired, still living with my mother-in-law, in their home of 20+ years, and engaged in the community politics of the southern Illinois town of about 10 thousand where he lives.
There is a data center that is being proposed in the area that has produced the uproar becoming common when these projects come up (similar to many other communities in the news). A change.org petition in the area paints the project as a community disaster, citing:
- Enormous use of power and water resources
- Significant noise pollution
- Massive carbon footprint
- Displacement of farmers and agriculture
- Disruption of the area’s ecosystem
- Traffic
- Pollution
- Unhealthy living environment for families
My father-in-law cited all this in our conversation, then expanded into the Facebook chatter about the certain decline in home values and explosion of power and water bills. He was also in on the gossip accusing local politicians of untoward behavior associated with the project in the name of personal gain.
To the developer’s credit, they put on a town hall meeting to answer questions. The problem is, by the time they got there, most residents had already made up their minds, and the visuals on the local news were of an auditorium packed with angry residents holding “no data center” signs, and a single rep from the development company sitting at the dais looking like he’s under siege.
Here are a few things to consider moving forward:
First, the moment conversations became serious with the local government, a fact sheet or FAQ citing benefits for the community should have been put out immediately. Residents are complaining that deals were being cut behind closed doors. If people heard about the proposal through a joint effort of city leaders and developers, that concern about transparency could have been managed. If your project is controversial, you need to be as transparent as possible.
Next, tell me what is in it for me! The Google searches for “everything bad about data centers” took place long before the developers ever emerged with material containing the “good stuff.” Again, I’m no expert on this subject, but I’m going to assume there are financial benefits to municipalities who build these things, otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing this play out again and again. They could have had a campaign touting the positives ready to go and boosted the material on social media from the outset. They could have been starting a conversation rather than reacting to one.
Also, if there is counter-research to the negatives everyone is talking about, they could have presented it. Most information about any topic on social media is colored by amateur interpretations and half-truths to benefit one side or another. Your goal here should be to get accurate information into the hands of the public. It is the only way you’ll have a fighting chance.
Next, those developers should have been getting out in the media talking about positives before there was a controversy. If the first time someone hears about this is on the local news, and someone is doing a good job of clearly presenting the benefits, they may at least have an open mind when it comes time to decide where they stand.
Additionally, at the town hall meeting the spokesperson for the company should have done media interviews before the event started. The sound from the stage was almost inaudible, and that was the only option TV and radio reporters had to share the developer’s side when they put their stories on the air. (The meeting was still going on at news time).
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the developer could have done everything I am suggesting here and he might still have run into a brick wall. Facts are stubborn things, and if this project is bad for the community, those facts might still have been enough to scuttle the whole thing. The trouble is, I never found the article or story that presented the positive facts in any way. It might be out there, but it isn’t easily accessible.
If this was an isolated occurrence, I likely wouldn’t be writing this blog. But there have been at least four situations in metro St. Louis like this in the past several months. All have gone, to some degree or another, the same way:
- Community hears about project.
- Angry backlash, driven largely by social media ensues.
- Meeting held by developer where angry people show up and have their message splashed all over television.
- Local politicians decide maybe this should go somewhere else.
If this is the data center development playbook, it is not working. It never stood a chance.
If you are a person who is firmly opposed to data centers, please do not come looking for me. I am not writing this in an effort to bring one of these to your back yard. I’m simply saying that I don’t think we have all the facts, largely because the people who have them are missing their opportunity to share them. Once we truly know what is going on, we may all decide that rural plots of land ten miles from the nearest home are the only places where these things should go.
Of course, we might also find out that new technology is being developed to tamp down the noise, and contracts are being written to protect consumers from higher power bills. (I made these up, but, again, who knows?) We might find out the checks the town will be collecting would offer great opportunities to improve life there. Instead, these developers are spending thousands, if not millions, to be chased away and start the process again.
Good public relations is not a game of “spin.” It is a practice of identifying the audience that matters, then providing them with clear, accurate information with which to form what is hopefully a positive opinion. It won’t stop people from disagreeing with you, but it should at least get you a fair hearing. I suspect most of these developers don’t think they’ve received the latter. I would suggest they need look no further than the nearest mirror to figure out why. It appears they made no effort to reach my father-in-law before Facebook did.
