Category Archives: Reputation Management

Branding, Internet Culture, Reputation Management, Social Media

The Internet Smells Fear

Is It You?

If your company is going to have an internet presence, you have to make some sort of effort to respond on its behalf like a real person.  It’s part of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United.

But seriously, it’s what you have to do to not come across as creepy.

Having no internet presence is completely fine.  A little dated, not hip with the kids, but perfectly acceptable.  And trying out social media and making mistakes is totally okay too.  It’s a lighthearted and casual environment where you can talk about what your company is doing, who you are, or respond to complaints and deal with them.

But all too often there’s someone in charge who doesn’t take the time to put together a cohesive message, and tells an unpaid intern that they need to be on “the Twitter.”  So this terrified intern, not wanting to destroy the company, starts posting extremely vague glossed-over posts with zero value, not responding to comments, and never responding to criticism.  This dangerous non-commitment is like going to a middle school dance and standing terrified against the wall, people start thinking you’re weird and you wonder if you should have stayed home.  If you’re trying to be present but refuse to participate, people will think your company is:

  • Phony
  • Disorganized
  • Incapable of putting together a cohesive message
  • Out of touch
  • Uninterested
  • Selling a scam or product that they won’t stand behind
  • Generally creepy

So you’re better off putting in the effort.  Of course if your stomach sank when you read down that list because those descriptions actually do apply to you, you’ll want to fix those root problems first.

Make sure that whoever is representing your business knows your business.  They should know your products, services, upcoming changes, sales, and most importantly: who your customers are.  That person needs to have easy access to the chain of command, so that they can get the information they need to answer questions.  The CEO doesn’t have to be on Twitter, but they should probably make themself available to the representative who is.  With just that basic information a good social media representative can fill in the blanks and come across as human.

If you’re comfortable with that, start pushing the limits but plan ahead.  Your posts tell the world what sort of person your brand is.  Serious or laid back?  Funny?  Snarky and sarcastic or family friendly?  Political?  Patriotic?  Progressive rights and freedoms or “family values”?  Easily offended or aggressively offensive?  Digital shock jock?

Whatever you go with, nail it down in advance and stick with it.  Don’t overthink every post, they’re meant to be transient.  It’s okay to screw up, some horrific posts have turned into huge boosts to the business.  Whatever you wind up with, it’s better than bland.

And of course if it comes down to it

“Sorry about that disaster loyal followers, the person responsible has been fired”

is well under 140 characters

 

 

Branding, Reputation Management

Save Your Reputation

Don’t Panic

People say mean things on the internet.  It happens.  But what if someone start blasting your company on a complaints site?  Yelp, Ripoff Report, Complaints Board, and similar sites can shoot right to the top of the Google results when people search for your company name.  If you’re not careful, they’ll tear you down.  Face it head on.

Fix Your Company

It’s easy to have a gut reaction to someone provoking you online.  You can call it slander, you can call it fake, you can blame ex-employees or think you can sweep it under the rug.  You’ve worked hard to build your business and now some jerk is trying to ruin it for you.  Who can you sue?  Before you go any further, take a minute and ask yourself:

“Are they right?”

Step away from the anger, fear and insecurity and consider Occam’s razor.  The odds are that you have a legitimately angry customer, rather than an evil conspiracy out to get you.    If there’s something there that you can take to heart, do it.  Whether or not you decide they have a valid point, that insecurity knot in your stomach will start to ease up.  Make some changes, and you might just be better off for it.

Respond To The Issue

If you’ve taken care of whatever problems there are with your business, and feel confident that you’re meeting expectations, then feel free to respond directly on the complaint site.  Issue honest feedback, or an apology if necessary, and see if you can clear the air.  Remember that you’re writing not just to respond to that person, but to everyone else who’s searching for your company and stumbled across this page.  A resolution can go a long way in building trust.

That said, know when to cut your losses.  Be the bigger person, and it will come across.  Don’t let it drag on, the more content you add to the complaint site, the easier time the complaint will have ranking in the search engines.

Push Up The Good, Push Down The Bad

Take an aggressive approach to filling up the first SERP for your company name.  Every social media account, press release, article, or blog post that shows up on the first page for your company name is one less space available for a complaint.  Link those to each other, create a lot of content.  It’s good for your site in general as well as your reputation.

Don’t Let It Slip

Don’t think that because a complaint is gone today that there won’t be 2 tomorrow.  You can’t run from your problems, so make sure that you’re delivering on your promises and keep things running smoothly, or it’s all going to come back to bite you.

Oh, And Forget About Manipulating Yelp

Don’t do it.  Fake accounts for high ratings will never work.  Obvious attempts will get deleted.  You can’t push them off the first page.  Respond to them within the Yelp system honestly and directly, it’s your best bet.