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Today’s digital landscape — with multiple platforms disseminating information (whether true or not) — can ignite a firestorm of negative press that damages your company’s or personal brand. An incident report that doesn’t lay out all the facts can find its way into the local and national press and at the top of online searches before you can explain and tell your story.
Additionally, false information that runs rampant on social platforms like Facebook and X can lead to unwanted media attention, public backlash, boycotts and financial loss for your business. A single damaging comment or thread on Reddit, one of the most influential online platforms, can quickly go viral, get thousands of upvotes and high visibility, and snowball into a major PR crisis. Negative reviews and feedback on Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, Trip Advisor and other platforms can cause a breach of customer trust and loss of business.
Getting ahead of the story
Staying ahead of bad information or any type of misstep before it damages your brand is the best way to handle it. You want to control and change the narrative as best you can, before it takes on a life of its own and you’re playing defense or completely sidelined. For example, remember when the CEO of Kellogg’s suggested that people eat cereal for dinner to deal with the rising food cost? People on social media went nuts, comparing his comments to Marie Antoinette’s line, “Let them eat cake.” TikTokers called for a boycott of the company with the hashtag #BoycottKellogs (sic). Kellogg’s didn’t respond, exacerbating the controversy, and the backlash grew unchecked. Staying silent wasn’t a good idea.
Strategize with a clear message to control the narrative immediately. This means initially giving a quick and early response and then taking the time to craft a more detailed one. Use social monitoring to track online conversations about your brand and prepare a response that addresses people’s concerns.
Related: What to Do When You’re Getting Bad Press
Applying a social monitoring and listening strategy
Employ a social monitoring and listening strategy to get a lay of the land about your brand and understand your customers. Social monitoring lets you track brand mentions so you can directly respond to customers’ questions, issues and comments. It allows you to resolve issues and complaints and prevent situations from escalating and causing a social media storm of discontent. For example, we see time and again passengers posting videos about their dissatisfaction with how an airline responded to an incident on a plane or at an airport. With social monitoring software, your brand can quickly see what’s being said, take steps to respond and defend itself or take accountability and apologize. On the flip side, it also enables your brand to leverage positive feedback and use it in their narrative.
With social listening, you get a window into how customers feel about your brand, products and services to help enhance your brand presence. You can identify areas of improvement and address gaps based on what people are saying to prevent dissatisfaction from escalating into a full-blown crisis. You can also use social listening to recognize patterns if you see that the same question is asked and uncover pain points to address.
Responding to online negative reviews
Online reviews are a critical component of a business’s success. Positive reviews increase consumer trust in brands and can help bring in more business. In fact, a Harvard Business study indicates that a one-star increase in a Yelp rating leads to a 5% to 9% increase in revenue.
Negative, misleading or defamatory reviews, on the other hand, if not addressed quickly, can damage a brand’s reputation, diminish consumer trust and affect business revenue. But there’s no reason to panic or react emotionally over getting a negative review.
First, keep track of online reviews regularly, including monitoring fresh reviews for your business. Then, employ an online reputation management strategy to respond to positive and negative reviews quickly. Be authentic, and if a mistake or misstep happens, admit it. Correct any misinformation and highlight your company’s strengths. When responding, be sure it’s relatable: respond as a person, not a corporation.
You can also contact the review site to remove a false or bad review altogether. Each review site has its policies that must be followed. If a review violates a policy, it can be removed.
It’s also essential to beef up positive reviews. Don’t be shy about asking happy customers to write and post a review. Many customers read reviews before using a company’s service or buying a product.
Related: 3 Tips for Dealing With Negative Reviews Like a True Entrepreneur
Creating positive press and content
Tell your brand’s story by creating and publishing positive content, including press releases, blogs and thought leadership articles showcasing your expertise in the industry. This will help negate any bad information about your brand. By generating positive material, you can ensure that new content appears on the first page in searches and push down negative results. Your content should contain relevant keywords and be optimized for search. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your content to rank as high as possible on search sites. While it takes time for search engines to outrank negative articles with new content, this is a proven strategy for removing negative results from the first page.
To avoid taking a hit to your brand because of negative, false or bad information, employ a multi-prong strategy. Get ahead of bad press by keeping tabs on what is being said about your brand and gaining insights into how your customers view your company so you can respond effectively and take appropriate action. Have a system to respond to reviews and eliminate misleading, false and defamatory reviews when possible. Focus on the positive with content that reflects your brand, values, mission, people, service and expertise, and get it ranked high in search results.
