Overcome Negative Publicity - Way to Handle Online Reputation Setbacks
Nothing hurts a company more than having a bad reputation, something that can turn even the best business plans into disaster alarmingly quickly. Through negative word of mouth - publicity which spreads much faster than the positive - businesses can get a black mark against them that can adversely affect marketing and sales. Negative publicity is especially easy today because of so many available customer venues where opinions can be voiced about negative experiences with different companies.
In order to stay on top of any potential bad publicity, it is important to know how to avoid and correct any negative reviews and allow more positive opinions to be shared ahead of anything negative.
Respond to Bad Reviews
Any detected negative comments or reviews should receive a response from the company in a polite and professional manner, offering a solution. Getting a dissatisfied customer engaged in conversation about the problem provides an opportunity to offer an acceptable resolution before anything else negative can be posted online about the incident.
Companies cannot afford to avoid making and using company profiles if necessary on the many popular review sites like Yelp, Google, Yahoo!, Angie's List and more. Trying to respectfully work with an unhappy customer may or may not resolve the actual problem, however, it does show proof of a willingness to work with a customer, which is very important.
Along the same lines, blog posts, review articles and other types of negative publicity should have a response, the effort always being to remain the voice of reason to somehow change a negative into a positive. Ignoring such instances only allows one customer to continue spreading negativity about the company; honestly facing such a situation is usually a better way to resolve any problem.
Solicit Good Reviews
Part of the problem with a bad comment here or there is that they stand apart from everything else, glaringly alone, which does not mean a company has no satisfied customers. On the contrary, most customers may be very happy; however, most satisfied customers do not feel an emotional need to tell the world about it, other than in casual conversation - it would be great if they did. On the other hand, unhappy customers are angry and upset, anxious to tell as many people as possible about the incident.
Requesting satisfied customer comments and reviews from those clients who continually return to a company for more business can very well offset a few negative comments. Most customers simply do not realize the value of positive remarks - and often do not know where to make such statements. Companies that set up profiles on consumer sites and then guide happy customers to such places to make comments and post reviews are better equipped to handle a little bit of negativity if any should occur.
Stay Professional
Whatever the issue, company representatives need to stay professional when dealing with customers, especially when attempting to turn dissatisfied customers into satisfied patrons. No matter what is said or accusations given, a company will gain the most respect from other readers by remaining calm and polite while offering ways to remedy the situation.
If an incident should escalate or does not appear to be headed toward a good resolution, offering to talk about the issue in person or on the phone may be helpful. When nothing seems to appease the customer, there is always the option to hire a professional reputation management firm to help. If the concern is not too critical, concentrating on efforts to present a positive reputation may be the best recourse.
The main way to avoid poor reviews and negative comments gaining prominence in search engine results is to avoid any reason for them to occur in the first place. Handle the negative comments, encourage the positive ones - and know how to use reputation management to deal with any negativity as well as possible!
In order to stay on top of any potential bad publicity, it is important to know how to avoid and correct any negative reviews and allow more positive opinions to be shared ahead of anything negative.
Respond to Bad Reviews
Any detected negative comments or reviews should receive a response from the company in a polite and professional manner, offering a solution. Getting a dissatisfied customer engaged in conversation about the problem provides an opportunity to offer an acceptable resolution before anything else negative can be posted online about the incident.
Companies cannot afford to avoid making and using company profiles if necessary on the many popular review sites like Yelp, Google, Yahoo!, Angie's List and more. Trying to respectfully work with an unhappy customer may or may not resolve the actual problem, however, it does show proof of a willingness to work with a customer, which is very important.
Along the same lines, blog posts, review articles and other types of negative publicity should have a response, the effort always being to remain the voice of reason to somehow change a negative into a positive. Ignoring such instances only allows one customer to continue spreading negativity about the company; honestly facing such a situation is usually a better way to resolve any problem.
Solicit Good Reviews
Part of the problem with a bad comment here or there is that they stand apart from everything else, glaringly alone, which does not mean a company has no satisfied customers. On the contrary, most customers may be very happy; however, most satisfied customers do not feel an emotional need to tell the world about it, other than in casual conversation - it would be great if they did. On the other hand, unhappy customers are angry and upset, anxious to tell as many people as possible about the incident.
Requesting satisfied customer comments and reviews from those clients who continually return to a company for more business can very well offset a few negative comments. Most customers simply do not realize the value of positive remarks - and often do not know where to make such statements. Companies that set up profiles on consumer sites and then guide happy customers to such places to make comments and post reviews are better equipped to handle a little bit of negativity if any should occur.
Stay Professional
Whatever the issue, company representatives need to stay professional when dealing with customers, especially when attempting to turn dissatisfied customers into satisfied patrons. No matter what is said or accusations given, a company will gain the most respect from other readers by remaining calm and polite while offering ways to remedy the situation.
If an incident should escalate or does not appear to be headed toward a good resolution, offering to talk about the issue in person or on the phone may be helpful. When nothing seems to appease the customer, there is always the option to hire a professional reputation management firm to help. If the concern is not too critical, concentrating on efforts to present a positive reputation may be the best recourse.
The main way to avoid poor reviews and negative comments gaining prominence in search engine results is to avoid any reason for them to occur in the first place. Handle the negative comments, encourage the positive ones - and know how to use reputation management to deal with any negativity as well as possible!
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