Online Reputation Management 201
December 17, 2009In our previous post, we discussed monitoring your company’s online reputation, but what do you do when your online reputation has become compromised? Here are some suggestions:
Catch the Problem
Amy, who now works for The Results Company, worked for an online company that had a customer forum. They could usually spot problems that were spinning out of control and causing grievances and solve them before the customer(s) could start posting about them on more visible outlets like blogs or Twitter. Often, the problems were recognized and solved on their own forums. Then, potential customers could see that they recognized issues and solved them in a timely manner on our own website. Keep your customers happy and solve their problems and the less you will need to be concerned about customers using the power of the internet to ruin your reputation.
Another way to preemptively keep your reputation intact is to go ahead and purchase domain names that spurned clients might purchase and use to tarnish your online reputation. For instance, if you are “Company X”, purchase ”IHateCompanyX.com”.
Consider the Source
Did the client post a scathing remark about your company on a popular blog or an unknown blog? Did it get a lot of comments? Does it seem like other customers are taking this person seriously? Is the comment true? These are all things you should consider before acting on it.
Take Action (Or Not)
If the accusations are true, reach out to the customer and try to resolve the issue. This could turn into a customer for life if you go above and beyond to change the customer’s opinion of you. If the post is untrue and is in a popular blog, craft a response to it explaining your side, but do not get into an argument with the poster. Post once, be courteous and stick to the matter at hand. If the post is untrue and it is not coming up on the first page of a Google search of your company, it is probably best to ignore it.