How brands should react to negative online comments
Posted by Manuela Barreto @ January 12th, 2010 in Online PR
How should brands respond to bad reviews or critics about their products or services? Should they ignore them or respond? Why do these pose a threat to brands?
Unfortunately, reality tends to bring out the bad comments and bury the good ones which become harder and harder to find. It seems that online comment boards are becoming more and more of a place where frustrated individuals air their petty grievances and dislikes.
Instead, I personally think comments should be for honest discourse and to correct misleading information that may be spotted throughout the article, just as there should be an online etiquette for comments. However, it is every brand’s duty to react accordingly and take the right measures.
What we usually tell our clients is that if the negative comment is written in a proper manner and not in an unpleasant manner, the brand or product should come forward and give its official response to the matter. Otherwise, if the negative comment is done in an improper way, and this may seem counterintuitive, our advise is simply to ignore it and invest in a SEO strategy that can ‘bury the evidence with positive pages in the search results so that it is difficult to find.
Other ways for brands to manage and defend against online comments could be the following:
* Respond promptly- try to address the comment within 24 hours or less
*Do not attack the commenter, attack the issue- respond in a professional and objective manner- do not provoke the commenter
* Respond by focusing on the issue- go straight to the point, avoid going off on a tangent
* Apologize if necessary- if the customer is unhappy or unsatisfied, apologize and perhaps offer a consoltation package
* Ask if something remains unclear- it is good to interact and ask questions, that way you can provide a more accurate answer rather than just partial
* Do not market yourself- avoid trying to sell your brand or product while providing your response
It is clear that while you can’t control what others say about your company, brand or service on social media platforms, blogs or forums, you can do damage control. If you have an online presence and are actively participating in social networks, you should engage in a monitoring program and constantly listen to what people are saying about your brand and the competition.
The article below was published today, 12 January on PambiancoNews, an offline and online publication focused on fashion, entertainment and design news in Italy.
It’s entirely in Italian, however, it discusses pretty much what we’ve laid out for you in the post above. Click on the image to view entire article.
Last 5 posts in Online PR
- Make your content more accessible online. Journalists are turning to social media for information - February 26th, 2010
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- Social media privacy settings and online reputation management - August 14th, 2009
Comments
77 on brand monitoring for fashion brands
January 20th, 2010
[...] We touched on this very same topic a few days back, you can actually view the article here. [...]