“Your
reputation is important. Today’s organizations and individuals are at the mercy
of the 24/7 internet media. Unflattering news, reviews, pictures, and even
outright lies can be posted instantaneously and spread throughout the online
world swiftly.” (Digital Firefly Marketing, 2013)
One
of the main roles of Public Relations is to foster a positive perception of a
company or brand. With the
ever-increasing number of on-line forums and platforms for people to express
their opinions freely, there is always the added complication of negative
feedback.
As
the world moves ever forward towards a digitally savvy society, negative
feedback and harsh criticism online can be quite damaging for a brand. Reputations
can be destroyed overnight! Information online can live forever and is
accessible to everyone. But not matter how hard you try, there is no way you
can please everyone. Whether negative feedback is warranted or not, it must be
addressed. Once something is published online it is open to the world to view
and further comment on.
- Monitor continually your brand’s online reputation – consumers may disregard your products based on reviews and comments found online
- Don’t escalate the situation - avoid adding fuel to the fire by steering clear of inflammatory comments
- Remain professional and have a calm approach
- Address the situation – protect your reputation
- Respond quickly and factually
- Remember the information you post is accessible to anyone
- Reinforce the values of the brand in your response
- Turn the negative into a positive brand opportunity – Rise above it!
- Move onto the next thing – change the topic by creating content to draw the attention away from the negative comments and guide the audience in a more positive direction
To delete or not to delete? Everyone is entitled to their opinion and even though deleting the post may seem like the best way to protect your brand – it is important to act with transparency and remain open to all feedback. Criticism is also a great way to gauge the consumers’ perception. It can be an opportunity to discover ways to adapt a product in order to cater to consumer needs more effectively. It can even be a chance to ask for suggestions on how elements could be improved. Resist the urge to engage in a social media slinging-match it will only generate more negative exposure. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, such as, when negative feedback includes discriminatory or highly offensive content. In this instance, it may be best to delete the harmful content but then to provide an explanation for the removal.
I found that the professional placement
experience was an excellent opportunity to witness Public Relations techniques put
into practice in “real-world” situations. To illustrate the above points I want
to relate an experience that I had during my professional placement at Magenta.
Magenta has established a leadership position in retail marketing with a focus
on lifestyle and represents leading Australian and International brands. This
includes Magenta managing the social media elements of particular clients. One day at Magenta I was notified that a
client’s brand had received negative feedback online. The negative content related to the design
aesthetic of the client’s product and was posted as a comment on a Facebook
photo. Although the negative comment was
a relatively minor one, I learned some very important lessons when dealing with
online criticism.
In
my case at Magenta, the negative comment on Facebook was effectively defused by
using a variety of the media monitoring strategies mentioned above. As a result of excellent social media
monitoring the Magenta team were able to react extremely quickly. The negative comment on the Facebook photo
was located and replied to within the hour. The reply was constructed using a calm and
professional approach and acknowledged the opinions of the Facebook user in a
positive light. The response then went
on to remind the Facebook user that for every product purchase a portion of
each sale was donated to a specific conservationist charity. This information was included to reinforce
the values of the client’s brand.
Presenting these facts could also encourage other Facebook users to
continue to support the brand knowing that funds from every purchase would be
contributing to a worthwhile cause. After the comment reply was completed
another constructive tactic was implemented. New positive content was posted
above in order to move the damaging comments further down the page. I thought this was a very clever strategy and
a great way to shift to a positive focus.
So
remember these handy hints and send those Trolls packing!
Jacinta
McDonald #13958888
Digital Firefly
Marketing. (2013). Reputation Management Services. Retrieved
from https://digitalfireflymarketing.com/reputation-management-services
5 comments:
Hi Jacinta,
Sounds like you are learning a lot about the fascinating world of PR at your Magenta internship!
I enjoyed reading your blog as I have always found it interesting how social media opens up dialogue between an organisation and their stakeholders.
Some consumers comments on organisation's facebooks can be really negative and aggressive and I always admire in when a company responds calmly and attempts to diffuse the situation.
http://socialmediatoday.com/mitz-pantic/1613506/how-handle-negative-comments-about-you-and-your-business
This article discusses how businesses can best respond to negative facebook comments and includes an interesting case study of how Shoppers Drug Mart (an American business) turned negative facebook comments into a positive outcome.
Good luck with writing up your final report!
Laura
Thanks for the great post Jacinta,
I couldn't help but open your post and read with a heading so intriguing!
Social Media is amazingly beneficial to all companies who decide to broaden their presence online. Websites can be expensive, but every person, small business, even accounts dedicated to pets and inanimate objects are allowed to open a social media account and use it however they want.
You have given some very great pointers, which while I hope will never need to be used - because consumers should be sweet-natured and thankful for having someone fill the market - more than likely will be of great help to keep in mind.
A little ashamed I must say I have a number of friends who take advantage of this social media tool to be a "troll", not out of thin air but over very petty incidents. Usually seeing it as 'payback' and a potential refund depending on the situation. Smirks on their faces they will compose lengthy arguments about everything they could find wrong with their 'victim', specify an example, and demand to have the issue attended to or else they will take their business elsewhere. My friends lie, they wouldn't change phone service/airline/internet provider, and I doubt they will never have a McSomething again, but they know/hope the social presence of the comment will make the companies take action to fix it.
From these situations, I must say I have seen some companies delete the comment, some reply with a big sorry we will email you and fix the situation, though my favourite has to be the sassy companies.
http://digiday.com/brands/6-awesome-brand-responses-to-social-media-bullies/
Check out the above link if you want to see some of the better replies from companies. My particular favourite is the Smart Car, and O2. While never replying in an insulting way, they reply politely, factually, and in a way that may annoy the person trolling, but entertains and quite possibly gains support of the people based on the company being "fun".
Social Media draws a very fine line in regards to how to compose yourself, it is the companies job to find what suits their brand and reply accordingly.
Regards,
Imogen
Hi Laura and Imogen!
Thank you very much for your kind feedback. I am very happy to read that you found my post interesting and informative.
Really appreciate the links you have both sent through to other articles on the topic of negative exposure online and ways to respond! I will look forward to reading them and hopefully learning a few more strategies to keep up my sleeve.
Better get back to my report writing!
Thanks again,
Jacinta McDonald
#1395 8888
It’s sad that with all the benefits the digital revolution has brought us, so has it created an equal opportunity for negative online interaction. Trolls and cyber bullies are just a few of the consequences we deal with on a day-to-day basis. Learning how to handle online trolls is something I think all who work in the communications industry should consider; given your description, Magenta appears to have sound strategies in place when it comes to dealing with such conflicts.
Whilst there are a number of different opinions on the ‘best practice’ approach for handling trolls, I agree with you that ‘transparency’ is key. I discovered when working with social media that even the best-practice scenario may not be adopted if a client feels differently. Convincing those with a low exposure and understanding of social can be hard; often they just adopt a 'make it going away’ attitude which is counterproductive. I think educating people on how to handle certain online scenarios is the best way of mitigating a social media crisis.
Hi Jacinta,
It is true that negativity and criticism is almost everywhere. Especially when we work in PR negativity is inevitable, I agree with you that as practitioners we have to keep calm and address the situation correctly or even turn it around to be a positive thing for our brand or client.
I had an encounter via phone call with a member of public who was unhappy with our company. As an intern I tried my best to handle the issue professionally, but most importantly I seek help from someone on a higher level to make sure everything went well.
I found this website that provide tips on how to face and handle negativity which i think would be a great reference :)
http://socialmediatoday.com/jay-gierak/1623856/4-ways-handle-inevitable-negative-review
-angela dj
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