Reputation Management: 3 Tips for Rapid Response to Negative Posts

In emerging reputation management situations, the best way to assume control of the conversation is to provide a fast and effective response. This early engagement, when executed properly, can show that your business prioritizes customer sentiment, allows you to guide the conversational thread, and gives you the best chance for a speedy conclusion of the issue. Here are 3 tips that can help your business respond to negative posts in the most effective manner possible:

* Set news alerts on Google for high value keywords – This is a free service that will monitor breaking news on keywords such as the name of your business, products, and key personnel. The service then provides emails with links to emerging news stories that contain the keywords that you have put on the alert list.
* Monitor social networks for comments, inquiries, complaints, etc. Surveys show that approximately 3 out of 5 consumers on social networks will expect a response to questions and other communications, a ratio that is likely to increase over time. Generally speaking, the high bar for engaging with these customers to address specific issues stands at one hour, but a reasonably quick response will usually suffice.
* Prioritize responses to posts that cite a specific issue – Posts that are based on a specific topic enable a fast response that can solve the issue quickly, which can turn a frustrated customer into a happy one. On the other hand, rambling posts should be assessed to determine whether a solution is possible or not and then be handled accordingly.

Addressing online reputation management issues quickly can resolve small issues before they become big problems. Additionally, providing fast solutions to customer issues can convey your company’s commitment to delivering a positive customer experience, which can turn potential problems into profitable opportunities.

The Latest in Reputation Management Solicitations

It wasn't too long ago that a window company on the east coast got busted for driving around town breaking windows in hopes of seeing the victims the next morning as eager customers. The same opportunity exists for the lower rung of reputation management companies. Post some negative content on a complaint board, wait for it to surface on the search engines, and then make the call offering a solution to the company’s newfound problem.
  
While the reputation management industry has tons of ethical companies that can legitimately solve negative content issues, the guys that are soliciting business based on “breaking windows” should be avoided.

If you want to do some due diligence, take a look at what they’re doing for themselves in terms of reputation management and search their company name to see how they’re ranking. The third strike here will be if their website looks and reads like it was put together by a third grader.

Here’s another thing to watch out for; reputation management companies that tell you that they can get negative comments about your company removed from the web, much like credit repair companies removing dings from your credit report.

The issue here is that the web makes it very easy for anyone to have a voice on any opinion from anywhere that internet access is available. Unless the comments about your company cross the line of libel or slander, the content is going to stay put for a long time. It will not be removed.

Generally speaking, if there is negative content on the web that is damaging your business, a reputation management firms will create new articles, blogs, forum entries, comments, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and other forms of content to drop the rankings of the negative content on the search engine results pages.

The ease of dropping the rankings of negative content will depend on how much there is and where it originated. If authority sites are involved or if it appears to be a concerted effort, bringing in the pros is your best bet. In these situations, creating and optimizing content that will drop the negative content will likely be a long and arduous process that you’re probably not going to have time to execute properly.

For more information, visit: http://www.reputationmanagementllc.com/ or call (866) 530 7703.