Great article on Investor.com dealing with the impact on reputation of negative stories online. (Thanks to David Wilson for the link to the story.)
It details what happened to a US microwave popcorn manufacturer, Pop Weaver, and the reaction of their PR agency to address the issue. It also includes details of other companies – many of them who have not handled it as well as Pop Weaver. The damage to those who fail to act can be huge.
All saw their reputation tarnished as well as negative impact on their share price and revenue. In some cases this amounted to tens and millions of $.
A heavy price to pay due to poor online brand management.
So what can an in-house or agency PR team do to minimise such risks?
Monitor online blogs for posts and comments
I am constantly amazed at the number of companies that do not systematically monitor what is being said about them and by whom online. One way of looking at it is to consider it a free customer satisfaction mechanism. You would pay a lot of money to find out what customers and prospects think about your company, its products and services. Or you could monitor blogs, comments, forums and fan-sites to see what the state is.
React fast to any negative comments – ‘firestorms’ can start quickly
The blogosphere is a 24/365 environment. As blogs are subscribed to, cross-linked and ‘trackbacked’ negative comments can quickly gain momentum. Newspapers and broadcasters may have tight deadlines but they are not ‘always on’ like the internet. Traditionally a company would have had some time to prepare its story to meet a crisis or deal with an issue. The reality is that most customer service issues are still handled via legacy support systems where each customer could be treated as an individual. With the internet dissatisfied people can ‘swarm’ around an issue and gain momentum and visibility very quickly. A negative post needs an immediate response via comments on that blog and through other bloggers and forums. Without this the counter-balancing response will not be seen by people. You want a negative blog to carry your side of the story. An explanation. The old adage a ‘Stitch in time is better than nine’ holds very true here.
Blogs have a long shelf life – don’t hide in the vain hope they go away
Often in crisis management it feels like a strategy of avoiding comment and hoping it would go away is being employed. After all it is often said ‘Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper’ (now that ages me!) In the online world this is just not true. Posts can last almost ‘forever’. With more and more views, links and trackbacks they can climb the search engine listings staying live for many months. This is why it is critical that immediate action is taken to join in the online conversation. Some companies have found it takes many months to turn the tide of negative feelings. The sooner you start the better.
Traditional media is watching and waiting
Research has shown that increasingly journalists are using blogs. Recently one report said almost 1/5th had their own blogs. Almost 80% said they read blogs to get a source for a story and 76% said they regularly read them to get an idea of the tone and buzz on subject matter. Blog firestorms get picked up by traditional media and reported on. This in effect adds fuel to the fire as even more people are then aware of the negative blogs and many will go to read them so increasing the search engine rankings and overall negative pressure.
Time and an integrated approach to online and offline media and brand management is called for.
Be open and honest – don’t try and ‘spoof’ the blogosphere
A number of companies have tried to ‘spoof’ positive PR campaigns. The same with comments on a negative posting. Malcolm Gladwell postulated in his book, Blink, people can be very perceptive. To ‘spin’ a story or press release means you risk the blogosphere finding out thant something does not ‘add up’. There is a phenomenon called the ‘wisdom of the crowds’. The old adage ‘Two heads are better than one’ springs to mind. With so many people likely following the ‘firestorm’ you have a large number of people watching what is happening and able to spot when something is just not right.
If you are caught out trying to blind-side the blogosphere they will turn on you. Your reputation will then be damaged even worse.
Always be honest. Be open. Do not hide behind ‘ghosted’ positive articles, blogs or comments as a counter to negative perceptions.
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