All too much, reputation management is handled as an attribute or asset that needs to be molded and directed. Firms know exactly how they wish to be perceived by their clients and customers and, quite unrealistically,  they expect that their reputation management efforts will keep reality in line with ideology. Unfortunately (for the demagogues), reputation is not like a logo. It is not conceived, designed and released. And it most definitely is neither static nor “in your hands”.

As the movie “Jurassic Park” so aptly demonstrated, the manner in which we so emphatically wish the animals to behave is unlikely to be the manner in which they do behave. Every now and again, some beast out there will decide to turn around and snap at you.

While not exactly a cause for celebration, there are a number of positive aspects of having a customer declare publicly that

Your brand sucks!

Now that the word is out, you can either do the online reputation management equivalent of taking an electrified cattle prod to the offending creature (a tactic which almost certainly will sting you more than them), or you can choose to take advantage of the various bright sides.

1. Someone cares enough to complain

When was the last time you bought a “Made in China” cheap plastic implement from your local dollar store, had it break within a week, and then went online to post to your various social outlets how crappy the store is, how they’re just taking your money, how sub-par items from China are, how you’ll never buy that crap again and you have set up an online group vowing to boycott the store, plastic, AND China at the new domain you registered, www.mydollarstoresucks.com?

Anyone?

The truth is, if someone goes to that effort to complain about your product or service, it means they expected more from you. Why would they expect more from you? Because somewhere along the line, something gave them the impression that they could expect more from you. That’s good thing #1 – that people don’t initially expect substandard from you.

Unfortunately, that client had certain expectations (whether reasonable or not), you failed to adequately meet them, and now that client wants things put right. In their mind, devaluing other people’s impressions of you will put things right.

2. No such thing as bad press

Bad press, or someone trying to give you an online smack-down, is not a bad thing. It’s what you make of the opportunity that can turn it to the negative or positive.

Good thing #2 is that if one single client goes online to complain about you, then you have just jumped from having one single dissatisfied client to having tens, or hundreds, or even thousands of potential happy clients. Analyze this opportunity carefully, and don’t screw it up.

3. Become a better person

If you are the person handling your businesses (or your own) online reputation, then the very first thing to do upon discovering an attack is to get up from the computer and go for a walk, or lunch, or a round of mini-golf, whatever. The point is to give your very natural immediate emotional response mechanisms time to wind down so that your reasonable, rational, dignified side can once again run the show. Good thing #3 is that if you do this often enough, it will become part of your routine in dealing with any adverse situation, and a controlled mind beats a reactionary one any day.

By all means contemplate the situation while you’re disengaged, or completely put it out of your head. Either way, when you do return to the keyboard you will be in a much better position to chart the course ahead rather than blindly charging into the unknown.

Now it’s time to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat. What you are going to try to do is identify the nature of the beast. You will want to determine the validity of the complaint, the character of the complaint, the online character of the malcontent critic, and their reach. In another post I address the tools and methods to gauge a negative review.

4. An opportunity to engage

If you have determined that the factors of the complaint (validity, character, source and reach) require that you address and engage the critic, then this is your moment on stage. That’s good thing #4 – unknown numbers of people are watching. Time to shine!

• Do not be afraid to apologize, if the complaint is valid
• Do not be shy to offer to work with the critic to make things right, if the complaint is valid
• Do not hesitate to clarify the situation or correct the facts, if the complaint is invalid
• NEVER, EVER let your response get personal, even if they do.

5. An opportunity to rise above

If you have determined that the factors of the complaint do not require a response, then really don’t think twice about it. After having investigated, you realize that the criticism is just a joke, or the critic is a troll, or they have no audience… either way, you might want to keep an eye on the complaint, but responding to it will likely breath life into something that would otherwise die with a whimper. Good thing #5 - you contribute to your online dignity.

6. An opportunity to improve

Whether or not you respond to the critic, if there is validity to the complaint then you have just been handed a free product / service improvement consultation. Good thing #6 is if you think of  each of your clients as your quality assurance testers, and react to their reports appropriately, then you can’t help but to continuously improve your offering.

7. For local SEO, reviews matter, not positive reviews

Annnddd finally, if you are competing in a local marketplace, prevailing study indicates that search engines will rank you higher the more reviews you receive, but that the positive or negative nature of those reviews is not a factor! So, (good thing # 7) from an SEO point of view, every mention is a plus regardless of it’s nature (see part 1 of Local Search Ranking factors).

There are no negatives

The truth is that there are only neutrals (in the case that no response is necessary) and potential positives which can only be realized by your considered and appropriate response to an intial negative. Make the most of the situation.

Tags: brand, Internet, reputation, social media