LIBR 246-04/13 Web 2.0 (Fall 2010)

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In the spirit of all the lists we’ve been reading this week, I thought I’d do my own: 8 things an organization should do when they find negative things being written about them online…

1. Monitoring. Rather than haphazardly finding out the bad news, the organization should be monitoring its brand so that it can be alerted as soon as bad things are said.

2. Advance planning. The organization should have a plan already in place for dealing with negative comments about it or its brands. Additionally, the organization should have done its homework on the culture of the online communities it is present in, and on the key influencers in those communities.

3. Speedy response. The case studies in our reading have shown that companies who are prepared to act quickly can often stem negative comments before they spread too widely eg Comcast’s speedy resolution of a high profile blogger’s connection issues.

4. Have something to say. But it’s only worth being speedy if you can resolve the issue or, at the very least, acknowledge it is an issue. Putting out a bland press release probably won’t help and might inflame the situation.

5. Be honest and transparent. Many of the case studies show how negative comments can be exacerbated by the company responding in a dishonest or underhand way eg the Honda product manager that was caught out praising a Honda design without disclosing that he worked there. However, those that come clean, like the Ford example in Balwani’s article, can only avert bad PR, but may actually gain positive PR from their approach.

6. Be contrite. Sometimes, all it needs is to say ‘I’m sorry, we got it wrong’. If the organization knows the online communities it’s in, a well-placed apology will go a long way to stemming the tide of negative comments.

7. Have the right person deal with the negative issue. If it’s a product problem have the production engineer or designer respond – this way it feels like a more genuine response than if it’s a generic PR person. But ensure that all employees understand their responsibilities in social media and buy into the organization’s policy.

8. Make it personal Customers’ negative reactions are often against a faceless organization. If the organization’s response can be authentically personal a lot may be forgiven. Obviously BP’s Tony Hayward didn’t make too good a job of trying to give his company a personality!

Reference

Ogneva. 10 steps for Successful Social Media Monitoring. Mashable.