Negative information appears on the network every day: from negative reviews to news articles and publications on social media. Given the opportunities that Internet users provide, it is almost impossible to avoid criticism for the slightest omission in the provision of client services. When a real problem arises – poor quality service or defective goods – information about it is distributed in the blink of an eye and becomes available instantly.
Negative news spreads fast
Negative stories quickly become widespread, can destroy a company’s reputation and entail real losses for the business. Unfortunately, negative information appears on the network even about companies with a strong reputation. There will always be dissatisfied customers, offended employees, and service failures can often occur due to unforeseen circumstances. Sooner or later most every company faces a negative response or viewpoint across the network, so you can’t just cross your fingers and hope your business is lucky enough to avoid that fate.
Fortunately, there are a wealth of opportunities to minimize damage. Effective reputation management minimizes the impact of negative information from the network on the reputation of the company.
If a business structure cannot afford to keep crisis communications specialists on its permanent staff, there is always the option of using companies that provide similar services, as there are already pioneers in business protection who can help build a positive reputation on the Internet.
The company’s initial response to the development of the situation largely directs how the case affects the company’s reputation. Many companies manage to turn negative reviews into positive customer experiences through these types of open professional relationships.
8 steps to reduce the impact of negative information:
- Make a clear plan – reputation risks vary from industry to industry. Make a list of factors and cases that are potentially dangerous for your reputation, and determine action plans for each factor and case. It makes sense to study the experience of other companies and understand which methods worked and which did not.
- Be proactive – do not wait for the negatives from the network to fall on your head. If a potentially dangerous event occurs, inform consumers as soon as possible. Post regularly on social media.
- Appoint a public relations manager – news channels constantly hunt for high-profile stories and where there’s an interesting story they work hard to keep their readers updated about that course of events A lack of official commentary is often regarded as evidence of guilt. Therefore, it is important that the company has a representative who keeps the news channels informed of any important details or fresh developments. It is preferable that this be an experienced PR specialist who feels comfortable in any emergency situation.
- Explain what happened – share an objective opinion about what happened to stop possible rumors. Explain what happened in detail and also share what you are doing to correct the situation and what measures you plan to put in place to prevent the recurrence of such a situation in the future.
- Apologize if appropriate – if you are guilty, plead guilty and apologize. Even if you are not guilty of what happened, it is worth apologizing for the inconvenience caused to consumers. Do not pass the blame on to employees. Take responsibility for the problem and propose a solution.
- Follow through on the problem to discover why it happened – an emergency is clearly not the only thing that happened in the company in a week. Post positive stories, talk about the life of the company, its new products and successes.
- Determine what went wrong, and take preventative measures – after solving the problem, analyze what led to the onset of the case, what other ways to resolve the issue were possible. Improve the work of those departments that caused the critical situation.
- Distract attention – give consumers the opportunity to forget what happened, replacing it with a more powerful positive event (special offer, competition, charity gathering, etc.). If new, positive events attract more attention and, as a result, traffic, then they will quickly take places in search engines above negative information.
Dealing with negative information is complex and delicate. Therefore, companies need professional support. Anti-crisis communications specialists already know which methods are best for solving typical problems with the least damage to the company.