Using Social Media for Reputation Management

Using Social Media for Reputation Management

Good news can travel fast on social media, but bad news tends to travel faster. If you’re using social media marketing to boost your brand, you need to prepare yourself for unhappy customers or naysayers who will use social networks to express their displeasure. One negative comment could grow into a cacophony of negativity which might quickly get out of control.

The first thing to know about communicating your business messages on social media is that you can’t control what other people say. Even though online marketing is, by definition, an effort to influence how other people think and act, communications through social networks can be unpredictable. You can’t always anticipate how people will react to who you are, what you do, or what you publish online.

The next thing to know about online communications is that most people just want to be heard and acknowledged with respect. Negative comments are not always about you or your company, even when it seems on the surface to be an insult or complaint addressed to you.

Getting a handle on comments or posts about you and your company online is important for managing your reputation online. Here are some steps to take to better manage your online reputation.

Listen and Analyze

Using a good social media tool can help you find what people are saying about you, your company, products, service, and employees. Robust online software products like Sprout Social and Hootsuite have built-in monitoring tools to gather comments into one place as well as analyze the sentiment and top topics being discussed by the public. More budget-friendly options include Buffer, Later, and Metricool.

Respond and Track

Social media listening tools can save you time, eliminating the need to conduct multiple searches through search engines and on each social network. The more data you get from these tools, the better you can gauge where your social media marketing and other communications tactics can address current or potential issues.

Once you have better access to comments and posts from others, you can begin to see topic trends and craft appropriate responses to address any concerns or complaints. Most of the listening tools also have a way to respond to comments. Some will even track responses and related online conversations.

While a lot of online reputation management is addressing negative comments and posts, always remember to respond promptly and sincerely to positive ones as well. Sharing positive posts from others to your own social media feed can often be received better than tooting your own horn.

Amplify Your Voice

Be strategic about the posts you publish and share. Use clear language and a tone that aligns with the image you want to project. Even the graphics, photographs, videos, and other visuals that you post help to convey your brand’s personality.

While you can pay for ads or to boost your posts, look for organic ways to be more visible beyond your community. Comment thoughtfully on other people’s posts on the social networks you use. Claim your company’s presence on directory and review sites such as Yelp and Google Business and respond to comments and reviews.

Participate in online forums where you can provide useful information such as Quora and Nextdoor. If you have a lot to say or share, publish longer-form content on platforms such as Medium or Substack to increase your reach.

Prepare for Crisis

The best way to prepare for a social media communications crisis is to anticipate what potential concerns could be based on the data you gather from the monitoring and tracking you’re doing. Once you get a better understanding of weak points in your business, products, or services, you can better address them.

The first line of defense for avoiding or minimizing conflict is to take criticisms to heart and do an honest examination of the quality of your business practices. If there is room for improvement, address those issues.

From a communications standpoint, create an internal list of frequent complaints and craft helpful, respectful responses. Then create an external list of Frequently Asked Questions to address some common inquiries or concerns. Overall, you need a process for handling negative comments - whether they are legitimate or not - to demonstrate you are paying attention and that you care.

Be Transparent

When addressing negative comments or complaints, be honest. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Don’t shift the blame, but also be careful when taking responsibility, making sure you understand the legal implications of doing so. Make sure you have a plan to address the situation.

While you don’t need to reveal all the inner workings of your business, if people are complaining about a slow response time, for example, you could be open about being short staffed at the moment and thank them for their patience. You could turn that dialogue into an opportunity to share that your company is hiring to fill in the gaps and address slow response times.

Part of addressing negative comments is to respond promptly, respectfully, and to try to be as helpful as possible. While the knee-jerk reaction to negativity might be defensiveness, remember that any negative comment is an opportunity to educate, empower, and connect. Addressing both positive and negative comments about you and your company is important in order to build and maintain a positive online reputation.