Related to an earlier post on Social Media Responsibility – Companies Speaking Their Mind, Search Engine Land have an article on Local Business Listings: Dealing with Negative Publicity.
In it they identify 3 ways that negative publicity is normally dealt with:
- Flame the Publishers (i.e. request that the site owner or publisher removes the content)
- Get directly involved
- Simply let it play out
Choosing the right course depends a lot on the nature of the negative publicity. In an ideal world, getting directly involved in order to address the issues can be useful for others reading the review. But doing this may not always be possible.
At the very least, the business owner should try and look at the review subjectively. Doing so may help identify areas they need to improve in the services they offer. In situations where business owners become confrontational on blogs or message boards, there is always a danger that readers who started out neutral will believe the worst….
