Once some loose cannon goes off on a mission of mass brand reputation destruction a marketing war has been started and you’d be wise to take this threat seriously.
To avoid letting things escalate to the point where lawyers and litigation become necessary, here are some things you can do to help prevent, stop, and undo the damage caused by unfair, rogue posters.
Monitor Social Networks
Giving people a place to interact with you is a great idea; leaving social networks unattended is not.
If you allow people to comment and post on your Facebook page be sure to monitor the page daily. So you should learn how to do Internet research to summarize all the data. Your fans may say nice things about you, but all it takes is one person to complain to start a negative conversation that can incite others to chime in with their negative thoughts.
Respond to Complaints
Don’t let complaints go unattended – other people will either jump in with their complaints, or loyal customers may come to your defence. Your Facebook business page should be a community where all feel welcome.
Do not make the costly mistake of taking comments personally and firing back with your anger. Instead, address any complaints head-on with the intent of finding some meaningful resolution to shut the discussion down, and not continue the conversation.
For example, if someone complains about your customer service, acknowledge the alleged incident, “I’m sorry you have a bad experience with our customer service department.
I would like to personally resolve your concerns…” Invite the commenter to send you a private message, call, or email you directly, or ask if you can contact them so you can personally look into the complaint.
If someone starts slamming your products as being inferior, keep things short and simple and offer an exchange or refund. Do not respond with comments that cause even further division such as “everyone else loves our products.” Instead, state that you stand behind your products and point them to your customer service page on your website. Rather than answering all their questions on Facebook, sending links to your website may divert them away from posting more rants on your business page.
Sometimes, it may be necessary to delete a comment or even ban someone from posting again, but unless the post itself is somehow offensive (i.e., racist, sexist, vulgar, etc.) use public complaints and concerns as an opportunity to show that you care about all your customers – even the unhappy ones.
When you respond to stormy situations professionally and on a public forum you get the benefit of letting others hear your side of the story and they get to see how you handle things.
Respond to Compliments
Take time to interact with people who have taken the time to like, share, and comment on your Facebook page. Remember, when they post or comment, other people they are connected to may see their activity and will be exposed to your business.
Tracking Down “Anonymous”
Contrary to what you may think, no one is anonymous on the Internet. Even if a poster uses a fake name, somewhere there is an account and an IP address connected with the poster. Begin by reading the post for clues such as a location or specific purchase. You may be able to look at your sales records and make a connection to the person posting the complaints.
Serial venters often leave a trail that is not too difficult to follow. They get angry, they vent; they make mistakes. If they have a registered account, click on their profile and see if you can locate other posts made by the same person. They may have attempted to remain anonymous in a post they made about your business, but they may have been more cordial or transparent in other posts. Sometimes, you get lucky and find that a poster will have responded to someone else’s post and offered an email address, Facebook page, or another way of contacting them personally for more support or information.
In the United States, if someone publicly posts contact information, you are allowed to contact them as long as you do not violate stalking laws. You may get only one or two chances to contact someone you identify before your “concern” can be interpreted as hostile contact (or stalking) so be direct but professional and polite:
State your concerns; Offer a way to address the complaint and ask what the disgruntled posted would like in the way of a satisfactory resolution;
Apologize for not understanding or addressing the complaint sooner. This one may hurt your pride a bit, but it is not an admission of guilt, and it often helps to simply validate the feelings of the irate customer which can help soften their hard feelings about your business.
Report Acts of Libel to the Host Company
It is illegal for people to post false accusations as facts when they are not true, and, if the intent was to cause harm, then maybe the poster did commit a libellous act. Libellous acts are a violation of the law as well as the user policies of most email service providers and web hosting companies.
If someone is committing libel you can report that person to their email provider (i.e., for an abusive poster using an @yahoo.com email address, contact Yahoo!) flag their posts as spam or being offensive or inappropriate, or, in extreme situations, you may need to retain a lawyer to fire back a warning (which, with angry customers often just escalates the war and they are likely to simply post the letter from your attorney online for all to see.) But as for opinions, well, you just may have to bite your tongue because the right to post even the nastiest of opinions is constitutionally protected.
Should you sue someone for posting a bad review about your business?
In most cases, no (but talk to a lawyer if you have serious concerns about what someone else is doing to harm your business’ reputation.) Seeking legal remedy against someone who publicly posts negative or unfair statements about your business should be an act of final resort, not your first step to resolving the problem.
First, you should never accuse someone of committing libel and threaten to sue them – unless you mean it. Not only is it not worth your time and money to sue everyone who posts a falsehood, but filing frivolous lawsuits can get you into serious legal troubles of your own.
Second, in libel cases, you need to prove damages occurred. In other words, your attorney would have to show that you were monetarily or tangible harmed in some way – hurt feelings don’t count as damages — and, most reputable attorneys would not take your case unless those damages were significant enough to a) make it worth their while, and b) not make them look ridiculous for pursuing a claim. Attorneys who file frivolous lawsuits can even be counter-sued or sanctioned for malicious prosecution in a civil claim.
The bottom line is that you should be listening to, and monitoring the conversations about you that happen across social networks. A little bad PR can be turned into a positive for you if you take a deep breath and respond without appearing like you are simply firing back.
A customer complaint is both a test and an opportunity for you to show you have integrity and can handle the heat. Chances are if it is no fun, your flamer will go elsewhere to cause trouble.
An article worth noting and should be learned. Thank you for providing this great information.