The Do’s and Don’ts of Reputation Management

If your business has received one or more bad reviews there are certain steps that you can take to mitigate the damage to your reputation before it is too great.  Here are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to reputation management:

Don’t Panic or Retaliate: although this can be easier said than done, panicking isn’t going to solve anything and retaliation can be even more destructive as it makes you appear defensive and petty.

Don’t give the review too much or too little attention: bad publicity can be very harmful and should not be ignored but at the same time don’t obsess over it to the detriment of your business.  Instead come up with a productive means for solving the problem with the appropriate amount of resources.

Make sure not to admit anywhere that you are wrong even if you were.  Admitting you were wrong will not make the negative critic go away and may hurt your relations with other customers who trust you not to make mistakes.

Do create a strategy to deal with reputation management so you have a plan of action should you receive bad publicity.  Early detection and mitigation are essential to effective reputation management.

Do understand that power of search engine optimization and have SEO experts available who can help you.  90% of viewers will never look past the first page of search results so it is often quite possible to “hide” negative reviews by simply outranking them.

Do use social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Digg and StumbleUpon to create large support groups and fan pages. 

Do remember that one bad review does not ruin your business. A critic’s power to damage is proportional.  Most people will overlook a few bad reviews or articles as one-offs if the vast majority of feedback about your business are positive.