Being "Liked" is Serious Business

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Being "Liked" is Serious Business
These 10 steps will help you protect and repair your online reputation.

KATE ZABRISKIE

Consider common reviews of jobs, products or services that you've seen online:

"The worst customer service experience ever! I couldn't get an answer via phone or email. It was like I was invisible!"

 

"If you are offered a job at this place, run—do not walk—to the nearest exit. This company is an asylum. I have never worked with a more dysfunctional group of people in my life."

 

"There are a lot of fake reviews on this site. Anyone who has ever been here knows there is no possible way on earth a real customer would say this place was anything but a pit. Enter at your own risk. You have been warned."

 Ouch! Those have got to hurt. The naked truth—it's what someone really thinks of your product, service or organization.

Bad reviews can bite, wound and sting. Worst of all, a mountain of them can appear online in a matter of seconds. Social media is a wonderful thing until it turns against you.

But what’s a person to do when his or her online reputation is suffering at the hands of others? Plenty. I recommend these 10 steps:

 

Step 1: Take a deep breath. You can fix it. Not overnight, but you can fix it.

 

Step 2: Get over any hurt feelings or embarrassment, and do it quickly. The people who complain have done you a great favor. It’s now up to you to decide if negative reviews are going to be the kiss of death or a wake-up call. 

 

Step 3: Uncover everything that is being said about you. If you found a bad review in one place, there are probably others. You will need to spend a few hours researching yourself online. Start Googling, and take notes of what you find and where. A word of caution: resist the urge to respond to anything. Be strategic, not impulsive. You will need a game plan before typing a word.

 

Step 4: Automate. Sign up for Google Alerts at www.google.com/alerts. If new content mentioning your company shows up online and Google sees it, the search engine will send out an automatic alert letting you know. There are also a variety of free and paid services that will monitor online search terms and any major review sites for mentions, and will quickly notify you if new information about you is posted. If you are serious about managing your online reputation, these services are extremely valuable.

 Step 5: Once you have a good picture of your online grade, get ready to roll up your sleeves and start problem-solving. If your secretary is rude, train him or her. If your establishment is dirty, clean it. If people hate working for you, investigate the problem. Unless you are the victim of competitor sabotage, what you are reading is probably based in truth. If needed, revisit step two.

 

Step 6: Involve your team and communicate your improvement plan. You will reach your goal faster if everyone in your organization understands what it is and is working toward it.

 

Step 7: When you are interacting with people, ask them what they think. You already know some of them have no problem sharing their opinions with the world, so they will probably be willing to candidly tell you the good, bad and ugly. Asking your clients for help can prove extremely beneficial.

 

If at all possible, have these conversations verbally. You may be surprised by the quantity and quality of information you are able to quickly gather.

 

Step 8: Once you have a clear sense of what is going on with your business and are on the road to smoothing out the rough spots, get back to the reviews. It’s time to answer them. First, thank the reviewer for letting you know about a problem and include something good about yourself, too.

 "Thank you for your feedback, and I’m sorry your experience wasn’t what you expected. We’ve served over a thousand clients in our five years of business, and we strive to delight each of them."

 Second, describe what you have done to prevent the issue from occurring again.

 "We’ve taken a few steps to prevent what happened to you from happening to another client. Since your visit, our staff has taken several classes to improve their service skills. They’ve focused specifically on techniques for positively engaging with clients."

 Third, ask the person to give you a second chance.

 

"Please consider working with us again. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised."

Resist the urge to be snarky, judgmental or to correct your clients. Some customers are wrong, but pointing that out will not help. Lots of people are going to be watching how you respond to others. Take advantage of the opportunity to be polite, helpful and solution-focused. People who rely on the reviews can often tell when other customers are being difficult. If you are gracious in your dealings with them, you will win in the long run. 

 

Step 9: Ask your happy clients to post reviews. Over time, your average will improve. Obviously this approach only works if you are indeed making changes and removing the causes of bad evaluations. If you are not, prepare for more of the same reviews you’ve gotten in the past because they’re coming. You simply cannot turn off the social media tap.

 

Step 10: As tempting as it may be, do not post fake reviews or go to a service to get others to do the same. Apart from the fact that it’s dishonest, it’s also dangerous. If you get caught, you will look even worse than you did before. Instead, get busy writing more content to post on your site, press release sites and other appropriate places. The more that’s out there, the less visible a bad comment is. 

Kate Zabriskie is the president of Business Training Works, Inc., a Maryland-based talent development firm. She and her team help businesses establish customer service strategies and train their people to live up to what is promised. For more information, visit www.businesstrainingworks.com.