By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-10-23 21:29:35 | Word Count: 664
There is a targeted effort by either dishonorable competitors or disgruntled ex-employees to discredit many good companies by simply posting negative reviews about their services in the most visible places. To make matters worse, it is so easy these days in a post Web 2.0 world, to post anything for any aim and otherwise maliciously seek to damage a company’s reputation. For example, the recent false negative review about Optimum7.com that was obviously simply copied and pasted and then posted on numerous sites. Without any specificity or identification of the writer, preposterous claims are made that are utterly false; even ridiculous. Optimum7 is responding as it does for all of its clients in the face of such a smear attack. We are unperturbed.
Why? Actually, it is not uncommon for these kinds of shady practices to be leveled against any company online. In fact, as a company who provides Reputation Management Services for its own clients, Optimum7 has been naturally performing this function for itself since our launch as a company in 2005. It simply comes with the territory; you can’t freak out about them. You just have to take the proper steps to counteract it by making sure that the consumer knows these are hoaxes intended to hurt the company by purposefully driving business away from them.
[ advertisement ]
Also, due to the real-time affects of blog content management systems like WordPress (RSS), a couple of complaint posts can turn into hundreds in a matter of days. Other websites simply pick up these negative comments as new content and it becomes even harder to remove false negative reviews about your company.
Here’s a list of what to do:
1) Contact the website where the complaint was posted. Explain the situation and be as forthcoming as possible. Transparency is essential during this step. Ask them to remove the negative comment and explain to them in detail why this is spam specifically written against your company to smear your reputation.
2) Respond to the negative comment on the site so other users can see your response. This will build credibility as you are addressing the issue and all negative claims in that specific complaint. Be transparent and ask the author of the complaint to contact you to resolve the issue. And, RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.
It’s a good lesson for those looking to manage their reputation online. It’s a full-time job and it’s important to be vigilant rather than let any quack with a grudge or a competitor turning to mud-slinging tactics to hurt your reputable business. Based on experience and the specific services we provide, Optimum7.com is no doubt well equipped to deal with this kind of problem; but many companies aren’t. If you’re wondering how to protect your business reputation when it’s so easy for others out there to tear it down without any validation required to back up their claims, contact us about getting Reputation Management Services to protect your image too. We can help!
You can call us at 1-800-736-9618.
