Quite often I am asked if a company should engage a person who is disparaging their brand or products. The answer is, “Absolutely, yes!” My response comes in two flavors:
- If someone wrote something that was not based on factual information and drew conclusions based on incorrect data, provide the correct information in a positive light. Saying something along the lines of, “Thanks for the post. I represent XYZ and wanted to give you some information you may not have seen when you wrote your post,” goes a long way to calm an emotional author while still presenting your side of the issue
- If someone is stating a personal opinion, “Company XYZ sucks,” reach out to them and try to help them. They feel that way because they had a bad experience or your product really does suck. A good response is, “I’m sorry to hear you have been having problems with our service, would you mind providing specifics so I might be able to help you?” (Notice the out in the previous sentence.)
When responding, remember the following:
- You don’t need to win every time, but you do need to show up
- Don’t bash the author, that will guarantee a humiliating defeat
- People can disagree with you as long as they have the correct information
