How to Deal with Negative Blog Posts

As part of our small series looking at 8 Types of Reputation Management Issues, we are looking at how you can go about dealing with each issue in the best possible manner for your brand.

Today we are looking at how you can deal with negative blog posts; you may be interested in the first post which looks at how to deal with negative search engine results. Now it's estimated that there are 1.6 million new blog posts made everyday, it's also a simple fact that people can write about whatever they want, whenever they want and very easily. Blogging is the revolution in the new media of the web and if people want to talk...they will.

Examples

Just so we are all clear on what negative blog posts entail, here's a few examples I've found from around the web.

1. Apple

Big name corporations can certainly be affected in terms of sales and branding when big name bloggers such as Techcrunch here talk down your product. Duncan came up with a pretty interesting title for a whole post related to the high cost of the Macbook Air:

2. Wikia Search

Instead of looking at an offline property, let's look at something that is solely online. Wikia search, the open source search engine from the creator of wikipedia launched recently to a lot of insulting reviews including this one over at Mashable which has over 150,000 feed subscribers.

It's going to be difficult to be relevant to every single type of blog post here but if there's something you aren't sure of or would like more details on a certain situation just leave a post in the comments.

How to Deal with Negative Blog Posts

1. Know they are out there and keep tracking

If you aren't monitoring feeds for reputation management then you should be, especially where your company or products are concerned. Part of being able to respond to negative blog posts is obviously knowing about them in the first place so keep track on all links back to your articles, all mentions of your name or the name of your brand.

The quickest way to do this would to be using Google Alerts or subscribing to feeds on Google Blogsearch.

2. Respond directly in the blog comments

Most blogs have the comment feature enabled so be thankful you get a chance to ‘make your case'. Do not use this section to insult the blogger or simply say they are talking sh*t because that will only make you look worse and might mean more negative blog posts are on their way. Instead try and help the person in any way (if they are having a problem with a product / service) or at least try to deal with their issue the way you would if it was sent directly to you.

Doing it in an open manner shows you care about what it is you are doing and are willing to stand behind what it is you are doing / offering. If you have made a mistake, admit it and make clear the steps you are taking to rectify the situation.

3. Add a response to your help area / support center

If you are a large corporation or just a company that spends a lot of time dealing on the support side of things then you may well see a lot of people using blogs to talk about their issues. If an issue is something you haven't seen before, add it to the support center or help areas of your website and let the blogger know about it either by linking to it or emailing it to them.

This is generally a good business practice anyway, whether it's someone who has blogged negatively or contacted you directly about an issue they have, it will save future issues and might prevent future negative blog posts being created.

4. Blog back and be transparent

If you don't have your own company blog (why not?) then this isn't really relevant for you. Some companies just aren't willing to take the risk and blogging about others complaining or insulting them though (brings more attention to the issue) but surprisingly brings them more respect and more trust from product / service users.

The web is now a two-way conversation so why not let the whole world know your thoughts. Sometimes it's a lot easier than going to multiple blogs to share your feelings if a lot of people have discussed the same issue and gives people a place to linkback to for help / support / answers.

5. Thank the blogger

Before you think I'm crazy and close this page, keep reading. The main positive about being professional and open (yes, even when someone has insulted "yo momma") is that there's always the chance they can go on to write something positive about you just as easily as it was for them to write something negative.

Jumping into legal threats or anything of that nature can just help make things a million times worse. Being professional about the situation, getting in touch with the blogger to let them know you are working on what they are talking about, solutions for what they are talking about or even just thanking them for having an opinion can really come back to your benefit.