Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok, if there is one thing every social media platform has in common, it’s that it can affect your business. It can help attract customers through better promotion, make customer feedback more accessible, and even increase your market reach, helping your business enter international markets. However, numerous social media scandals come to light almost every day, and the presence of cancel culture plaguing this generation has become overwhelming. It is safe to say that social media can backfire on you, just as much as it can help you.
How Your Business Can Fall Victim to Online Reputation Attacks
A business can fall victim to online reputation attacks rather quickly if you don’t play your cards right, and your success can be affected in just a few clicks. That is precisely why you should take your business’s online reputation as seriously as your business itself. But how exactly can your online reputation be attacked? Some common ways are fake news, a misinterpreted post, employee activity, and even some overly disgruntled customers.
Often, online tabloids like to stretch the truth a bit on small problems to get more clicks. A certain post’s intention might fly over some people’s heads the wrong way. An employee might post something disturbing, and customers will directly link them to your business. Some customers complaining might get too much recognition. All of these can negatively affect your business. Despite the challenges, it doesn’t mean your business should step away from social platforms altogether. There are ways to protect your business from experiencing these problems so you can continue to partake in the better parts of social media.
What You Can Do When Facing Defamatory Attacks Online
Watch Your Words
It’s no secret that people in this generation are sensitive to word choice, and some words might have some unsettling undertones we’re not aware of. Before making a post about your business or promoting certain products, make sure you check your word choice. Change what might give your customers or potential customers the wrong idea. That way, you don’t offend anyone and therefore do not gain any negative attention.
Delete and Apologize
Tying into the first one, sometimes you may not be able to filter out some potentially offensive words in your post, and some damage might already have been done. Often, your first instinct would be to delete it, as you should. However, that is not all you should do, for you might attract more negativity since you show the public that you would rather move on than take accountability. Anytime a slip-up is to happen, an apology should be in order. That way, you may properly address the public and not receive backlash anymore.
Monitor Your Employees
Employee activity, according to the BBC, can be one of the biggest social media pitfalls. Harmful posts from your employees can reflect poorly on your business by association. Plus, cybercriminals often tend to use information gained from employees’ social accounts to infiltrate a company, so your overall workflow may be affected as well. You can avoid these problems by merely monitoring your employees’ posts or doing a proper background check before hiring them. It is also a good idea to have your employees create separate private accounts for their personal lives, so people may not take advantage of them.
Reach Out To Customers
As stated before, negative comments from an overly disgruntled customer might garner unwanted attention, especially if you don’t deal with your customer’s complaints or concerns head-on. Before a situation will escalate too much and a customer decides to go to their socials to be heard, it is best to reach out and help them work out the issue. Doing this will not only help you avoid conflict but allow you to keep your customers and build a better relationship with them.
Take Legal Advice
Defamation solicitors are lawyers who give private and commercial clients legal advice on keeping a good reputation online and offline. They can also help your business take legal action if anything is said or written about your business that is untrue, blown out of proportion, and overall damaging to your reputation. Hiring such a lawyer is taking a step in the right direction, so you can avoid or fix any conflict.
Social media can do both good and bad for your company. It would be best if you learned how to maneuver and handle your social media presence. In doing so, you can maintain a positive brand identity in customers’ eyes and adjust your business to the modern standards and demands of this generation.
