Defending Brand Against Online Critics

Finding complaints about your company’s products, services or marketing tactics online is increasingly quick and easy.  Knowing when, where and how to respond is at best an emerging science… or is it an art?  Not quite public relations, not quite crisis communications, but somewhere in between?  Factors to consider:

• How credible is the source? The tone and track record of the complaining consumer are among factors to consider.  A quick Google search of screen names or handles can often turn up a wealth of information on the track record of a particular commenter.
• How influential is the forum? Comments on thinly read message boards are one thing.  Comments on online retailer review sections, however, can last forever and influence purchasing (or not purchasing) decisions right at the point of sale… with a potential enormous impact on sites like Amazon.com and Walmart.com.
• How common is the complaint likely to be? A valid complaint is likely to be echoed fairly quickly by others, thought it’s also important to determine whether the same person is complaining under different screen names.  Correlating online complaints with call-center volume can help verify the scope of the threat.
• How serious is the complaint? People not liking an ad because of aesthetic or other creative reasons are one thing.  People not liking an ad because they think it demeans an entire race, gender or class of individuals is another, and potentially far more serious.
• How likely is my response going to make things worse? As a general rule, pulling an ad or discontinuing or recalling a product will produce news stories.  Complaints in and of themselves often won’t.
• How important is this issue to my brand’s consumers? Motrin’s “babywearer” ad offended a relatively small segment of consumers for an old, established brand with millions of consumers.  (Smaller impact.)  Method’s “Shiny Suds” ad offended a relatively small segment of consumers that loomed potentially large for a much younger, less-established brand.  (Potentially larger impact.)