Online reviews. We love them as consumers when they help us decide what to buy and which businesses to trust. But what happens when your business gets a negative Google or Yelp review? Or even worse—if you find that your livelihood has been “review-bombed”, and you’re watching your star-rating drop as you see a steady stream of negative reviews, some from people you think may have never been your customers?

Removing negative reviews is controversial. On the one hand, business owners feel that negative reviews are unfair or unwarranted and may want them removed to protect their reputation. On the other hand, consumers and potential employees rely on reviews to make informed decisions, and eliminating reviews may be seen as dishonest or manipulative.

If you believe that your business needs help removing or managing negative reviews, whether it be from former employees leaving Glassdoor and Indeed reviews or angry consumers on Google and Yelp, here are four steps to take immediately to protect your reputation:

1. Document the situation: Keep a record of each negative review and any evidence you have that disputes their claims. Records may include screenshots of the reviews, timestamps, and other relevant information.
2. Report the reviews: If the negative reviews violate the platform’s policies, report them to the platform’s customer support team for possible removal. Provide specific information about the violation and any evidence that the reviews are part of an attack.
3. Seek professional advice: Public relations teams can help advise businesses on how to approach getting reviews removed, or even if they should be. For example, if the attacks contain illegal activities, such as harassment or defamation, legal intervention may be necessary to get the reviewer to remove the reviews.
4. Address the underlying issue: This may involve improving your products or services, addressing customer complaints, or addressing negative publicity.

Much of our work at Tucker/Hall includes guiding businesses as they carefully respond to negative reviews professionally and respectfully to show they are responsive and prepared to improve on the issues presented. However, there are instances when reviewers attack a business by leaving inaccurate or exaggerated comments to harm the company. Responding to these reviews, especially if they contain false allegations, may be more harmful than helpful.

We can work with you to help you protect your reputation and remove negative reviews on Google, Yelp, Glassdoor, and any other platform. Tucker/Hall can also develop a strategy with you to help build more positive reviews and momentum for your business online. If you need help removing negative reviews, or gaining more positive reviews, reach out directly to our digital lead, Theresa Collington, and she’ll work with you to devise a plan—email tcollington@evoqueag.online.

Join Tucker/Hall Vice President Theresa Collington and Chief Operating Officer Darren Richards for an interactive workshop over lunch at the Columbia Restaurant that will take you through the latest best practices in Online Reputation Management. Theresa and Darren will walk you through ORM case studies for individuals, businesses, and some unique but powerful ways to clean up online reputations.

Online Reputation Management – Best Practices and Case Studies

Presented by PRSA Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the premier public relations organization in the Tampa Bay area.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Networking – 11:30 AM to 12 PM
Presentation with lunch + Q&A – 12PM to 1PM

Columbia Restaurant – Ybor
2117 E 7th Ave.
Tampa, FL 33605

Sign up: Click here to register

Speakers: 

Theresa Collington is Vice President at Tucker/Hall, one of Florida’s leading public relations/public affairs firms. She joined the Tampa firm in 2021 after over 20 years in TV and digital media in Los Angeles, New York City, and Tampa Bay. Theresa works with clients on the firm’s three main practice areas – Strategy, Crisis, and Issues. She helps organizations with government and political/regulatory issues, and crisis management – everything from accidents to lawsuits. She earned a master’s degree from USF and has taught advanced digital media at the University of Florida and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Darren Richards is Chief Operating Officer at Tucker/Hall, joining the firm in 2009 after a 23-year career as a news executive at some of the strongest TV stations in the country. During his time at Tucker/Hall in Tampa, Richards has worked on a variety of different clients – from those with marketing and branding needs to those in crisis communications situations. He has been accredited in crisis communications by the Institute for Crisis Management in Louisville. He has also been certified by the Yale School of Management in digital strategy.

Here’s what’s for lunch:

1905 Salad– The Columbia’s legendary salad of crisp iceberg lettuce with julienne of baked ham, natural Swiss cheese, tomato, olives, grated Romano cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and famous garlic dressing.

Pollo Manchego – A delicious combination of Manchego cheese and bread crumbs crusted on a chicken breast and grilled. Topped with sundried tomatoes, basil, and citrus sauce. Served with yellow rice.

Lunch is included with your ticket purchase.

If you need a vegetarian meal or have any special dietary needs, please leave a note in the special instructions and comment box when registering.

Tickets:
$35.00 Member
$40.00 Non-Member
$30.00 PRSSA Student

Sign up: Click here to register

PRSA ANTITRUST COMPLIANCE STATEMENT
PRSA’s policy is to comply with federal and state antitrust laws. Participants in PRSA meetings and programs are not to discuss industry-wide or individual company prices (current or projected) or matters relating to pricing such as costs, profits, wages, market allocation, or other competitively sensitive information. Compliance with the antitrust laws is a requirement for PRSA membership and responsibility for compliance rests with each member. Participants have an obligation to terminate any discussion, seek legal counsel’s advice, or, if necessary, terminate any meeting if the discussion might be construed to raise antitrust risks.

There are some best practices for using social media no matter what industry you are in. After decades of working with transportation and logistics companies throughout Florida, we know it is essential for truckers and their companies to understand that social media use must be an important element of their risk management planning. 

After all, social media has broken down the barriers between people’s personal and professional lives, so what truck drivers and other employees post can definitely affect your company. But the trucking industry has a few characteristics that make it particularly vulnerable to reputational and legal harm via social media. 

A poll released at the American Trucking Association’s Management Conference and Exhibition in October showed that voters consistently report a favorable impression of the trucking industry, and in 2020, their support was even further strengthened by the contributions truckers made to keeping our economy moving during the pandemic. However, trucking has obvious inherent risks which threaten that surplus of goodwill. Any accident can be the subject of litigation, and poor use of social media on the part of truck drivers can leave their employers vulnerable in court, potentially exposing them to expensive settlements and judgments. 

Attorneys know this, and the opposing counsel in a lawsuit would like nothing more than to find some unsavory posts to use as evidence in the court of public opinion—which is of course the potential jury pool. It makes their settlement demands seem more reasonable if the defendant is unpopular. You can expect that in any litigation the other side will be combing through your driver’s social media activity as part of discovery. What they find can cause massive reputational harm to both an individual driver and the company as a whole. 

Truck drivers, like many other professions, are also subject to a type of cognitive bias called the “halo effect”: People are evaluated based on the perception of one characteristic, instead of their whole performance. If a driver makes a negative impression about something unrelated to their driving ability, their reputation for safe driving may be harmed as well.  

With this in mind, trucking companies should counsel their drivers to be cautious with what they post online. 

1. Use your account’s privacy options and assume that everything you post or share will become public. Check your account options to ensure that only your friends can see your posts and that you must approve any pictures you are tagged in before they are posted on your wall. Even if you change your account settings in these ways, there’s nothing to prevent a friend from sharing your post with their network or taking a screenshot of it.  
2. Stay positive. No one has ever gotten attacked for posting a picture of themselves with a new grandchild, going out fishing, or with their family at Disney World. Posting a ‘get well soon’ or ‘happy birthday’ on someone else’s wall is fine. When in doubt, remember the old adage, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” And specifically for trucking companies, this cannot be emphasized enough: Drivers should not post photos of accidents on their social media platforms. 
3. Stop commenting. Public comments sections are the worst, most toxic environment online, so just don’t take part. In the best-case scenario, no one sees your comment. In the worst case, people may take notice or misinterpret it, and share it beyond your control. Much like putting toothpaste back in the tube, there’s no rolling back social media content after it has been shared beyond your profile. 

You might decide to codify a social media policy for your company, which is wise: it ensures everyone is equally aware of best practices and the company’s expectations regarding social media use as an employee and insulates the company somewhat if a driver disregards those policies. 

Social media can be a powerful tool to promote your company, but it can also be damaging to your reputation if your employees use it unwisely. Contact Tucker/Hall for assistance with drafting employee social media policies or training your teammates on the effective use of different platforms for your company.

MORE: Social Media Evaluation and Management 

Online Reputation

It can be scary to know that your online reputation is inextricably linked to the opinions of strangers. It’s easy to imagine a situation in which someone holds an unreasonable grudge against your business and goes on an online agitation campaign to “review-bomb” you. Whether an isolated fluke bad experience or an accusation against an employee that has nothing to do with the business, it doesn’t take much to incite the mob.

We deal with it regularly–aggrieved parties usually aren’t interested in apologies or explanations; they just want to take revenge for a perceived slight, and they’re not very responsive to new information. In some cases, the majority of negative reviewers that result from such a scenario have never interacted with your business—they’re just following the herd. Keep in mind that it costs these people nothing except a few seconds to leave a bad review, but it can cost your business much more.

Thankfully, you can mitigate the effects of such negative attention with a sound internal review site policy.

Here are some tips to guard against and recover from review-bombing:

Build a Strong Foundation

It’s harder to tear down a strong reputation than a weak one, so the better you manage your business’s online presence the more resilient you’ll be against negative reviews. This process starts with controlling where and how your business appears online, to the extent possible.

Get Google

Start by getting a Google My Business (GMB) account. It confers a ton of benefits, starting with SEO–Google likes its own products, after all. Your GMB profile is the first thing people see when they google you, so stock it with information. Your location, phone number, hours, website, menu–fill in all the details and it will function as a one-stop-shop for people looking into your business. In addition, it’s where people will review you.

While you’re creating your Google presence, get an AdWords account too. You don’t even have to purchase any ads–the point is to get access to Google’s support services. If you’re having a problem with reviews, call your ad account’s support number and ask to be transferred to GMB support. They’ll do it, no questions asked, and you’ll be able to talk to a real person about your problem.

Because Google reviews appear in search results, they are the most important reviews to monitor. Before anything bad happens, build that five-star reputation! Ask customers, whether verbally or through signs and discounts, to support you by reviewing you. Respond individually to reviewers, thanking those who rate you highly and sincerely reaching out to those who don’t. Goodwill has inertia, just like bad faith, so make it work for you! The better your rating and the more reviews you have, the harder it will be for people to bring it down.

Bad Reviews–What to Do?

If you’re experiencing a flood of unfounded negative reviews, report them all. Google’s policies are clear; if the review indicates that the reviewer didn’t actually have an experience at your business, or that it’s just there to harass or demean, they will remove it. To expedite the process, call Google support and tell them about your issue. It’ll draw their attention to the situation and may result in quicker removal, especially for the more egregious reviews. One unfortunate caveat, however: Google will not remove one-star reviews with no text, as they cannot ascertain whether the person had an authentic experience unless hundreds appear in response to some article or incident.

What About Other Sites?

We haven’t mentioned Yelp, TripAdvisor, or other platforms yet, and there’s a reason for that: Google is far more important. Yelp is the most prominent alternate site, but you’re better served by staying away from them. Although they deny it, Yelp has strong pay-for-play elements and heavily favors advertisers when it comes to support and search results. If you don’t have a Yelp profile for your business, keep it that way–you can’t leave nasty reviews on a nonexistent page! By limiting the number of places people can review-bomb you while getting maximum value from the sites where you do have a presence, you give yourself more control.

If you’re a retail business, you probably have a Facebook page and therefore another place where people can recommend you–or not. Thankfully, the relevant steps for Facebook are similar to those for Google; make an ad account, report harassment, get in touch, and stay vigilant.

Weather the Storm

Because some reviews slip through the cracks in Google’s (or Facebook’s) review policies, a review-bombing incident will likely negatively impact your overall rating. The steps outlined above will mitigate that effect, but can’t prevent it entirely; unfortunately, the online mob has considerable power. The best thing you can do after the storm has passed is to redouble your efforts to get real customers to review you positively. If the incident in question was clearly not your fault, you may be surprised by the level of support your loyal customers will show.

Review sites are the ultimate two-edged sword online. They can showcase your excellence to the world, but also be a source of pain if your profile is targeted with malicious intent. Controlling your presence, staying vigilant, and promoting positive reviews will help harden you against review-bombing, as well as make your business more attractive and accessible.

To learn about how Tucker/Hall can help you fight review-bombing and other online crises, contact Solomon Howard at showard@evoqueag.online or 813.28.0652 x1126.

No Mudslinging

In today’s highly-charged and sensitive political climate, even the most innocent of posts on social media can be horribly misinterpreted or otherwise cause offense. It’s unreasonable for prospective employers to expect employees to have no political or social views, but they certainly don’t want to be associated with anything vulgar, bigoted, or hateful. Mind the online company you keep and try to express your views in a measured and civil way, especially on hot-button issues.

Keep It Clean

It can be tempting to post pictures of every fun activity, but think twice before you do; make sure none show you in any compromising position. If you appear in such pictures, do everything in your power to have them taken down or at the very least reported as inappropriate. Any sexual or illegal conduct in online photos is a major red flag for employers. Even if it’s in the distant past, it still makes for a negative image of you.

Don’t Look Back in Anger

Prospective employers might take a glimpse at your work history to check for sour grapes. Whatever the circumstances surrounding your departure—it won’t always be amicable—make sure not to post remarks on social media that disparage former bosses and coworkers. It’s a red flag to recruiters and hiring managers that you might be a malcontent who couldn’t handle being let go. If it was your choice to leave, play it off as an opportunity to move on to bigger things, or at least a better situation.

Work ‘You’ vs Personal ‘You’

Often, people’s work demeanor differs greatly from their behavior outside of work. They conduct themselves differently with coworkers than they do with friends and family, and there’s nothing wrong with that. People let loose in a lot of ways, and employers expect that, but you don’t want them to be alarmed by something you post or appear in. If there’s something you wouldn’t be comfortable with them seeing, resist the urge to post it.

Conclusions

Social media is a tricky environment, and society hasn’t yet figured out what its rules are, how hard a boundary exists between professional and personal life online, or what the statute of limitations is for indelicate posts. Until a consensus is reached, err on the side of caution. You don’t want to risk a job or miss the opportunity to get one based on your online conduct.

Below are some tips to keep your online footprint clean—whether you’re looking for a job or already working.

Expect No Privacy Online at Work

Employers have long been able to track their employees’ online habits, and if they see something suspicious or disruptive, they have the ability to investigate further. At some point during your orientation at a company, you will probably be told to consider everything you do online as viewable by management. But people still get caught in unprofessional online activities at work. A recent article in Money magazine told the story of an employee who emailed vacation photos, unwittingly compromising the company’s email platform. Be security conscious and stay on task online.

Know Your Rights in Interviewing & Screening

In all but one of the 50 states, employers are seldom, if ever, permitted access to your salary from your previous employer, unless you are notified and give them permission. You’re perfectly within your rights to refuse to answer if asked. Keep this in mind if you’re asked to sign waivers for background checks. Read each document carefully to make sure you’re not signing away your rights.

Keep Your Politics Civil and Thoughtful

There’s nothing wrong with expressing political views on social media, provided you keep things thoughtful and professional. You should avoid trolling or nasty debates. While you’re certainly within your rights to have a political take on important issues, just remember that any potential employer will see this. If they stumble across anything vulgar, obscene, or somehow over the top, they might think twice about hiring you.

Now more than ever, businesses are wary of being associated with an online matter that can reflect poorly on their company.

The fact is that negative information about your company can travel very quickly online and cause severe damage. While you might not prevent bad press online, below are some ways you can manage it.

Watch for it

Get them if you don’t have social media and online listening tools. This could be as simple as setting up a Google Alert for your company’s name and a few other keywords. If you’d like something more comprehensive, you can hire a communications firm to create social media dashboards that monitor conversations about your company and provide early warnings on rising issues.

Own Up to It

If your company made a mistake, own up to it. This will typically help slow down some of the negative social media chatter. Don’t take responsibility for anything that isn’t your fault, but have a tone that demonstrates the company is taking the matter seriously and working to make things right. A word of caution: Be prepared to apologize multiple times—because it might not be seen the first time, or it might not sink in.

Let Actions Talk

During any crisis management situation, you need to make sure you’re addressing the root cause of the issue. As you take action after a crisis, make sure to share what you’ve done on social media. Explain how you handled the situation and any steps you’ve taken since to ensure something similar can’t happen again. Actions can speak louder than words, but you do need to share what measures you’ve taken.

Seek Help

If you aren’t sure what to do—and the social media mob appears to be out for your company—reach out to a professional who can help you navigate the situation and protect your company’s long-term reputation.

The professionals at Tucker/Hall work in challenging crises every day and we can help you manage the online conversation.

Social media is NOT a strategy in and of itself. Instead, it’s a tool you will use during a crisis to communicate important and confirmed information to your audiences. Below are some basic rules to follow on social media during a crisis.

DO: Respond Quickly and Properly

When a crisis hits your company, you want to tell the truth, tell the whole truth, and tell it quickly. This is easy to say, but very hard to actually do. Still, you will want to share on social media all public communications you make about the crisis at hand. Explain, as best you can, what happened and why. Also, let your audience know when you will have another update. Keep in mind, the conversation will take place on social media with or without you. You need to be part of the conversation even during a crisis.

DON’T: Be Defensive or Mean-Spirited

Being active on social media in a crisis is necessary, but you need to make sure you strike the proper tone. You will likely hear from people who are angry and upset with you and your company. Listen and respond in a thoughtful, caring way. Don’t be defensive. If necessary, take the conversation offline—encourage a direct message or a phone call. In a crisis, you don’t want to make excuses, blame someone else, or come across as angry on social media.

DO: Communicate With Your Employees

Your employees will be online during a crisis as well checking their personal social media feeds. Communicate with your employees about the company’s plans. Share public statements with them as well, so they can post those on their social channels. If an employee receives a social media message that’s critical, encourage them to forward it to someone in management so you can address the concerns in that message directly. During a crisis, employees want to help. Give them the tools to do that.

DON’T: Think You’re Alone

It may feel as if you’re in the crosshairs during a crisis, but you are not alone. Bad things happen to good companies—and there are resources available to help you get through this.

If you need expert advice for managing a crisis, please contact the professionals at Tucker/Hall today.

SEE ALSO: Social Media During an Aircraft Incident Crisis Response

A recent study by Symantec reported more than 250 data breaches exposed 552 million identities in just one year. Some of these breaches made national headlines, while others went undetected. And the number of breaches keeps growing by double-digit percentages every year. Protection against these crimes is becoming more and more advanced, but so are cybercriminals.

So what should you do? Below are some top recommendations:

Strengthen your firewall and antivirus protections. No, this won’t protect you from highly complex security breaches. But, it will save you from low-level hackers and employee errors that could cost you. These precautions are the first step and are easy for any business to implement.

Make sure your wifi is private access only. You don’t want to invite opportunities for hackers to breach your database or security systems. The more limited you keep your wifi and network, the less chance you have of someone taking advantage. Of course, some businesses need wifi for their customers, but make sure it is password protected.

Educate your employees. Employees will not always know what to look for, and how to protect their work devices from potential issues. They are also at a higher risk for identity theft if the company networks are compromised. Make sure they know what to look for in phishing emails and other practices.

Limit employee access to information. Some employees may be smarter than you think and could try to compromise your networks on their own. Many cybercriminals are successful with this approach, getting hired by a company for a position that gives them easy access to sensitive information. Conduct background checks before hiring anyone that could have this kind of access.

DDoS security. A DDoS attack is a tactic used by cyber criminals, where they disrupt your online services or network, rendering it unusable to your customers or personnel. This distracts the cybersecurity team, working to fix the problem while the criminals gain access to sensitive information. This tactic is highly effective unless you invest in DDoS security systems.

In all the possibilities for a cyber attack, your best defense is a solid plan. Know what you’re going to do in the event of a cyber crisis, and remember that it can be solved, no matter how difficult it may seem.

You also need to be prepared from a communications standpoint so you can tell all your different audiences what is going on and how you’re fixing the problem. If you need cyber security planning, talk to the professionals at Tucker/Hall today.

There are three approaches most companies take when deciding how to handle a negative review.

Some decide not to respond at all. They believe that if the consumer used a third-party site, then perhaps they aren’t looking for a response. Or, these companies believe that not engaging with the customer might be the best way to settle the issue. However, reviews don’t go away and could continue to damage your reputation long after they are posted if they get traction.

The second way some companies respond is to defend the company and point out where the customer may be wrong. Most agree that you should never argue with a customer, but some companies believe this is the best approach when it comes to online reviews. This approach can ruin your relationship with that customer and harm your reputation online. Even if the customer is wrong, telling them that on a third-party site will probably not resolve the issue.

The right way to respond to a negative review is pretty straightforward. First, you apologize for the trouble. If the customer was dissatisfied with the service, or received a faulty product, saying sorry goes a long way. Next, you offer them a solution or some sort of remedy. It can be as simple as asking them to call your office so you can gather more information. You want to resolve the issue, not get into a big argument. Consider the template below for a response to a negative review:

“[Customer Name],

Thank you for giving us your honest feedback on our services. We apologize that you had this experience with us, and would like to make this situation better if possible.

If you could please call our office at (123) 456-7891 we would greatly appreciate it.”

This response, though short, lets the customer know that you’ve heard and understood their complaint, and are willing to help them. It also acknowledges that you appreciate their opinion, even if it was negative, as it will help your business improve later on.

If your company is suffering from a negative review or critical online stories, talk to the experts at Tucker/Hall. You can learn more about online reputation management here.