Last week a couple of our teammates were busy helping a terrific client resolve a big mess: removing administrative access from a disgruntled ex-employee. Anyone may post crappy comments on your Google Plus page and social sites, or even create false profiles and do so fraudulently — but don’t surrender your control by providing administrative access to these pages!
As you know, you can’t stop negative comments entirely. And, while Yellow Pages removes poor reviews upon request, Google does not. Read on for important advice on how to handle legitimate customer complaints posted to your public pages.
Last week, one unhappy soul was posting scathing, negative comments about the business owner and his company. These comments were featured front and center on the company’s own Google Plus page and social sites. That a former employee was posting fire-breathing comments, and that the owner of the company was blocked from responding, was due to an unfortunate set of errors — and we’re writing today to be sure you protect yourself and your digital brand so that this never happens to you.
Here are (7) simple ‘must-dos’ to protect you and your company’s brand online:
- ONLY use a company email address that you control as the “admin” of your company pages in Facebook, Yelp, Google Plus, etc.
- Because you lose control, NEVER allow anyone to gain login access to your company pages with any email address other than your company’s.
- When an employee exits your company, immediately redirect their email to yourself or a trusted company executive.
- If an ex-employee was the admin of company pages, immediately request a password reset to each page — you will need to watch for the reset confirmation to come through to the ex-employee’s former email to eliminate their access entirely.
- As an owner of your company, always insure the you have login access to your own company pages. You do not need to be active in social media, simply retain the access so that you have it in case of an emergency.
- If all safeguards fail, and your ex-employee is actively posting negative and even fraudulent statements about your company, contact each provider directly and request that false reviews and comments be removed. Even then, unless the comments contain abusive language, there is no guarantee the service provider will agree to remove them.
- Finally, when anyone posts a negative review about your company or services, respond publicly and appropriately. Do not discuss their complaint or defend yourself in public. Never criticize. Instead, simply state that you appreciate the feedback, that it is very important to your whole team and that you are dedicated to delighting customers. Share that you will be contacting the individual directly to resolve their concerns. This simple step shows your community that you are on top of it — an ethical, responsible vendor worthy of their trust.
When you can prove you’re the owner of the company, all is not lost even if you can’t access your sites directly. You can, for example, have offensive pages removed entirely. If you need help with any of this, call us — we’ll be happy to help and will work fast to resolve everything. May you always be found.
