Ever heard the profound statement “Any advertisement is good advertisement”? As ESPN’s Lee Corso would say “not so fast my friend”. Good advertising is good and bad advertising is bad. No matter the exposure, no matter the circumstance, no matter the timing. If it reflects positively on your business, great. If it does not, then it reflects negatively!
E-Commerce business managers know this all too well. When was the last time you shared a bad experience with a co-worker, a friend, or a family member? Maybe you embellished the story a bit to make it sound worse than it really was. Possibly stretching the truth a little for entertainment purposes. Or just flat out lying for whatever reason.
Online reputation management has become big business and any negative press, from any source, is taken very seriously. Not to say if you have a bad experience, you need to keep it to yourself and not say a word. Quite the opposite. Business’s need to know how they are performing, especially from a consumers point of view. In many cases that is the only quality feedback they might receive. Good or bad. Wanted or unwanted.
The big question becomes accountability. In todays social media communication highway, accountability is the big elephant in the room. You can say what you want, when you want, and how you want, using any number of social media resources. Hit send and it’s gone. No gasp’s, no anger, no questions, no accountability. At least not immediately. One great example of this would be where a court recently awarded a business $150,001 as the victim for false online reviews. Check it out.
Online reputation managers are starting to take action against those consumers that may not have been completely honest in their experience evaluation. Managers are not taking lightly those consumers, that for whatever reason, engage in dishonest reviews of products or services provided by reputable business owners.
The next time you decide to provide on-line criticism about any experience you may of had, remember these three things. Be honest in your recollection, recount the facts as they actually happened, and think before you hit that send button.