Some People Still Don’t Have a Clue.
One of the websites that I look at from time to time for leads on jobs is Guru.com. Essentially, people or businesses looking for help executing marketing projects post their opportunities on this site, and folks such as myself send in bids to handle the assignment. Types of projects range from logo design to posting ads on craigslist to full-blown product development and marketing plan creation.
When browsing the site today, this post caught my eye:
I need help resolving online complaints about my company. Three disgruntled customers have trashed our name on several websites (yahoo, google, yelp). Please help me get the worst comments taken off or at least buried with good reviews. I am new to guru.com; please state what you can and are willing to do, how long it might take and how much it might cost. Thank you!
So, here is someone who has heard from his customers via social media. What is the company’s reaction? Pay someone to remove or “bury” the negative comments and flood these sites with (probably specious) positive reviews.
Alternatively how about listening to what your customers are saying? Negative reviews can be more helpful than positive ones. Assuming the complaints have merit, fix the business! Then, reach out to detractors, engage with them, let them know that you are concerned about their comments and have addressed them accordingly. Build a two-way, authentic and honest relationship with customers.
Even if this poster finds someone who is willing to sacrifice their ethics to take this job, the negative reviews will not stop if the product or service is indeed inferior. And, most likely, it will be discovered that the new slew of positive reviews were seeded. Once this happens, the few existing negative reviews will only be the tip of the iceberg.
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