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Facebook Reputation Management help?

by Creativegirl
12 replies
Got a meeting with a client who has found two negative FB pages set up by a disgruntled customer - one page plays off owner's name the second is a trade mark infringement of a company name.

Does anyone know how to handle pages like this that others set up to bash a person or company? Both pages are from one person venting their frustration and opinions, not resource or helpful pages to combat the dislikes.

How do big brands deal with this? Pages like "Company XZY Sucks" for example.
#facebook #management #reputation
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    A couple thoughts.

    1. The saying goes that any PR is good PR.
    2. Is what they are saying true? Or are they making things up?
    3. Defending the trademark to take down Page 2 might be possible so speak to a lawyer.
    4. Is anyone even noticing the? Do they show up on google search? Lot's of likes? Sometimes you just got to accept that the negative exists.
    5. Have you talked about addressing the issues? Aka posting as the business and/or owner on those pages to address the concern publicly.
    6. Have you talked about getting positive feedback on facebook and review sites to show that the overwhelming majority love the business (if that isn't true the issue isn't online but in house).
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    Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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    • Profile picture of the author Creativegirl
      good point Aaron, thank you.

      Will address some of those when I meet and hear the full story or what the owner wants to accomplish.

      The trademark infringement is pretty straight forward. The other playing off owners name and the bashing on both pages is the issue.

      FB now shows more search results with keyword phrases I don't always see on search engines. That is starting to present and issue for some businesses because they will show negative keyword phrases we don't see anywhere else.

      These pages don't have much likes but are publicly annoying. Many use yahoo groups which is more private. Taking it to FB pubilc. They do not have much traction publicly. But it brings up online brand reputation, securing your names and variations in social media as well as monitoring social media for this sort of thing.

      It's a flip: ignoring it could make it worse as much as addressing could make it worse.

      I'm wondering about FB analytics. How much traffic and new business are they really getting from FB and like you mentioned are the posts or pages showing up in organic search.

      As far as truth to the bashing depends on how you look at it. Related to construction sites and the complaints are about normal processes in construction. Why bash the process? Could it be improved? Sure, to a degree. Will that satisfy the disgruntled customer? Realistically, probably not.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebdevelopmentGroup
    Send me a PM I'll give you a hand.
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    • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
      Originally Posted by Creativegirl View Post

      The trademark infringement is pretty straight forward. The other playing off owners name and the bashing on both pages is the issue.

      It's a flip: ignoring it could make it worse as much as addressing could make it worse.
      I would comfortably say that 99% of business owners don't understand what trademark infringement is. Playing off an owners name, and griping about the company is completely legal. If trademark infringement were the case and he could pursue something against them, why hasn't paypal pursued paypalsucks.com?

      Most business owners, don't even have a trademark. If they do have a trademark, they usually don't have it classified under all the possibilities they would need to protect themselves.

      Legally, there is likely absolutely no grounds to pursue someone for trademark infringement. Doesn't mean you can't issue a cease and desist letter. It also doesn't mean that you can't pursue a civil suit for slander, libel or whatever form of defamation he would be claiming but if that were an option the customer may very well be telling the truth. He still has the freedom of speech to publish comments, thoughts and criticism about the company, and can even put up a domain as a gripe site.

      Is this really costing them money? Ignoring it may be the best option.
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      • Profile picture of the author Creativegirl
        Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post


        Legally, there is likely absolutely no grounds to pursue someone for trademark infringement. Doesn't mean you can't issue a cease and desist letter. It also doesn't mean that you can't pursue a civil suit for slander, libel or whatever form of defamation he would be claiming but if that were an option the customer may very well be telling the truth. He still has the freedom of speech to publish comments, thoughts and criticism about the company, and can even put up a domain as a gripe site.

        Is this really costing them money? Ignoring it may be the best option.
        Thanks for the insight.

        By looks of the low volume likes I doubt it costing "new" business. It's about 1% of the existing customer base. How many new sales or traffic actually come through FB I suspect is low.

        However, when you have billboards and millions of dollars invested in a community and your brand, I'd say any negative social media could be a big deal. Ironically the negative FB pages are hypocritical and while venting frustration appear to be an attack on the developer.

        Normal reputation management and search engine domination would take care of any negative websites and domains and FB pages showing up in serps but I don't see that as the solution for combating it on or within FB.

        Again, the FB page using the trade marked name will be handled legally. But there's nothing to prevent the disgruntled customer from creating more pages using spin offs of the names. So, again, looking for guidance on how to help.

        Thanks, again.
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        • Profile picture of the author DABK
          Undisgruntle the disgruntled customer.

          Publicly is best.

          Originally Posted by Creativegirl View Post

          Thanks for the insight.

          By looks of the low volume likes I doubt it costing "new" business. It's about 1% of the existing customer base. How many new sales or traffic actually come through FB I suspect is low.

          However, when you have billboards and millions of dollars invested in a community and your brand, I'd say any negative social media could be a big deal. Ironically the negative FB pages are hypocritical and while venting frustration appear to be an attack on the developer.

          Normal reputation management and search engine domination would take care of any negative websites and domains and FB pages showing up in serps but I don't see that as the solution for combating it on or within FB.

          Again, the FB page using the trade marked name will be handled legally. But there's nothing to prevent the disgruntled customer from creating more pages using spin offs of the names. So, again, looking for guidance on how to help.

          Thanks, again.
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    • Profile picture of the author Creativegirl
      Originally Posted by WebdevelopmentGroup View Post

      Send me a PM I'll give you a hand.
      Will do, thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author stone2010
    Has your client tried approaching this angry customer to see if they can fix whatever the problem was? I remember one time this guy was so angry at my brother in law's because he went to the restaurant 5 minutes before closing and he wanted to order something on the menu that they ran out off that night because of how busy they were, this guy was so angry that he went home and created 5 YouTube videos talking trash about the place, he went to Yelp and left a bad review, Google +, Insiderpages pretty much anywhere he could leave a bad review he did. By the way he did this all in the middle of the night so when my brother in law woke up he had an email from this guy with all the stuff he did.. it was a nightmare.. what my brother in law did was contacted the guy and told him he will make it up etc,, he got the guy to come in and get a free meal.. guess what? the guy took everything down and did the oppposite, went to the review sites, facebook and praised the place.. sometimes its just best to try to find out what the problem is and do your best to fix it.. sometimes it is unfixable so there is nothing you can do.

    I understand Iam Nameless said you can't go after them legally but what about some type of scare contacting them telling them their lawyer is going to contact them etc and see what happens.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Mayer
      It may be that the customers are posting undesirable comments about the company but it definitely brings exposure to it. Have you hear of "not trying to stop every dog that barks on you?" Well we know it could damage the reputation of the brand but this thing could turn into an opposite effect. As long as you're confident with the quality of your service, bad rumors would definitely not succeed.
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    • Profile picture of the author Creativegirl
      Originally Posted by stone2010 View Post

      Has your client tried approaching this angry customer to see if they can fix whatever the problem was? I remember one time this guy was so angry at my brother in law's because he went to the restaurant 5 minutes before closing and he wanted to order something on the menu that they ran out off that night because of how busy they were, this guy was so angry that he went home and created 5 YouTube videos talking trash about the place, he went to Yelp and left a bad review, Google +, Insiderpages pretty much anywhere he could leave a bad review he did. By the way he did this all in the middle of the night so when my brother in law woke up he had an email from this guy with all the stuff he did.. it was a nightmare.. what my brother in law did was contacted the guy and told him he will make it up etc,, he got the guy to come in and get a free meal.. guess what? the guy took everything down and did the opposite, went to the review sites, facebook and praised the place.. sometimes its just best to try to find out what the problem is and do your best to fix it.. sometimes it is unfixable so there is nothing you can do.

      I understand Iam Nameless said you can't go after them legally but what about some type of scare contacting them telling them their lawyer is going to contact them etc and see what happens.
      Ouch! Lucky the guy really wanted the food and could be appeased. Yeah, I would have reached out to fix this too. Not sure my client's situation is that extreme but we all know it "could" be. Thanks for sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author ReferralCandy
    Yep, don't worry too much about it. Don't fight fire with fire- instead, make a concerted effort to delight your new and existing customers as much as possible, and focus on that.

    You can mention the "XYZ sucks" page in a humorous way on your social media, but don't be angry/sarcastic/cynical about it. Maintain the moral high ground, communicate confidence in your products, your business and your customers, and be good/decent about it.

    Your customers will be far less bothered by it than you think- it might even turn out to be good publicity for you in the long run.
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  • Profile picture of the author Creativegirl
    Thanks, the consensus on the social media is to resolve publicly. I'll know more after meeting with client. It's definitely and industry where you will never please all the people all the time.
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