Tackling Misinformation on Google

Hi Brrainstormerr,

You need to engage in SMO/SMM (Social Media Optimization/Social Media Marketing). Either develop the skills, staff and tools, or hire a firm that specializes in those services. Get involved in the conversation and make sure that everywhere your client's product is discussed you have an agent there stating the truth. You cannot stop people from promulgating incorrect information, but you can mitigate the damage by overwhelming the conversation with the true and accurate information.

It's hard to fight incorrect information, but I would think that adding informative comments on the relevant articles could help a lot. In some cases the webmasters might even make needed changes to their content. However, it might make more sense to concentrate on the information and SEO on the client's site, than to get too distracted with the rest of the Internet.

I would start off doing two things.

1. Create a "Common Misperceptions" Page on the clients website. This can be used to address all current and future misinformation about the products.

2. Hire someone (or do it yourself) to track conversations which are spreading misinformation and join in. Let them know you are representing the product and let them know they made a mistake. Of course, you should be nice about it and lead in with something like...

----I noticed that you were recently discussing XYZ. As a representative of the company, let me assure you that customer satisfaction is our highest priority. Unfortunately, if a customer starts using XYZ with the wrong expectations, they will almost always be unhappy with the results.

In this specific instance, you stated "blah, blah, blah" and it is actually "blee, blee, blee". Don't worry, this is mix-up happens quite a bit. Check out our "Common Misperceptions" page to get more details about "whatever topic" or email us directly @email.com with any additional questions you may have.----

Obviously, your conversation starter needs to be more refined than my example, but hopefully you get the gist of what I am trying to say.

This will not only help clear up the misinformation, but also generate additional traffic to the website and improve the companies social presence (make them more personable).