I blogged the other day about how you can’t control what people say about you – especially in this digital age – but that you can and should influence it. So my attention was caught by another blog post this morning which, on the surface, presented the opposite view.
It starts from the same basic premise that the rise of digital media means less and less control. But while I argued that you need to strive more than ever to manage your reputation, it says you should embrace the lack of control with open arms.
In reality, I doubt the writer would disagree that you should do any of the things I highlighted to nurture a great reputation: produce goods or services of value, behave and communicate well, deliver outstanding customer support and respond well to problems.
His real point is that you should expect much less control these days – and even welcome public criticism alongside positive opinion. Having some negative opinion in the mix, he claims, makes organisations more credible and trusted.
There’s actually a lot of sense in this – even if it goes against the grain for marketing traditionalists who still believe they should be able to micro-manage the message. There are particularly big advantages in responding to criticisms of which you’d otherwise be unaware. And if you’re distinctive, innovative and take calculated risks, some negative reactions are unavoidable: you can’t please all of the people all of the time without being terminally bland.
I’m still sticking firmly with my view that you should work as hard as possible to manage your reputation and positively influence what people say about you. But I agree this needs to be balanced with a big shift in expectations – and a healthy degree of letting go.
What do you think – is negative opinion always damaging or can it be beneficial? When should you embrace criticism and when do you need to treat it as a problem?
Tariq
I view positive criticism positively as I often learn from it, rethink position and proposition and have my perspective widened.
And it feeds the very argument you advance – working hard to manage your own reputation.
Malcolm – thanks for the comment.
I think you’re right that criticism can bring all these benefits. The thing that scares people now is how public it often is – how it’s not just expressed in a letter or a phone call to a company but may be plastered all over the Internet for all to enjoy. This can clearly make the organisations in question uncomfortable to say the least.
But the benefits you highlight are still there. And I was struck by the point in the blog post I was referencing that some public negativity can even be good for your reputation.
But if a lot of your reputation is negative, that’s clearly a different matter. Then you have a serious problem that needs a fundamental review of where you’re going wrong.
Tariq
Interesting post, thanks Tariq!
I know of hotels and other hospitality companies who have avoided being listed on Trip Advisor as they are worried about negative feedback. But the same web site gives them the opportunity to comment on what’s said: instant response to criticism. If the’re so worried about negativity, then it shows there is something to improve on or hide.
On the same site, there are some obviously biased reviews posted by friends of businesses. Too many of these, using the key phrases the owner has decided are important selling points, and any discerning reader gets suspicious.
Which raises one of the problems with digital media – relying on other potential customers to be discerning. Yes we can get immediate feedback which isn’t restrained by face to face politeness. Yes we can respond and act quickly. But that criticism is still out there and one disgruntled customer can post in as many places as they can find. We have to rely on other potential customers being able to read between the lines.
Some good examples here, Abigail. I can also think of organisations that fear negativity too much to put their necks on the line.
And interesting that you back up the point of the original author I referenced – that some negativity can be good and customer reviews that are all perfect can come across as fake.
You’re right about the big downsides of public criticism too, of course. If you’ve earned bad feedback then you only have yourself to blame – and being able to hold companies to account in this way is a great benefit to us as consumers. But customers can also act unreasonably and bad-mouth an organisation far and wide when it’s not deserved.
It’s simply the nature of digital communications that this can and does sometimes happen. The only preventative course of action is for organisations always to do their best by their customers – and to address meaningful criticism when it arises. This won’t prevent all unreasonable feedback, but it minimises the chance of negative comments and should ensure that positive opinion dominates.
Ultimately, I believe that *almost* all organisations get the reputations they deserve.