“There is no such thing as a problem, only an opportunity” is one of the oldest and arguably most over-used sales truisms. There is of course some truth in it, if only you have the imagination, skill and resilience to handle the situation objectively.

Few of us are immune from some form of criticism. We have web sites and as such we are in the public domain. With the ever increasing use of blogging and social media as a means of promotion, some of our competitors – or simply people who may not like us for some reason, however unjustified – will use these highly public channels to criticise us in some way. How we deal with this says a great deal about us and determines whether we improve or worsen the market’s perception of us.

Why do they do it?
Consider for a moment that Hitler’s propaganda minister is credited with the statement that if you tell a big enough lie and repeat it often enough, people will come to believe it. Now of course we are not suggesting lying as a strategy. Not for a moment. However, there are plenty of people out there who are not averse to using at least a highly distorted view of the truth as a means of self promotion and in some cases to launch an unwarranted attack. The more this occurs, the greater the likelihood that at least some of our target audience may start to believe that there must be some truth in it. In the social media world, support for a particular position can grow rapidly and within a matter of hours one acidic blog post may have turned into a potential PR disaster. This is particularly true if there is an association with a major brand: these are always popular targets. The motivation may be a simple as a personal grudge; it may be a misguided belief that in so doing they are in some way working for the “greater good”; there may be ethical objections; an aggressive competitive agenda; or indeed they may simply be unpleasant or nigh on certifiable. Worse still, they may be — at least in part — right!

Response or dignified silence
One of the first decisions in any such situation is a go / no-go decision. Does the attack merit a response? Does the attacker have any credibility? Does the attack appear to be gaining in momentum or visibility? What, if any, threats are involved in the attack and what are the potential outcomes? In many cases a dignified silence may well be the most appropriate response, hard as that may feel at the time. This is particularly true with “repeat offenders” who may routinely air grudges to anyone and everyone who will listen. You can be fairly sure that you are unlikely to be their only target and that their credibility is likely to be limited as their target audience recognise the repeated nature of their attacks and the underlying self-absorbed motivation. Responding to any such attack involves significant management time and resource and therefore cost, if nothing else in terms of the work sacrificed in favour of responding. If the attack can reasonably be seen as simply “noise” with little merit and the likely impact is minimal, a dignified silence will generally go further to support your credibility than wasting resource engaging in a platform with limited visibility and value.

Planning a response
Stop. The first thing you should do is ensure that you are in complete control of your own emotions. Few of us are genuinely thick skinned and whether criticism is directed at us personally or simply at the business, it is only human nature to feel that we are personally under attack. A brisk walk, a cup of tea or whatever you routinely do when stress levels reach unacceptable heights is vital. The desire to respond in fairly aggressive terms can be overwhelming but is, of course, the last thing you should do. The world’s blogs and forums are packed full of eye-wateringly aggressive posts from people who failed monumentally at this first stage.

With your “business head” now restored, assuming you have determined that the criticism merits a response, you need to plan form, structure and location. If it appears that the issue is spreading and will not be confined to one or two sites, it may be best to create a full and detailed response in one central location and to post brief, informative and relevant responses with a link to that location. This may be your own blog or forum or perhaps the highest profile web property that already appears to be engaged in the dialogue.

Perception plays a critical part in any response. This is one of the reasons why information placed in the public domain, must be handled with considerable forethought. Don’t just type directly into a post. Write your response locally and review it in a word processor, running it past any colleagues, partners or clients that are affected or named in the issue at hand. Always ensure you have consensus internally before committing it to the public domain. A retraction at a later stage can be far more damaging than the original criticism!

Response tone
First and foremost, regardless as to the degree of provocation, never allow your response to appear personal, aggressive or overly defensive. However, make sure that you “humanise” your business and practices as far as possible. The more “real” you appear, the harder it will be for others to blindly join in in pure “attack” mode. We all find it hard to be unpleasant to someone who is being courteous, if not friendly in return. Be accommodating and friendly in tone. A little humour carefully interjected into your response may also help to defuse things although should, of course, be treated with the utmost care. Your overall tone should be honest, credible, friendly, open and caring.

Less is more
Tempting as it may be, don’t write a book as your first response. Not only will those involved in the dialogues resent having to wade through it but it can appear to be pre-engineered in readiness for such a situation (not a positive sign). Stick closely to addressing the points raised and remember at all times that focus is everything. Don’t be tempted to pre-address further issues that “may” be raised. You may unwittingly start further debates or raise further concerns that may otherwise have remained unstated. Be prepared to continue the dialogue and to answer further issues raised as a result of your initial response.

Win the war, not the battle
The long game here is in creating the right view of your organisation in the minds of the wider readership of the dialogues. Don’t focus on winning the argument with the initiator and his or her supporters. Rather, acknowledge their right to raise the issue, demonstrate a clear understanding as to why they have raised it (ignoring any completely irrational arguments they may have raised) and then take each element of their criticism and explain your position and the reasoning behind it insofar as confidentiality will allow, all the while emphasising the commitment of your hard working team. If your position has inherent limitations, acknowledge these, explain the current absence of alternatives and that you are constantly working to refine and improve it. Make it clear that upsetting anyone is the last thing you ever want to do and that you don’t treat it lightly as simply a “cost of doing business”.

Building support
If a single criticism appears to be turning into a flood, it may well be worth enlisting the support of those partners and clients you know to be fully on-side (clearly avoiding those for whom making them aware of the issues raised could damage the relationship!). They may be more than happy to post responses in your defence – many will have been the object of similar attacks themselves and will sympathise deeply. Acknowledge and thank those who have expressed support or understanding for your position. The scope of the debate is hard to identify – there may be many other blogs and forums involved that you have yet to identify. It is therefore important that you thank people for their “messages of support” generally rather than singling out any individuals. Not only will this avoid leaving any supporters in the wider debate accidentally un-thanked but it will create or reinforce the impression that you have many supporters and that there is more than one possible view of the debate at hand – without having to rather lamely say so yourself.

The above approach should help greatly in handling “after-the-event” situations and with some skill, the problem really can be turned around, at least minimising and at best reversing a potentially negative outcome. Your courteous, concerned and professional approach will very often see the public sympathy turn in your favour and for those criticisms born of malice or simple ignorance and for those contributors simply throwing stones, the outcome is likely to be at best neutral and at worst negative for the complainant. While each situation will vary, experience suggests that you have far more control over the outcome than you may have originally thought. These principles really can apply to most situations and demonstrate the importance of effective communication management.

Whilst handling such situations professionally is vital, getting things right in the first place is also critical to any successful internet business. You will never entirely eradicate complaints and issues with goods or services but shaping them (or in the case of affiliates, choosing them) to the best of your ability and maintaining an open and honest dialogue with consumers should minimise most issues and defuse others from the outset before they become a public domain issue.

On the hopefully rare occasions where this fails to prevent a public complaint, you know what to do!

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