With the advance of social media, many people tend to freely say things on the Internet that they would not say in the “offline” world. And too many people can easily “hear” these.
This time the question to a group of experts from the industry was: “In your opinion, is negative online reputation a potential threat for the direct selling companies and if yes, how to cope with that threat?”
Let’s see what some of the wise persons have to say on this…
Jeffrey Babener, Legal Counsel at Babener and Associates
“The Internet is a global public square and social networks and blogs are its town bulletin boards, offering great opportunities for marketing and productive communication… even honest disagreement. Direct selling companies can offer distributors guidelines for online etiquette and enforce those guidelines through their distributor policies. Our law firm frequently drafts guidelines and protocols. Companies can even sue non-distributors for libel when identity is clear. Anonymous posts of disparagement, rumor and defamation, however, are a real challenge, as posts on the Internet are ‘forever’. Here, companies must use search engine optimization to drive their positive message to the top of search engines, and negative posts to page two, and lower, of search inquiries.”
Mari Daly, Head of Marketing at Nikken Europe
“Social media is an essential part of our businesses although one that is still to be fully discovered. Many today use social media actively and successfully but you do need a consistent strategy for your activities. Like a fire, social media can create energy and heat for the business when well-managed, yet it can be completely unpredictable and even damaging if left unchecked. While people are more quick to comment online and say things they might not say offline, it is more rare to see extremely negative comments. Developing an open communication is essential and it starts from delivering on our promises to our customers. It can drive business improvement and excellence if done correctly.”
Cindy Droog, Global Public Relations Lead at Amway
“A negative online reputation is a threat for any industry because it’s a reflection of people’s unfiltered impressions and experiences. Yet it’s changing our culture in ways that are positive, including supporting overall transparency and helping us police those whose behaviors are unethical or irresponsible. We should embrace this is an opportunity to boldly, unapologetically tell our industry’s story: That we reward individuals for their efforts; provide valuable training and personal development; help people take back their time and their lives; and make communities better. Driving positive conversation isn’t the only tactic we should use, but it’s a great place to start. The effects will be cumulative, lasting, effective, and offer an authentic, balancing viewpoint.”
Jennifer Fong, Social Media Consultant and Speaker at Jen Fong Media and Social Media Associate at Luce & Associates
“A negative online reputation is of course a threat, one that many direct selling companies pay dearly for as they hire SEO experts 
to clean up a mess. When the source of negativity is the salesforce, the solution is clear policies, training, and a password-protected area like a forum where grievances can be aired out of the public eye. When it’s customers, the path is harder. One solution is providing excellent corporate customer service (and training the salesforce to do the same), along with a monitoring program so that you can respond online and make things right when necessary. You can’t control what people say about your company online, but you can make sure your side is heard in the right places, and do good, ethical business always.”
Jonathan Gilliam, President of Momentum Factor
“Our clients tell us they see immediate upticks in enrollments when move negative online links off their page, which tells us this problem directly affects company growth. Our industry is more vulnerable to negative online search results than almost any other type of business – a nasty blog or forum can easily kill any motivation to join. The only real way to deal with the problem is hire a reputation firm, like ours. Ignoring it is the worst thing you can you, and trying to do it on the cheap is ineffective at best. And a word to the wise: SEO firms usually know nothing about ‘reputation repair’. It’s not the same.”
Tim Haran, Senior Manager of Social Media at USANA
“Online reputation management is extremely important, especially in an age where information – text, photos, videos, can be shared and re-shared many times over with a few clicks. The conversation, whether it’s positive, negative, or neutral, is taking place online and it’s important for companies to be active participants in these conversations. I would argue negative information isn’t the greatest threat – it’s the way companies handle such information that could have a greater impact on reputation. Pay attention to the conversation, respond where appropriate, and don’t delete. Educate your independent distributors to avoid online shouting matches, which only increase the content’s relevance.”
Joe Quilter, Principal Consultant at PSP Group
“First and foremost we should remember it is a ‘conversation’ type medium. With conversations, we tend to be more relaxed and this is where many people have fallen foul. For the direct selling industry this issue is increased many times, as how can member organisations control what is said about their products by affiliated independent businesses? I would say with difficulty. The answer is to ensure each member organisation have a social network policy that each new direct seller signs up to. The sector could also look at having a short eLearning programme which each distributor could view and have this tracked in a management system as proof of compliance. The other is to encourage our communities to use less chaotic and controlled environments such as closed forums, blogs and community websites. We could also consider internal closed social media websites for our own sector.”
Your turn:
What do you think about the importance of online reputation? Is this an area where there is a significant potential threat if not managed well? What would you suggest to turn this into an opportunity?