Goldberg Segalla partner Frank Ramos authored an insightful article published by Law.com that provides practical advice on how to manage your company’s brand online, especially when dealing with bad customer experiences and negative opinions.

The article, “Resisting the Trolls: Preserving Your Company’s Brand Online,” explores the importance of maintaining a proactive plan to “preempt and neutralize the negative online voices, whether trolls or legitimate customer complaints.”

As today’s multitude of online and social media platforms provide everyone with an easy way to share their opinions, they invite people to attack your company and brand rather easily.

“Companies are one bad customer experience away from going viral for all the wrong reasons,” Frank says, explaining the algorithms used for many influential and prominent social media companies reward conflict and controversy to attract more eyeballs, and therefore, more ad dollars. Knowing this potential problem exists, Frank says every company needs a dedicated team to monitor all aspects of its online presence.

“If there is a positive post, acknowledge it and provide the person who made the post with a reward or gift, such as a gift certificate or coupon for your product or service,” he says. “If it’s negative, reach out to the person and inquire about what prompted their post, their bad experience, and how you can rectify it.”

Frank implores companies to understand what the goals of these platforms, how they work, and how to engage with them effectively, noting there are numerous public relations and media consultants who can train your team to deal with trolls and other disillusioned customers.

“It is both an art and a science, requiring finesse, patience, possibly humor, and a steady hand,” he says. “You are working against algorithms. They want conflict, and you want resolution. They want passion, and you want peace. This demands skill, training, and understanding that the average company does not inherently have. Seek it out, learn from it, and use it.”

From a legal perspective, there do arise instances where something that is said online rises to defamation. Frank says companies should have a process in place for communications, the response team, legal and other relevant departments, outlining what each should do under specific circumstances. Former disgruntled employees sharing trade secrets or airing grievances has become commonplace.

“A company needs to know how to interact with these platforms, request that posts be removed when appropriate, send cease-and-desist letters, possibly seek injunctions against former employees, and take all necessary legal action to prevent damage to the corporate brand,” Frank says.

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MORE ABOUT GOLDBERG SEGALLA’S FRANK RAMOS:

A nationally recognized legal advisor and litigator, Frank has been defending clients in civil litigation for more than 26 years, focusing his practice on retail, product liability, premises liability, trucking, insurance, and commercial disputes. A seasoned litigator, he has taken numerous trials and arbitrations to verdict or award.

Frank uses his extensive litigation experience to provide counsel, defense, and strategic guidance to retailers, developers, restaurants, fitness chains, hotels, resorts and other hospitality businesses. His representation has included negligent security, slip/trip and falls, catastrophic personal injury, trucking and motor vehicle accidents, employment and construction claims, as well as a variety of commercial disputes ranging from intellectual property and breach of contract to bad faith, franchise agreements, and landlord-tenant issues.