In 2020, 3.96 billion people actively used social media all over the world. Even if you aren’t on any type of social media, you’ve probably heard of the scandals and drama that occur on it daily.
From brands and companies getting attacked to celebrities getting canceled, social media is a great place to ruin your reputation.
Don’t worry. If you’ve recently been a part of a Twitter fight or Instagram scandal that caused you yours, you’re in good company.
Keep reading to learn how to repair your social media reputation in eight simple steps.
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1. Do Not Be Impulsive
If you made a mistake, don’t react impulsively to others pointing it out. Take a pause and plan how you will effectively engage with your followers about the issue.
If you have a social media team, legal team, and PR, make sure you get everyone involved and onboard with your responses.
You don’t want to quickly reply, only to say the wrong thing and cause even more damage.
2. Acknowledge and Apologize
One of the biggest mistakes you can make for your online reputation is not admitting when you are wrong. Often, acknowledging your mistake and apologizing can be a giant leap for your online reputation repair.
Hold yourself and your brand accountable for your actions and the issues that arose. Keep it personal and humanized, don’t become a corporate robot.
Your followers aren’t going to believe or accept your apology if it’s too formal or scripted.
3. Provide Solutions
In order to perform proper online reputation management, you’ll need to provide solutions moving forward for whatever occurred.
Tell your followers why and how it will never happen again. Explain what will be done in the future to fix your past mistakes. Implement new protocols that will prevent issues in the future, and be transparent about it on your social media.
It’s okay to make mistakes, as long as you aren’t afraid to create change to fix them.
4. Create More Content
Of course, this will not solve all your problems at once, but creating more content can help your brand in the long term.
Start creating new and different engaging content every day, so whatever had hurt your social media reputation is drowned out by all of the new, exciting posts you’ve made.
If you do this, make sure you have already completed the above steps.
You don’t have to dwell on the issue. Create a new start for your brand, and commit to doing better.
5. Take Complaints Elsewhere
If someone comments on your post with negative remarks, try direct messaging them or ask them to direct message you.
Speaking to them privately will not only help your social media reputation, but it will also help protect you and the person commenting.
Create an easy-to-remember support e-mail and have it posted somewhere on your account that people can find. This will lead people to e-mail you privately with their concerns instead of publicly commenting on your posts.
Reducing negative comments and complaints can effectively increase your reputation, but don’t ignore them. Make sure to acknowledge everyone without displaying it on your profile.
6. Start a New Campaign
If your dumpster fire is just about out, you may be considering starting a campaign to get your brand back on track.
Perhaps you want to dive into social media marketing or social media advertising. Your campaign could describe your company or brand’s values and the benefits you bring to your followers.
Show the faces that make up your company, humanize yourselves and describe your vision for your better future.
It doesn’t have to be a big campaign, but it should come off as genuine. Don’t create something just to fix your reputation, or no one will buy it.
7. Review Your Business Operations
To make real change, you’ll have to review your business operations. If you are often having problems that are causing you to manage your social media reputation, it could be that it’s not your social media team’s fault.
It could have much more to do with your brand or company’s core operations. Review your protocols, discuss what is causing your problems, and change them.
You will not have loyal customers or followers if you continuously make mistakes that are affecting other people.
8. Do Not Get Baited
Perhaps the most difficult on the list, don’t get baited by a competitor. If you are in the midst of a critical social media reputation crisis, a competitor brand may step in to make it worse.
They may add to the conversation of whatever the problem is, drawing customers to their company instead.
Though you may want to defend yourself and your company, it’s best not to say anything. You don’t want to be a part of the chaos. In fact, you’re trying to step out of it altogether.
Don’t be a part of the harmful noise. It could have legal repercussions and cost you more customers, so it’s seldom worth it.
Time to Repair Your Social Media Reputation
Hopefully, if you’re in the situation of needing a social media reputation repair, you now feel a bit more prepared.
It can seem overwhelming and unsettling when someone accuses you of something or you have dozens of complaints about posts or products. Remember, take a moment and pause before proceeding.
It will seem its worst in the beginning, but when you get some perspective, you will be able to manage it much more effectively.
If you’re looking for more business or tech advice, check out the different sections of our blog.
