Franchise Update Magazine Issue II, 2012 | Page 29

“Reputation management” companies claim they can help by having
negative postings removed, and SEO
companies can work to insert positive
postings to push negative postings off
the first search page. Fishman says he’s
skeptical of the efficacy of some of the
claims made by these companies, but
defers to their technical expertise.
“Everyday crises we can handle,”
says Fishman. “The biggest issue we’re
going to run into is online. People used
to forget. Now it’s possible to find everything they want—good, bad, or indifferent.” Most people, he says, never
get past the first page. The goal is to
push those negative comments off the
first search page.
If one of your restaurants is slammed
on Yelp, says Fishman, talk to your customer base, urging them to go online
and make comments too. Don’t tell them
what to say, but do urge them to write.
Enough positive comments will, in theory,
push the negative ones onto page 2 and
beyond. The same idea holds for comments posted on Twitter and Facebook.
“Review sites are fueling more and
more comments and opinions from
consumers, which roll up into search
engines,” agrees Fisher. “Focus on what’s
being said and how you can participate
in the conversation, not only pushing
out positive news, but responding to
negative comments. You have to manage your online reputation every day.”
Social media policy

There’s also a danger of social media abuse
from within the four walls to consider,
as seen in the growing list of “pranks”
and other misbehavior by employees,
even by well-intentioned franchisees.
In addition to training for external and
customer relations when bad things
happen to good companies, creating a
social media policy—and monitoring and
enforcing it—can go a long way toward
preventing the kinds of situations that
require damage control.
“Social medi H