A few good words, or bad ones, put in by a friend or family member have always been hugely influential in helping shoppers decide what product to buy and from where. For over a decade now, shoppers have treated online reviews and social media as just as trustworthy. But the recent explosion of “fake news” and bot accounts means this is starting to change, and trust in information even from “a person like myself” is now at an all-time low.
The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual survey measuring the public’s trust in core institutions, including search engines and social media. It reports that less than half of Americans believe that businesses are trustworthy, and more than two-thirds of Americans say they have trouble distinguishing between real and fake information online.
Popular review-aggregating websites have been accused of censorship, extortion, and review inflation. Businesses have been caught purchasing fake positive reviews, while people are writing fake negative reviews for businesses they have never patronized. Stories with no basis in fact go viral on social media and become impossible to contain – regardless of whether the poster had harmless or malicious intentions. Shoppers have learned to be very wary when looking up a business. So what can you do to protect your brand?
- Be transparent – Get rid of misleading language on your website and maintain a policy of honesty when interacting with customers and the press.
- Be accessible – Respond to customers, however they choose to reach out, and do so promptly.
- Stay calm – An inflammatory response to a harmful review or fake news story can leave a worse impression than the post itself!
- Take action – Immediately, confidently, and persistently respond to fake news targeting your business as it spreads, and petition review sites to remove fake reviews.
- Pay attention to where you advertise – Consumers will associate your brand with wherever they see you. Advertising on an untrustworthy site makes you seem dishonest, and advertising on a morally questionable site or program comes across as tacit endorsement.
- Enlist your employees – Ask them to share among their own followers that a damaging story is false.
- Appeal to “Voices of Authority” – Promote awards your business has won, and certifications your employees have earned.
- Show you care – Emphasize your relationship with and commitment to your customers and not just your profits. Try sponsoring a charity event, or use your social media page to promote a top employee or lifelong customer.
- Get on the 1st page of search results – Users associate the top of the search results with the best, most accurate answer to their query.
- Accept you are going to lose some customers – How people feel about brands is often not entirely rational, and it’s an acknowledged psychological phenomenon – known as confirmation bias – that people will often reject information that contradicts their beliefs.
Are you looking for a professional agency to manage your website, online advertising, SEO, or social media accounts? Get in touch with Aronson Advertising today to learn how our company can attract customers to your business in an increasingly crowded digital space.
