What do you do if a blogger writes a negative post about you?

There's no one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on the situation.

But one thing I can tell you for sure:
Stop giving the blogger material!

Recently I wrote about this topic, and last week my blog was selected as one of UpCity's Top 25 Inbound Marketing Articles of the Week.

I'm sharing this for two important reasons:

  1. There are 24 other articles that I didn't write mentioned in that list, and they all have good information. Check them out.
  2. My blog would never have been written if the person mentioned in it hadn't asked me to take down a blog that I wrote last fall about SEO and reputation management.

If negative information about you or your company gets on the internet, don't pretend it isn't there. But while you should determine your course of action quickly, take enough time to think it through and be sure that whatever you decide to do (or not do) won't just add fuel to the negative fire.

Photo by Jerry D Clement

Photo by Jerry D Clement

The person mentioned in my recent blog did exactly what he shouldn't have done — and he didn't just add a little fuel to the fire, he poured a couple of gallons of gasoline on it. Through electronic messages and a telephone conversation, he gave me enough material for several more blogs.

Now, I don't personally have an issue with him or his company. I was just using the situation they're in to illustrate a point I wanted to make. And because the purpose of my website is to provide information on content marketing, I'm not going to write further about this individual or situation by name. But if I wanted to attack him, I could have written several more “what not to do” articles based on the things he did after the second blog went up.

Back to the original question: What do you do if a blogger writes a negative post about you?

First, take a breath. Then take another one. Evaluate the impact of the post and consider consulting with a reputation management expert before deciding on your response — and sometimes the best response is to do nothing. But whatever you do, be sure the action you take is thoughtful, deliberate and controlled.

And remember: The best time to develop your crisis response plan is when you're not facing a crisis.

Want to share your thoughts? Join the conversation below.

 

Jacquelyn Lynn
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