Big brands – like people – often have a tendency to bury their head in the sand when it comes to managing negative sentiment. And it’s especially easy to do that when it’s coming from somewhere anonymous online – whether that’s on Google or elsewhere.
But in the current fast-moving era of fake news, misinformation, manipulated narrative and unreliable experts, it’s more important than ever that brands tackle any difficult, controversial or sensitive issues head-on.
The time to do nothing is over, and – in the wise words of
Chris Pitt, managing director of search marketing specialist Vertical Leap – if you’re not part of the conversation, you can’t influence it.
Here, Pitt outlines how search marketing can help brands discover and influence conversations, addressing and improving any negative consumer sentiment.
Get on Google
The first thing to do is search for your own brand. The results are a window allowing you to peer into how customers view your brand, whether good or bad. The benefit of analysing search data to do this is that, to avoid bias, Google’s process pulls in and presents information to users from many different sources. That means it will include any ‘relevant’ negative sentiment.
Google displays results based on what a brand is trying to be famous for and what everyone else thinks the brand is famous for. This dictates what’s returned when you search and in what order. Anyone searching will get a lot of different signals, all telling them a lot about a brand.
The goal for every brand is to come top of these search rankings – but that shouldn’t mean you ignore everything else that appears. This is your online shop window. If Google is returning pages you don’t want affiliated with your brand, it suggests your content isn’t optimised – so you don’t have control of any external content causing negative sentiment.
When researching or buying a product or service, consumers like to view brands in the round. What are the brand’s values? What are other people saying about it?
High-profile brands in particular will attract a lot of discussion – and some of that is bound to be negative. You can’t be friends with everyone. If your detractors are good at what they do or are very vocal, those negative results are more likely to show up alongside your own brand search. This is the case for the cosmetic industry with animal cruelty charities.
Think about search results as trust signals, providing an image to the consumer that can ultimately change their perception and purchase decision.
Utilise data to tackle brand sentiment
Once you’ve built a picture of the online perception of your brand, it’s time to tackle that sentiment. This is where search or Google data can help. It can be used to gauge opinions of users searching for or interacting with a brand and provide insights into what should be challenged and changed.
It’s tempting to use the data to support already formed ideas or thoughts, but it’s crucial to be more open-minded. The data can reveal a broad range of sentiment – from positive content that backs up your argument to less positive content which allows brands to address poor perceptions.
Surprisingly, lots of brands still don’t address negative sentiment, even though Digital PR – which is typically more focused on delivering value to the customer – provides authority, relevance and of course the all-important backlink.
While understandable, this approach is no longer acceptable. Reviews are easily visible and bad reviews cannot be ignored. The tipping point is usually reached where brands simply can’t hide any more and must front up to the perception problem.
The answer is to not let others dictate the narrative: be an active and influential part of the conversation.
Optimise to overtake ‘bad content’
There are lots of approaches brands can take to improve their online standing.
Being present where consumers seek information – on Reddit, forums, other communities – is key, too. We know Google ‘crowdsources’ information and will pull it from all platforms, so search strategy must cover all bases – and that starts with being aware of where the conversation is happening.
Simultaneously, brands should develop their own content – if people search ‘Is brand x bad?’, they can optimise social profiles and the website to negate negative articles and ensure every side of the story is being told. However, this technique should be used sparingly, as the ‘Streisand effect’ (of attracting more attention to something you’re trying to move on from) can sometimes occur.
Optimising for online perception takes resource and expertise, which requires a crucial combination of teams that know how to do it and tech that can find the signals in the noise.
To be part of the conversation, brands need an understanding of the sentiment they must counter, and a strong content and search strategy to do the job. Otherwise, they risk being shut out of the discussion and having to face the consequences – including ongoing criticism and cratering market share.
