Don't damage your brand by "pulling a Dell"

Dell's recent heavy-handed response to a negative blog post, and the negative publicity that response evoked, indicates social media can be tricky territory. Fact is, many firms know little about how to protect or enhance their brand on Web 2.0 sites and channels. So quite a few are turning to professional "reputation management" services.
7/21/2008 6:00:00 AM By: Brian Jackson

Online computer retailer Dell Inc. learned a lesson about managing online reputation the hard way when a heavy-handed approach towards a blog post attracted more negative attention than the original post.

Dell reacted to popular blog The Consumerist's article "22 confessions of a former Dell sales manager" with a cease and desist letter in June 2007. But the letter didn't have the intended effect. Quite the opposite, in fact.

When the lawyer's letter was posted, Dell faced the brunt of a full-scale social media rebellion.

"It was a good example of a company really flubbing interaction with a blog," says Ben Popken, editor of The Consumerist. "Instead of allowing that article to be there, they tried to squash it, and that just doesn't work online."

After the issue was picked up by technology blogs from across the Internet and featured among the most popular items on social bookmarking site Digg, Dell rescinded.

They posted a blog of their own on their Direct2Dell blooging site admitting they were wrong and dropped the matter.

"They were just getting slammed," Popken says. "If they cared at all about their credibility online, they couldn't ignore it."

Dell's botching of their dealings with The Consumerist is just one story of many told of companies doing more harm than good when it comes to their online reputation.

Many firms of varying tech savvy are now turning to vendors peddling services that aim to protect a company's reputation in the tricky world of social media.

With every consumer able to use the Web as a megaphone to voice criticisms about a product or company, that's a tough job. But it's a lot easier if a company plans ahead instead of waiting to react to negative comments, says Ezra Silverton, marketing director at 9th Sphere.

"Unfortunately, that's when most of our clients contact us," he says. So now the Toronto-based Internet marketing company is offering an online reputation management service.

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