Buzz around new brands has always been there, but now, with the existence of social media, it is bigger than ever. Every brand, product and service is being discussed, reviewed and sometimes bashed online. The buzz around this is hard to control for brands. Of course, this is not a problem when the buzz in positive, neutral buzz is good for the brand awareness and the online share of voice, but when the buzz is negative it might become a very big problem.

Some brands don’t even know what is being said, but when they do, what should they  do? How can a brand enhance its (positive) share of voice?

Being a social media specialist is being like a long-term spin doctor: How can you use all the buzz generated online to your advantage? To do that, we need to look at the different types of sentiment in the buzz and how to deal with them.

1. Negative buzz
Let’s start with the hardest. There are a lot of types of negative buzz. There are people complaining about your product or services, there are people who don’t like your brand and there are people who just really love to bash brands. And last, but not least, there is a category: Brands who deserve to be bashed (I’m not mentioning BP).

First of all, a brand needs to listen and needs to hear what’s being said about it. This way it can pinpoint the exact problem.  And unfortunately, if there is negative buzz, it is usually the brand’s own fault.

The people who just love to complain, or who are just bashing for the sake of it, should be ignored, because it is very hard, or maybe even impossible, to help these people or to change their minds.
The customer service team should pro-actively be present in the online spaces where people are complaining. They should be helping them where possible so the negative buzz can be reduced and customers can feel heard.

In the meantime the company has to work as hard as possible to fix the problem internally.

2. Neutral buzz
Neutral buzz is good for the share of voice online and the brand awareness, but it is also an opportunity. These people/ websites are willing to talk about your brand so with a bit of effort they are probably willing to talk about your brand in a positive way instead of a neutral way. Interact with them and try to make them part of the brand.

3. The positive buzz.
Positive buzz is great but … why leave it at that? There are customers and websites out there who like your brand. A brand has to reach out to them and has to try to help them to create even more buzz. Give them a digital bullhorn to shout even harder. This will not only be beneficial for the positive share of voice online, but in the long term the market share can profit from these people.

By doing this, customers might even turn into ‘brand fans’. These fans are more loyal to the brand and therefore spend more money on your brand. It’s good for the brand’s image and they might even recommend the brand to other people, resulting in a higher market share.

(Source: viralblog)