6 Ways to Deal with Online Negativity

As QNET grows and gains attention not just in India but all over the world, so does our online presence. If you have done an internet search for QNET in recent times, you must have seen that mentions of our products and services and the business opportunity are popping up more and more in search results. But that doesn’t always mean the content is helpful.

As much as we don’t like it, criticism of QNET, our products and business model is inescapable. There are people out there who either don’t understand our business, do not understand the science behind some of our products or more often, who don’t like the direct sales business model. And they will post their opinions on forums, message boards, blogs, and social media. Very often this also spills over into news reports.

So what do you do when you encounter a something online with negative content? Do you set the conversation straight? Defend the company and products we love?

While joining the fray and fighting back may feel right, it can hurt our business more than it helps, especially when it comes to the ranking of negative stories on popular search engines like Google. The more comments, the higher the ranking—which is the complete opposite of what we want to happen.

While joining the fray and fighting back may feel right, it can hurt our business more than it helps, especially when it comes to the ranking of negative stories on popular search engines like Google. The more comments, the higher the ranking—which is the complete opposite of what we want to happen.

So how do we combat that? There are six simple ways we can fight these mostly uninformed, naysaying posts and we need your help.

1- Don’t Comment on the Negative Content

We know how tempting it is to immediately jump in and try to defend the company that you are so passionate about. However, as we mentioned previously, clicking on the site and commenting on its content will only push it’s ranking higher. Some critics and mostly trolls with a lot of time on their hands, make their living by stirring up well-intentioned IRs knowing the emotional nature of our business. As tempting as it might be to want to tell our side of the story, this will only make things worse. Refrain from fanning the flames, and continue to add good, positive information somewhere other than on an already-negative post. While it is natural to rally in support of the company in the face of criticism, we all need to understand how to do this in a way that will benefit our company.

2- Let QNET know about the harmful content

When you see something negative, contact our customer service team via email, and they will alert our PR, communications and legal department about it. Please do understand that with more and more freely available digital publishing tools, anyone can now publish anything they want on the internet and it is usually tough to remove content once something is published. Our communications and legal department have immense experience dealing with these types of postings and know when and how it is necessary to take corrective action. At times, they also know when it is not worth pursuing any action, usually in the case of sites that are not very credible and have very low ranking on search engines. Also, in cases when some site owners/publishers simply do not like the direct selling industry and no amount of engagement with them will lead to any corrective action.

We want to be sensitive and strategic in the way we respond or react, to ensure that we don’t stir up a hornet’s nest in the process. Most of the negative reviews about our business or products come from people who are misinformed or who have had a bad experience with an individual representative. When we encounter these reviews we make an effort to reach out to them, educate them, and try to correct the negative experience. We do not want to censor, but to make sure they are well-informed and that have a pleasant experience with our company. Efforts include politely contacting the author or site owner and professionally state our case and request the item to be removed or corrected. In extreme cases, our legal department sends out legal notices as well.

3- Share Informative and Positive Content

We work with a large network of communications professionals in multiple languages based in different countries who produce high quality, credible and useful content that you can share and promote through your social media. A link back to the corporate website, your business site such as the QNET Lifesite, or any corporate content, goes a long way in helping us push the negative down and eventually completely out of the search results. Make sure anything you do or say about QNET follows the Code of Ethics and the Polices and Procedures of QNET.

4- Share your Own Positive Experience Online

If you have a blog or a large network on social media, posting useful and interesting information on a regular basis is the best way to help get rid of harmful content. Make sure to use a catchy title, add an appropriate image (you will find attractive graphics and images on our blog QBuzz India). Always make sure the content is compliant with regulatory guidelines and QNET’s policies and procedures.

5- Do Not Panic 

We know and understand the effect of your prospects or new sign ups finding negative information online about QNET. Our dedicated teams are constantly monitoring the internet and take relevant action as and when necessary. But please remember, the internet is a massive library of information with billions of pages of information and very little regulatory control over what can or cannot be posted. Given the misunderstanding and misconceptions that surround the direct selling industry, every single company involved in it, in every country in the world is affected by such posts. QNET is not alone. If you panic each time you come across a website or a news article that is potentially harmful, it would be never ending, given the amount of misinformation that exists in cyberspace.

6- Stay Informed

Follow blogs and other industry related news sites and websites that give you information about trends and developments in the direct selling industry. You will find these filled with solid facts and figures to show the strength and the continued growth of the industry, its positive impact on people and society and the very visible changes people experience as a result of being in this business. Nothing like factual information to combat speculative allegations and hearsay.

Rest assured, QNET is pursuing an aggressive SEO (search engine optimization) strategy that is beginning to address the spread of negative misinformation in a positive and proven way. We are confident that with your help we will be able to effectively change the landscape of what online searchers will find when they search for QNET and other keywords associated with our company.

Ultimately, QNET believes that our IRs are confident and secure in how we do business. Know that many of the people you come in contact with won’t understand our business or our products. Rather than getting distracted by battling critics whose minds won’t change, stay focused on the most important goal: building your business. The more people we have working on building their business, the sooner we will achieve our goal of taking the incredible story of QNET to the rest of the world.