How to Deal With Webswarms (P.R.’s worst nightmare)

If you don’t yet know about digital swarms, you should.  As technology guru and futurist Tod Maffin told the Edmonton IABC chapter in January, swarms may be the biggest threat to communicators today.

Take, for example, the case of one Winnipeg hotel.  A blogger with a loyal readership had one unfortunate stay at this hotel, so he posted his complaints on his blog.  Other bloggers discussed his experience on their own sites and posted a link to his original gripe.  In response to them, our first blogger continued the discussion, linking to their posts…and so on, and so on.

The first negative post might have slipped, unnoticed, into cyberspace.  But because of the network of links that developed, the post was noticed by someone very important: Googlebot.

Yes, Googlebot: the robot that combs the web and tallies the number of links that refer to a certain page.  The greater the number of links, the higher the page will rank in a Google search.

Google page rank, or “Googlejuice,” as it’s known, is an elusive commodity your company should prize highly.  Case in point: because of all the Googlejuice generated by the linking hotel bloggers, the bad blog review now ranks higher in a Google search than the slagged hotel’s own corporate website.

That’s the power of what Maffin calls “webswarms.”

If you doubt that the rantings of an obscure online writer can reach your target customers, consider the phenomenon of the Mahir web page.  You’d probably recognize Mahir, the exuberant bachelor who searched for love via the internet, proclaiming “I KISS YOU!”
Originally, a link to that site was distributed to a mailing list of 73 people.  From there, it was sent to four other mailing lists.  Within 11 days, a link to Mahir’s personal homepage had reached many, many more. Mahir found worldwide celebrity (and, incidentally, a wife) through the power of a digital swarm.

Because they are so widely and readily accessible, blogs and message boards can quickly turn into a Google-fueled PR nightmare.  The swarms of posters and linkers act quickly and are unpredictable.  If they post a negative comment, for whatever reason, you can’t undo it.  All you can do is react, and react well.

Maffin suggests that your organization develop a plan, much like a disaster recovery plan, to deal with negative internet swarms.  “You must respond within hours, not days,” he says.  “If a swarm is forming on Friday afternoon, it can’t wait until Monday.”  You need at your disposal a plan which can be implemented the instant you hear a swarm buzzing.

Fortunately, Maffin offers some guidance, based on his personal experience dealing with a potentially disastrous swarm.  Because swarms are not led by a leader—they are led from the inside—Maffin says, “You must to respond directly to the swarm.”  That is, you must add a posting or comment of your own.

Imagine someone has posted a nasty message about the customer service at your company on a widely-visited message board.  Respondents start agreeing, links are flying, and suddenly a negative swarm is forming.  It’s time for you to participate in the swarm.

To help you quash the swell of bad PR, Maffin provides a handy mnemonic, based on the acronym S.W.A.R.M.:

S- Sweeten the Honey Pot.
Use a friendly tone with no jargon.  “Thanks for pointing out our goof—we’re not perfect, but we’re trying.”

W- Win-Win.
Make them feel like they have the upper hand.  “You were right to feel irritated.”

A- Advise Them What You’ve Changed.
Do this within the first few sentences.  “Thanks to your posting, we’re changing our policy.”

R-Right Wrongs
Correct online inaccuracies.  Don’t let errors stand on the internet forever.  Several popular web sites (including one run by Google) take snapshots of online content and store them in a searchable cache—forever.

M-Make Friends
E-mail some of the individual contributors and invite them to keep in contact.  “I hope you’ll continue to share your insights with me.”

Says Maffin, “It’s the cheapest focus group you will ever have.”  Turning enemy swarms into allies might also be the best damage control you ever do.