PR disaster? Ask Grandma

Fortunately, as with most things in life, our elders are right. Read this post now so you’ll have a little perspective the next time a PR disaster strikes.

The social media troll

Anybody who has worked in PR for any length of time has experienced him—the social media troll who hates your business and just won’t be appeased. He’ll show up on Twitter, Facebook, Planet Feedback, and even Ravelry, the social network for knitters (of all places), complaining about your company. You’ve tried to appease him with gift certificates, but nothing works.

What would Grandma say? Ignore him. And she’s right. There are some people there’s no reasoning with, and if this troll has rebuffed your good-natured attempts to rectify his hatred for your company, you’ve done what you can do. Unfortunately, online trolls can follow you from forum to forum, and other members of your audience can read what he has to say. Fortunately, trolls generally show their true colors pretty quickly, and your average Internet citizen has a pretty sharp troll detector.

The company gaffe