Local politics can be vicious, especially on the web. Nasty things are often posted on site comments, blog posts, etc. Anonymous posts on local newspaper websites can be the worst. The temptation exists to do something about it.
Keep in mind that most of these posts don’t really influence anyone and general make the person making the nasty post look … well, nasty. In most cases, negative posts and comments will likely have only a small audience. They likely influence you more than anyone else.
One thing you should definitely NOT do is fight the negative.
Sure, the posts may contain blatant lies, phony allegations, and so on. But, it’s important to handle the matter delicately or else it can quickly spin out of control.
In most cases, simply ignore the posts. If a response is absolutely necessary to a post, it’s best let someone outside of your campaign or organization respond. But don’t create new “personas” to support your position in blogs, forums or message boards, as you’ll likely be caught – and that tends to make the situation worse!
While it’s practically impossible to make negative material disappear from online searches, positive web content (such as your website or online press releases) can be created to help push down negative publicity, making it less visible to searchers.
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Tags: campaign promotion, general campaign tips