How to Protect Your Company from Slander


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Your company’s reputation is one of its most valuable assets. It can take years to craft an excellent reputation, but it only takes a few words to bring it crashing back down. Slander is a real problem for businesses, especially in an era of online communication. If you’re looking to take control over your company’s reputation, you need to consider how you’ll protect your company from slander.

Talk to Your Employees

The best place to start talking about issues like slander is in-house. Make sure that your employees aren’t spreading false statements about your company, even if they have legitimate complaints. You should make sure that you have policies in place so that employees feel comfortable expressing their issues and frustrations with the people who can actually make changes rather than those who might have less-than-altruistic motives when it comes to talking about your company.

Invest in PR

Every good business should have a person on staff who handles public relations. If it’s not the owner, it should be a high-level employee who is able to interface both with the community and the media to help control the messages about your company. In many cases, this person will simply be available to make accurate statements about your company and to refute any slander that has been spread. It’s vital that you have an active role in shaping public perception of your business.

Hire an Attorney

In some cases, you’ll need to pursue the individuals who spread malicious gossip about your business. If you believe that their actions have caused or will soon cause actual financial harm, you need to work with a corporate lawyer, like Ashley West, to ensure that they stop spreading this misinformation and that they are punished according to the law. While not every case of slander will require going to court, something as simple as a cease and desist letter can have a huge impact.

Manage Your Social Media

Finally, make sure that your social media is well-managed. All company accounts should be run by someone with actual authority, and you should work on reputation management when and if possible. While there’s no stopping some things from spreading, you can make sure that your company has the dominant voice in conversations about your business.

You should never let slander stand. Make sure that you control messages from your business and that you stop those who might want to hurt you from spreading lies. Putting in the effort can be tough, but it’s the only way that your business can keep a great reputation.