Word of Mouth is one of the hottest trends that organizations are seeking to create online as Facebook, Twitter, and a cast of other online social media tools are becoming more and more powerful. However, the most well known sports brand, Nike and one of the most well known sports icons, Lebron James are teaming up to break the biggest rule of Word of Mouth.

Never ignore it!

When you open up a dialogue between your organization and your audience you are bound to get negative feedback, it doesn’t matter how perfect your product or company is. What you do with that negative feedback can echo across the globe in a matter of seconds and leave a much longer lasting impression. If and when this inevitably happens the best thing you can do is join the conversation and tackle it head on. If you messed up, admit it and make things right. If someone has a complaint, even if it is a misinformed one, don’t obsess about defending yourself, instead calmly offer solutions to the perceived problem.

The other day Lebron James, arguably the best basketball player in the world, got dunked on by a college kid (who used to play in Indiana I might add) the other day. Two cameramen video taped it, but Nike and Lebron confiscated the tapes so his reputation wouldn’t get damaged. Now, instead of a YouTube video of the dunk being the talk of the town for a day or two and then forgotten, the whole controversy of the confiscation and ensuing coverup is creating an even bigger stir. We’ll see what Lebron and Nike end up doing with the video, but the longer they try to sweep it under the rug, the more damage they will be doing to their image and brand.

Watch some of the controversy below and see how negative the reaction is across the media:

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