Reputation Management Playbook

Use when

• Guides a social media consultant through building and protecting a client's online reputation in the Uganda/East Africa market. Covers proactive reputation building (review generation, authority content, GBP optimisation) and reactive reputation defence (monitoring, complaint response, suppression, escalation). Invoke when a client asks to improve their online ratings, respond to negative reviews, recover from a reputation incident, or establish a systematic review generation process.
• Use this skill when it is the closest match to the requested deliverable or workflow.

Do not use when

• Do not use this skill for graphic design, video production, software development, or legal advice beyond the repository's stated scope.
• Do not use it when another skill in this repository is clearly more specific to the requested deliverable.

Workflow

1. Collect the required inputs or source material before drafting, unless this skill explicitly generates the intake itself.
2. Follow the section order and decision rules in this SKILL.md; do not skip mandatory steps or required fields.
3. Review the draft against the quality criteria, then deliver the final output in markdown unless the skill specifies another format.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not invent client facts, performance data, budgets, or approvals that were not provided or clearly inferred from evidence.
• Do not skip required inputs, mandatory sections, or quality checks just to make the output shorter.
• Do not drift into out-of-scope work such as code implementation, design production, or unsupported legal conclusions.

Outputs

• A structured markdown document, plan, playbook, or strategy ready for client-facing or internal use.

References

• Use the inline instructions in this skill now. If a references/ directory is added later, treat its files as the deeper source material and keep this SKILL.md execution-focused.

Required Input

Ask the client for all of the following before generating any deliverable:

1. Business name and industry — trading name and sector (e.g., hospitality, healthcare, retail, financial services)
2. Country/city — default is Uganda/East Africa; specify if different
3. Current online reputation status — current star rating on Google Business Profile (GBP) and Facebook, number of reviews on each platform, any negative press coverage or viral complaints
4. Primary review platforms in use — Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Jumia, Zocdoc, industry directories; list all active profiles
5. Past reputation incidents — describe any incidents in the last 24 months and how they were handled (or not handled)
6. Proactive vs reactive focus — does the client primarily need to build reputation from scratch, defend against active attacks, or recover from damage? (Proactive / Reactive / Recovery)

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Section 1 — Reputation Audit

1.1 Audit Checklist

Run this audit before recommending any action. Document findings in a simple table.

Google Business Profile

• Record current star rating and total review count
• Note the date of the most recent review
• Check for unanswered reviews — flag any older than 7 days
• Search [business name] + [city] in an incognito browser window; screenshot page 1 results
• Check GBP Q&A section for unanswered questions

Facebook

• Record Facebook Page recommendation score (out of 5) and total recommendation count
• Check for unresolved public complaints in comments or reviews tab
• Note whether Facebook recommendations are enabled or disabled

Other Platforms

• Check TripAdvisor, Jumia Food, Zocdoc, or sector-specific directories relevant to the client's industry
• Record rating and review volume on each

Search Results

• Search [business name] reviews, [business name] complaints, [business name] scam in incognito
• Record the title and URL of every result on page 1

1.2 Reputation Score Calculation

Calculate a weighted average reputation score across platforms:

Platform	Weight	Score (out of 5)	Weighted Score
Google Business Profile	50%	—	—
Facebook	30%	—	—
Other platforms (average)	20%	—	—
Overall Score	100%	—	Sum

Interpretation:

• 4.5–5.0 — Strong; focus on maintenance and volume growth
• 4.0–4.4 — Acceptable; targeted improvement needed
• 3.5–3.9 — Weak; proactive recovery required
• Below 3.5 — Critical; launch reputation recovery plan (Section 4)

1.3 Red Flags Checklist

Flag any of the following as immediate priorities:

• Overall weighted score below 4.0
• Negative result (complaint, article, forum post) appearing in the top 5 Google hits
• Unanswered complaint on any public platform older than 7 days
• Three or more 1-star reviews in the last 90 days
• A negative Facebook recommendation with 20+ reactions or 10+ comments
• Any news article from Daily Monitor, New Vision, or Nile Post linking the business to wrongdoing

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Section 2 — Proactive Reputation Building

2.1 Review Generation System

Timing: Ask for a review within 24–48 hours of a confirmed positive experience — after a completed service, successful delivery, or positive customer interaction. Do not ask at the point of sale.

Channel: WhatsApp is the primary channel for review requests in Uganda. Use a personal, friendly message — not a broadcast or group message.

WhatsApp Review Request Template (British English, EA tone):

Hello [Customer First Name], thank you so much for choosing [Business Name] — we really appreciate your trust in us. We hope everything met your expectations. If you have a moment, we would be very grateful if you could leave us a quick review on Google. It only takes about a minute and it really helps other customers find us. Here is the link: [GBP short link]. Thank you again — we look forward to serving you again soon!

Personalise the opening line to reference the specific service or product the customer received. Do not paste a generic message.

Follow-up: If no review is left after 5 days, send one follow-up message only. Do not send more than two messages total.

Do not: Offer incentives, discounts, or gifts in exchange for reviews. This violates Google's review policies and Uganda's emerging consumer protection standards.

2.2 Positive Review Response Protocol

Respond to every positive review within 48 hours. Keep responses to 1–2 sentences. Follow this formula: acknowledge the specific thing they praised → thank them → invite return.

Example:

Thank you so much, [Name] — we are delighted the [specific service] met your expectations. We look forward to welcoming you back soon!

Do not copy-paste the same response to every review. Vary the language and reference the reviewer's specific comment.

2.3 GBP Authority Building

• Publish one GBP post per week — alternate between offers, updates, and educational content
• Seed the Q&A section with 3–5 questions customers frequently ask; answer each with a full, keyword-rich response
• Upload fresh photos monthly — interior, staff, products, completed work
• Ensure the business description includes the primary service keywords and the city/district

2.4 Reputation Content Strategy

Apply the POEM model (Chaffey, 2024) to classify content: Owned channels carry testimonials and case studies; Earned coverage amplifies authority.

Content types to produce monthly:

• 1 customer testimonial post (quote card or short video — text only brief; no design or video production in scope)
• 1 case study or before/after story (blog post via blog-writer skill)
• 1 community involvement or CSR post (sponsorship, local event, staff volunteer activity)
• 1 employee spotlight (builds human trust signals)

For B2B clients: Publish one LinkedIn article per month on an industry topic. Submit one opinion piece per quarter to a local publication (Daily Monitor business section, CEO East Africa, or relevant trade publication). This builds earned media authority.

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Section 3 — Reactive Reputation Defence

3.1 Complaint Response Decision Tree

Follow this sequence for every public complaint — on Facebook, Google, X/Twitter, or any public forum:

1. Acknowledge publicly within 2 hours — post a brief, empathetic public reply confirming the complaint has been seen
2. Move to private channel — invite the customer to continue via WhatsApp DM or email; provide a direct contact name, not a generic address
3. Resolve privately — investigate and resolve the issue within 24 hours where possible; keep the customer updated
4. Close publicly — once resolved, post a brief public follow-up: "We are glad we were able to resolve this for [Name]. Thank you for your patience."

Do not let a public complaint sit without a public acknowledgement for more than 2 hours during business hours.

3.2 Negative Review Response Protocol

Apply this sequence when responding to a 1- or 2-star review:

1. Lead with empathy — acknowledge the experience without admitting liability
2. Avoid defensiveness — do not explain, justify, or counter-claim in the public response
3. Offer a resolution pathway — invite the reviewer to contact a named person directly
4. Keep it brief — 3–4 sentences maximum in the public response

Sample 1-Star Google Review Response (British English, EA tone):

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, [Name/valued customer]. We are truly sorry to hear that your visit did not meet your expectations — this is not the standard we hold ourselves to. We would very much like to make this right. Please reach out to [Contact Name] directly on [WhatsApp number or email] so we can resolve this for you personally.

Never mention specific details of the complaint in the public response. Never offer refunds, discounts, or compensation in a public reply.

3.3 Suppression Strategy

When a negative result (article, forum post, complaint thread) ranks on page 1 of Google for the business name, create and publish positive content to push it down. This is a long-term strategy — expect 60–120 days for results.

Suppression content to produce (in order of priority):

1. Optimise and expand the GBP listing — Google prioritises its own properties
2. Publish 2–3 long-form blog posts optimised for [business name] + service keywords (use blog-writer skill)
3. Claim and fully populate all major directory listings: Yellow Pages Uganda, Mocality, LinkedIn company page, Facebook Page, YouTube channel
4. Issue a press release on a neutral or positive business development and distribute to Nile Post, CEO East Africa, and Uganda Business News
5. Create social profile pages on platforms the business does not yet use — these rank in Google quickly

Track page 1 results weekly. Update the client monthly on ranking changes.

3.4 Escalation: When to Engage Legal or PR

Escalate beyond standard social media response in the following situations:

• False factual claims (not just negative opinion) appearing in press or on a high-traffic platform — engage a lawyer before responding publicly
• Coordinated attack — multiple 1-star reviews posted within a short window from accounts with no other activity; report to Google and document evidence
• Defamation — written statements that are demonstrably false and damaging to the business — refer to a solicitor; do not attempt to counter publicly
• Crisis with media coverage — hand over to playbook-crisis-communications immediately; do not manage a media crisis through standard response protocols

3.5 Do-Not-Do List

• Never argue with a reviewer or complainant in a public thread
• Never offer compensation (refund, discount, free service) in a public reply — move this to a private channel first
• Never delete a Facebook complaint comment — Facebook logs this and it can be screenshotted before deletion; it signals guilt
• Never ask friends, staff, or associates to post positive reviews to counter negative ones — this is review manipulation and violates platform policies
• Never ignore a negative review in the hope it disappears — unanswered negative reviews lower trust more than the review itself

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Section 4 — Reputation Recovery Plan

Use this plan for any client whose weighted reputation score is below 3.9 or who has experienced a significant public incident.

Week 1–2: Audit and Stabilise

• Complete the full audit from Section 1; document all findings
• Respond to every unanswered review and complaint across all platforms using the protocols in Section 3
• Fix any internal service or operational issue that caused the complaints — a reputation recovery that does not address the root cause will fail
• Brief the client team on the complaint response protocol and do-not-do list

Week 3–4: Review Generation Blitz

• Identify 30–50 satisfied customers from the last 6 months using sales records, WhatsApp chat history, or loyalty data
• Confirm compliance with Uganda DPA 2019 before outreach (see Section 5)
• Send personalised WhatsApp review requests using the template in Section 2.1
• Target: minimum 15 new genuine reviews within 30 days
• Track responses in a simple spreadsheet: name, date sent, date reviewed, platform

Month 2: Positive Content Campaign

• Publish 3 blog posts optimised for the business name and primary service keywords (use blog-writer skill)
• Publish 10 social media posts across Facebook and Instagram: 3 testimonials, 2 case studies, 2 team/culture posts, 2 community involvement posts, 1 milestone or achievement
• Seed GBP Q&A with 5 new questions and answers
• Submit one press release to a local publication on a positive development

Month 3: Authority and Monitoring

• Pitch one opinion article to a local business publication (Daily Monitor, CEO East Africa)
• Audit all directory listings and update any outdated information
• Run the page 1 Google check again and compare against the Week 1 baseline
• Present a month-3 reputation report to the client: score change, review volume, page 1 results, outstanding issues
• Set up an ongoing monitoring cadence (see meta-social-listening/SKILL.md)

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Section 5 — EA-Specific Considerations

5.1 Uganda DPA 2019 Compliance

The Uganda Data Protection and Privacy Act 2019 requires consent before using customer personal data for marketing or outreach purposes. Before sending review request messages:

• Confirm the business has a lawful basis for holding customer contact data
• Ensure customers were informed at the point of data collection that their details may be used for follow-up communication
• Do not purchase or use third-party contact lists for review outreach

When in doubt, advise the client to consult a data protection officer or legal adviser before proceeding.

5.2 WhatsApp as the Primary Review Channel

WhatsApp reaches more Ugandan consumers than any other messaging platform. Use it as the default channel for review requests. Key rules:

• Send from a named personal or business number — not a broadcast list for review requests
• Keep the message conversational; formal or corporate language reduces response rates in the EA context
• Include the GBP or Facebook review link as a plain URL — many users are on slower connections and prefer direct links over QR codes

Ready-to-use WhatsApp template (copy and personalise):

Hello [Name]! We hope you are keeping well. We really appreciate that you chose [Business Name] for [service/product]. If you would not mind sharing your experience with others, a quick Google review would mean a lot to us: [link]. It only takes a minute. Thank you so much — we value your support!

5.3 Facebook Recommendations vs Google Reviews

In Uganda, Facebook recommendations carry significant weight — often more than Google reviews among the mass market. Treat both platforms with equal urgency.

• Enable Facebook recommendations on the Page if they are currently disabled
• Respond to all Facebook recommendations and comments, positive and negative
• Encourage customers who are not Google users to leave a Facebook recommendation instead

5.4 Offline Word-of-Mouth

In many EA markets, a business's offline reputation — what community members, market traders, and local leaders say in person — feeds directly into its digital reputation. Negative offline perception often materialises as a wave of negative online reviews.

• Ask clients about any known offline reputation issues (community disputes, local press stories, market gossip)
• Address offline issues through community engagement, not only digital channels
• Positive offline reputation generates unsolicited positive reviews — invest in service quality as the foundation of all reputation work

5.5 Local Press Monitoring

Monitor the following outlets weekly for any mention of the client's business:

• Daily Monitor (monitor.co.ug)
• New Vision (newvision.co.ug)
• Nile Post (nilepost.co.ug)
• Chimp Reports (chimpreports.com)
• CEO East Africa (ceo.co.ug)

Set up Google Alerts for the business name and key personnel names. If a negative article appears, escalate to the response protocol in Section 3.1 immediately and consider engaging the playbook-crisis-communications skill.

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Quality Criteria

Output produced using this skill meets the standard when it:

• Includes a completed reputation audit table with a weighted score and documented red flags before any recommendations are made
• Provides at least one customised WhatsApp review request template and one Google review response template, both in British English with an appropriate EA tone
• Balances proactive and reactive components proportionally to the client's stated focus — a recovery-stage client receives a full 90-day plan; a maintenance-stage client receives a content cadence and review system
• References the Uganda DPA 2019 explicitly when review outreach is recommended, with a clear compliance checkpoint
• Names specific local publications and platforms relevant to the Ugandan/EA context rather than generic global examples
• Includes a concrete suppression strategy with a prioritised content list when negative search results are identified
• Specifies escalation thresholds clearly — the consultant knows exactly when to move from social media response to legal or PR intervention
• Produces action items that are specific and assignable: each task has a responsible party, a channel, and a timeline

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References

• Crisis escalation: See playbook-crisis-communications/SKILL.md — invoke when a reputation incident involves media coverage, coordinated attacks, or a business-threatening public controversy
• Social listening setup: See meta-social-listening/SKILL.md — invoke to establish ongoing monitoring of brand mentions, keywords, and competitor activity
• GBP optimisation: See platform-google-business-profile/SKILL.md — invoke for detailed GBP setup, post strategy, and Q&A management
• Chaffey, D. (2024) Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice — POEM model, RACE framework
• Bodnar, K. and Cohen, J. (2012) The B2B Social Media Book — ROI formula, content ratios