Are You Protecting Your Corporate Reputation Online?
Do you know where you stand in the eyes of your target audience? Some business owners do. Some don’t. Even the ones that are aware don’t always put any PR initiatives into action.
Here’s the rub. Even if your company doesn’t focus on Web-related marketing, you can still lose business from what’s being said about you online. Hence, it pays to monitor your online reputation regardless of your level of Web involvement.
But you’re here, reading this post, which means you understand the need for some level of online marketing (almost no one stumbles onto a blog accidentally). If you’re savvy enough to pursue online marketing, you have probably already used or have considered using a PR firm at one time or another. You’re trying to get mentions in newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. Excellent. But that’s not enough.
Imagine an ex-employee or ex-customer who slipped through the cracks and holds a grudge. They write a blog post or forum topic blasting a product or service, or they outright accuse your company of dealing unethically. They click “Submit” and it’s published. There for all to see.
Imagine dozens, maybe hundreds, of potential customers who read that accusation online. Do they dare risk their time, energy, and money on you, a company of ill-repute? Not likely. Chalk up another lost opportunity. Traditional PR campaigns simply can’t reach that person at the point of negative impact.
Enter online reputation management. The terminology hasn’t yet become as mainstream as traditional PR related terms, but there are dozens of reputation management companies, specialists, and services working every day to monitor and manage corporate reputations online.
What does a reputation manager do?
A reputation manager typically provides a combination of SEO (search engine optimization) and SMO (social media optimization) focused on your brand names, product names, corporate names, executives’ names, etc. Any word or phrase that is associated with your company that could be searched for is included. Essentially, a reputation manager or reputation management service helps you monitor the Web for negative comments and affords you the opportunity to quickly respond and avoid a widespread crisis.
Most corporate reputation crises occur because the company took too long to respond or didn’t respond at all. The rule of thumb is to never assume that a crisis will just blow over or “go away”. You’ve likely spent a sizable amount on branding your company and/or product. Reputation Management is too fundamental to any company’s success to ignore or save for a rainy day. A potential crisis can break across the Web quickly, and when it rains, it pours.
Learn more about online reputation management.