How Is Your Online Reputation? March 26, 2009
Online Reputation Management
As internet technology evolves information can travel faster and faster from one party to another. The new buzzword is social networking and management sites like MySpace and Facebook. These sites allow users to spread their thoughts and opinions online among a spectacular number of readers.
What does this have to do with you? These opinions zooming around online can be about your business. A few well placed blogs or forum posting can make or break your reputation in some circles. Take for example a skateboard manufacturer. Jones Skateboarding Co. sent out a batch of boards that had 10 defective wheels. That’s ten angry blog postings multiplied by fifty people reading the online postings. That’s potentially 500 instances of negative publicity and if any of them are thinking of buying a skateboard, well…
This is where online reputation management (ORM) comes in. ORM is the practice of counteracting negative feedback or generating positive feedback and anticipation (buzz). The best thing about these techniques is that they are really just common sense and any small business can implement them on a small scale.
- The first management step is to identify some indicators of customer satisfaction on the web. Say our manufacturer does business mainly in Venice, California. Do a Google search to find local online skating websites, blogs and forums. This is where Jones decides to start building up his company’s reputation.
- Assign someone to monitor these sources for negative feedback and also have them post news that would be of interest to the customer. Relevancy and a deft touch is the key. There is a fine line between management of your reputation and spamming. Our manufacturer is hosting a competition and he posts an online invitation on a forum for skaters in the Los Angeles area.
- If someone has complaints about your product examine them with a lot of patience and an open mind. That negative poster from the beginning of the story? He really ranted and raved about how crappy his skateboard was on his blog. But then our manufacturer posted a comment to the rant stating that they had corrected the defect and their newest line would be better than ever. Even if this does not satisfy the blogger the point is that Jones’s management of the situation was productive. His counter-argument is online for everyone to see. It also impresses customers to know that a business cares enough about the quality their product and their reputation to defend them.
This is not to say that you need to hunt down every naysayer in cyberspace. Reputation management is a selective process. Bloggers and product reviewers all vary in levels of quality and influence. Pick a few that are related to your market and build a relationship. They can become an indispensable part of your online marketing team and your company’s reputation.
