Why corporate companies cannot do away with Reputation management

Reputation management is not for upcoming and start up companies that strive to set up their brand images among its customers, but is equally important for corporate big wigs to stay ahead in the race. To leave the customers and the general public to do the talking about your products and services might not be a sensible idea as your online repute is always vulnerable to attacks from hostile elements and competitors.

Customer reviews on products and services change from time to time and it could oscillate from good and bad. In either case , a strong reputation management plan would help you to to come out of the attacks unscathed and to regain the lost popularity. Any allegations – true or false will take a long time to go off the web and hence it is important to tackle the negative sway as soon as it is formed.

A sound corporate reputation will not only get you new clients but also go a long way in keeping the ones you have in your fold. Whether you are a small or big business, it is equally important to promote, protect and defend the reputation of a business. Brands with blotched reputation will have a lower loyalty than their well reputed counterparts enjoy. Online slanders and bad comments that the users come across about corporate house could negatively affect the business revenue as customers tend to keep away from sites that have poor reviews .Online reputation management is a handy solution to fix these problems.

Luring prospective business partners into your company also needs a good track record. Let your brand do the talking of the quality of your products and services as the business partners often rate the companies by the content they see online. Reputation management is not a luxury but a necessity not only to enjoy the best exposure and the right brand promotion but to stay ahead in the difficult market conditions.

A few reasons why an organization cannot afford to ignore reputation management

A recent study report says that there has been a steep increase in the demand for public relations professionals because employers give more importance to communication and reputation management in their day to day business operations. No matter whether you are a non profit group or a big business organization, reputation management do matters to spread your core values and to promote the brand image. Having a reputation management plan will protect your company's name and good will in the event of negative comments and bad press.
Some of the key reasons why any successful company needs reputation management would include:

To ensure good publicity. Companies that want to grow should have positive publicity to attract more customers and thereby increase sales. From online forums to mass communication media like newspapers and TV ads there is a gamut of reputation management tools that would help you to be in the news. Publicity will make your organization better known in the business circles and would attract more traffic and sales.

For Brand building: Public relations go a long way in brand building and it is a proven method for launching new products and for opening new markets. By promoting your brand aggressively you will be put ahead in the race. A strong brand image will make sure that your company comes at the top search engine results, which in turn will have a bearing in the sales and traffic of your sites.

To lessen the impact of negative publicity : No organization is safe from being hit with online slander, which could be an assault launched by your competitor or fury unleashed by an unhappy customer. Remember how the Domino’s sales nose dived soon after the unauthorized YouTube video popped up with images of a few employees doing weird things to a customer’s pizza!

Having a reputation management plan in place would mean that you will be in a better position to tackle the onslaught of the negative posts and slander. It will serve as a handy shock absorber in the hours of crisis and will put you back in the game faster.

Both clients and employees play an important role in nurturing a company's reputation

The most important thing to have is people knowing that your firm has a good reputation. But on the other side if it all goes wrong you need to find a suitable solution. To erase a negative comment or a bad review is a difficult task. Reputation management is the only remedy that can take your company to the top stages of being entitled as the 'best firm with a good reputation'.

Reputation management is indeed very essential and it matters the most when a customer needs information about your company and looks for it online. If the information they find is not what they expected or wrong, then you may lose the sale. The dissatisfied customer may post a negative comment and bring down the reputation of your company with a single negative review. So your company's reputation on the web matters and you need to remember that bad news spread faster than good news.

So you need to take some valid steps in order to bring your reputation on the front and in the best possible way. One needs to always check how your firm's reputation is perceived online. Through blogs, forums and other social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or Digg you can find what is being said about your company online. You can even subscribe on the Google sites and set up alerts in order to help you to know which keywords hit the top.

It is also crucial to remember that a company which strives to build strong relationships from inside out has more chances to withstand the damaging blows of a bad press. It is seen that most of the companies keep good relationship with their customers or clients omitting out the best resources like employees, board members and even suppliers. In times of facing problems, a solid support from the insider base can be critical in emerging unscathed from a public relations challenge.

Reputation Management -lend an ear to what the world talks about you

Reputation management is all about using the tools and platforms to control and manage the public views about you , your company or your services. More than just a communication or a technology issue it is a multi faceted approach in stalling online slanders and to retain your brand. Posting a few blogs or press releases alone wont help you to come out of the rut you have landed into! Only a smart blend of the most effective ORM tools that will help you to repair and manage the public image about your company.

So, ultimately it’s important for all businesses to perceive what other people are saying, tag along the customer trends, analyse the competition in the market before coming up with a most appropriate plan to even off the damages caused by bad press and negative publicity. Make sure that all the company information such as directory listings, is accurate and updated. Though large companies might have a team of communications specialists to do this monitoring, small- to medium-size businesses either end up spending a lot of their quality time in monitoring online comments, or ignore it altogether, which could be even worse.

However, ORM is not a complex crisis management tool, which needs to be considered only in the event of a catastrophe; on the other hand it is an ongoing process, which becomes part of any corporate administration policy. A few simple steps would make sure that you are always prepared for the worst.

Make sure to update all your online listings to keep in touch with your customers. A phone number that fails to connect or a website URL that shows errors are the last things you expect. Engage, communicate and converse with your customers through online communities in case of any crisis. Keeping them in the dark by remaining mute might damage your repute very badly. Never ignore the customer feedbacks as these can greatly help in your decision making and planning.

If by any chance a negative review does pop up, waste no time; set out on a vigorous reputation management by SEO and SEM techniques to make sure that the customers are guided to the positive content. Remember, according to a research study, 35% of small businesses gained new customers from positive reviews while a staggering 84% of consumers decide what to buy and where based on customer reviews!

Your Reputation and effects of blogging

When first started, blogging was a harmless trend where people shared information on various events or activities or simply just their thoughts with the online world. Bloggers kept us entertained, updating daily, weekly or on a monthly basis just a little bit like an online diary. Now blogging has become more than an online diary, bloggers are there to educate us, disagree with us or sometimes even shock us.

As blogs have become much popular and exists on a vast proportion these days, it is seen that a massive increase in people blogging on the current activities within both social and business sense relates to whether they are conscious about search engine optimization benefit or not.

The factors that have made blogging a success has also been responsible for its downfall in terms of the effects it can cause on certain companies, industries and even specific people. Freedom of speech is wonderful but when it comes to blogging, it has its own problematic side when people literally say whatever they like. This is an important thing to remember when considering your online reputation.

Of course there is also a positive side to it when positive posts become a factor for free advertising and publicity. However positive comments need not be managed in the same way as that of negative comments. All it takes is for somebody to run a standard search in the search engines and if you are on the top with any negatives, then whatever is being said about you can cause you danger. This is when SEO can work against you.

Crucial to your company and an integral part of SEO strategies, search engine reputation management, does not only recognize new pages but also covers any customers’ feedback and reviews on the various products and services. Not just a case of researching and identifying the blogs or comments, it also responds quickly and puts a stop to any negative press going further and causing lasting damage.

However blogging still remains an informative part of the social online world and a modern way of knowing what is said about you online, so that you are not taken by surprise and shocked with the unexpected.

How to fight back negative comments and protect your online reputation

Online reputation is something which has been an essential factor for all, whether its a business enterprise, brand, product or individual, online reputation values a lot for everyone. There are many aspects which plays a deciding factor to value your online reputation. From the quality, goodwill, services, trust to PR, everything together decides your reputation. But we can't undermine the most key factors which can ruin your online reputation, they are the negative comments and bad press, which could ruin your reputation online. There has been a lot of debate on this, as to how to reduce the online bashing and how to safeguard your online reputation.

You can shield your well earned online reputation with the help of a decisive and strategic reputation management technique which will safeguard your reputation from being damaged. Reputation management helps you to overcome the negative comments with the help of a well structured plan. You can even take the help of social media websites to highlight the positive side of your company. Blogs, micro sites, google sites, social networking, bookmarks and all can help you to regain that lost reputation.

PR too remains a key area for establishing a good repute for your company and repair your damaged reputation. So, let the tools of reputation management help you to build a positive reputation online.

Reputation management and public relation

Reputation management and Public relation might seem two different terms but they are inter-linked to each other. Public relation has become one of the most essential factor to measure and monitor the company's reputation. In the corporate sector public relation has come up as a vital tool to manage your reputation.

Public relation acts as the mirror which reflects the real image of the company. It helps to identify corporate issues like negative comments, rumors and many such incidents which may effect your company's reputation. PR helps to build a good communication and clear picture about the company making sure your reputation always stays on the brighter side.

It won't be wrong if we say that PR is the first step towards building a positive reputation, no matter you are a small company or big company, PR always will be a necessary factor. Not to forget that, even before the emergence of RM (reputation management),PR was working out plans to build positive image of the company.

From the professional front its really necessary for a company to have a strong PR and a positive reputation to sustain in the rat race.

Online Reputation management helps you stay ahead in social networks

A badly managed online reputation can cost you a fortune and ultimately your job and goodwill. Social media as they say is a good slave but a bad master and if you use it properly and keep it under your leash, social network sites can do you lots of good. Anyone who doubts the influence of networks on finances will find a perfect example in the Kansas City Chiefs football player Larry Johnson who lost a whopping $213,000, and ultimately his job, by the negative anti-gay tweets that left a dent in his online reputation! To avoid any damage to your security and repute it is very important to stay clear of these treacherous pitfalls in the virtual world.

Reputation management is the key to survival in the online world! See how the social media can damage your employment and promotion scopes all because of a few negative forum posts slapped on you by some envious co workers or a disgruntled spouse.

It has become a routine affair for the employers to track the online credentials of the prospective clients to make sure that nothing is amiss. Social media profiles almost always make it to the top of the Google searches and hence all they ever need to do is to just do a Google search for the candidates names to get a complete run through of their profile.

If any objectionable content or pictures are posted in these social network sites, which are public platforms, the candidate might land in trouble. Any negative talk about the prospective employers is sure to get more wind in the virtual world that will reach the employers in no time, which might cost the candidate his job!

Even those employees with a secure job in hand might be sabotaging their future by revealing too many private and confidential information about their personal or professional lives or by posting their opinion and thoughts on their boss, clients, colleagues or the company for which they are working. Beware, it might reach where they never wanted it to!Make sure that you use your common sense and discretion while posting anything on social sites as these are bound to leak and reach the wrong ears! Anything that appears in the web will have a viral effect and spread quickly far and wide and if it something negative or a piece of gossip, it can have a devastating effect on your repute!

Manage your online reputation wisely

Is managing your online reputation become an uphill task? Don't worry companies like Reputation Management For.com have got the perfect solution to manage and shield your online reputation from being thrashed. Managing and protecting your online reputation or brand has become quite essential nowadays, as people tend to believe all what is being presented about the company or brand online. So it becomes vital to have a good online reputation.

Online reputation management (ORM) incorporates techniques to make sure your brand or company's reputation remains protected from the bad press and negative comments online. It involves a constant monitoring and public relation along with a decisive search engine optimisation to analyse and rectify the online content. The actual goal though remains a higher search engine indexing with good and positive publicity with elimination of negative comments.

Reputation Management experts help you to sustain a good reputation and a positive web presence making sure you own the top spots in search engines. It will also conduct a constant monitoring on your company and brands repute online and will keep a track on what all is being said about you online. We bet ORM will surely be the best tool to enjoy a good reputation online. Even the rise in competition in the market has made it hard to sustain a good reputation. Amidst all this chaos online reputation management is something really important for all to stay ahead in the rat race.

Ways to manage Online Reputation Crisis

One day you discover that your online reputation is being attacked. You may be a celebrity, or own a reputed company or service. You'll feel like you've been kicked in the ribs to see someone wage an attack on your good name. In this situation, it's important that you don't panic. It can happen to anyone, not only to bigger companies or celebrities.

What’s important is how you react. You need to take enough precautions and have an online crisis communication plan–that you can quickly follow when the inevitable reputation attack occurs. Or you can get the help of an online reputation crisis managing service company. Even before getting the help of a reputation management company, you need to take your own adequate measures. Some of the steps you can take as precautionary measures are:

1. Check for facts:- Gather all the facts and evaluate with appropriate response.

2. Determine the impact:- Respond, if you have found that there is a need after checking the impact. The response should be authoritative and from someone accountable within your company. Also seek advise from those around you.

3. Identify your detractor:- Whoever has acted behind the scenes to spread the malicious rumours to spread, What’s important is to identify your detractor, so that you know whom are you dealing with and what is their motivation.

4. Decide on the appropriate response:- If you discover that the report is false, then you have every right to approach the detractor and request the retraction of malignant content. What you require at this point is Sincerity, Transparency, and Consistency.

5. Host the conversation:- By publishing a post to your company blog, or broadcasting an apology, you’ll ensure the public that your sincerity, transparency, and consistency, are not lost in the noise.

7. After the problem is settled:- You need to constantly work to ensure bloggers, forums, and other social media sites are an integral part of the PR efforts. Whether you as a company or celebrity, need to continue monitor that any negative contents are still hovering over the internet.

In this age of transparency for details, your online reputation is just as important as any other component of your marketing efforts. It can be years efforts spending millions of money building your good name. Without proper care and attention, a simple blog or rumours can bring it crashing down. Make plans now and then if you can't do it your own get the help of a good Reputation Crisis Management Company, instead of hitting the panic button.

Malicious attacks on reputation – a disaster waiting to happen

All you need is a business entity online and what follows however big or small regardless of whatever area you are planning to work in is that as soon as you create a buzz online you are prime target for attacks on your reputation. Before you know it your name or your business name being followed by words like “scam” , “rip-off” or “sucks”.

Even reputation management companies are subjected to such attacks and most often from malicious elements who scour the Internet in search of up-coming companies. Quite like the hacker who scuttles a whole website the reputation attackers hit where it hurts the most. Usually on domain names the very words that prospective clients and customers use to read up about you.

These attacks are purposeful and done to hurt you and their effects can be damaging till Internet users are able to identify from reviews and comments whether the horrible words posted are malicious or not. After reading up so much on reputation management let's hope in the future people will stop depending on comments and forum remarks before giving your company their business.

However, this kind of discerning knowledge is probably years away but with companies and celebrities all investing companies like reputationmangementfor.com for effective reputation management the word is indeed getting around and soon people are going to be sceptical of review sites and forums.

Online Reputation Management's importance overtakes other kinds of RM

ORM or Online Reputation Management has come up as one of the most effective type of reputation management, says a recent study. The study was conducted to know the state of reputation management globally. With the need for reputation management in almost all spheres, it was noted that in recent years reputation management has become one of the major key factor in every concern.

Though the other types of reputation management including business reputation management and personal reputation management that have got acceptance, but it is online reputation management which takes the major share. The study has also revealed that, these days many social networking sites and business are opting for online reputation management. All credits to ebay, which was the first company to bring ORM in the limelight.

With so much going on in the online industry, ORM has proved to be a great help to all those companies which are finding it quite hard to cope up with raging bad press. It is learnt that ORM holds a major share in the reputation management industry and will continue to drive more and more business in coming years.

Well I think in the coming years ORM will surely be a great way to make sure you or your company would never have to face the wrath of online bashing.

Tips for reputation management

With the advent of social networking sites a lot many online tools have arrived people welcome them with open hands for the simple reason that with their tough jobs, information sharing and meeting up with new people have become all the more easy. In this light, reputation too has taken a twofold dimension – no matter whether it is Celebrity Reputation Management, Hotels Reputation Online or anything falling in the similar lines all need to be doing some reputation watch.

Be it an individual or a celebrity, he can be quite concerned about maintaining his reputation and goodwill in the real world than in the virtual one. But this is no longer true. And while the virtual world shouts out “Beware”, you can work towards guarding yours or your businesses online reputation quite cleverly by equipping yourself with a few tips.

To begin with, the best and the simplest test to keep a check on your company’s reputation is to Google yourself. You are what you are shown in the top search results for people out there. And if it is something you don’t like, you have got a plenty of work to do.

When it comes to individual reputation management be very careful of your words if you are a blogger, if you have a website or even in your social media profile. One can read stories of famous personalities landing themselves so easily into trouble, in the midst of controversies and losing out on their public image – all because they did not choose their words properly. The same goes for company’s brand protection as well.

Carry out monthly checks and keep a close eye on your online reputation. Monitor what is being said about you at regular intervals.
And if people are talking about you online, don’t let them just get away with it. You can curb this to a great extent by creating your own online official profiles and by talking more about yourself and what exactly you are.

Stay ahead of the game and act fast once you know something unwanted is being said about you.