subject: Reasons You Need To Get Good Online Reputation Management [print this page] As a business, it is important to consider online reputation management services, which can promote your brand and prevent criticisms from customers, employees or competitors becoming too prominent in search engines, blogs and social network sites. There are companies who provide this kind of protection, or you can handle it in-house. However, there are occasions when something slips through the net.
Marketing and public relations work together to get your company's positive advertising, feedback and comments in the first few listings of a search engine. The idea is that people using the search engine will look at the first two pages at the most and so the first listings need to be positive ones that reinforce your branding and the outstanding service you wish to be known for. If there are any negative statements about your business, they should be far down the search list so that the majority of potential customers do not see them.
Another example of a company ignoring a problem until it grew out of control is when a telecommunications company ignored complaints that their product would not work when held in a certain way. They stated that this was not an issue, despite numerous unhappy customers, and as a result a large campaign was launched, drawing attention to the fault and the poor service people were receiving. Finally, the company involved had to issue a free accessory to resolve the issue.
It is best to keep your brand profile positive by taking control of the advertising that takes place on the internet, wherever possible. You should also pay attention to comments made about your competitors, which will give you the advantage as you will know what they are doing and how well they are doing it. Using positive publicity and keeping up-to-date with the changes that are taking place so your company is ahead of the game will help to keep bad publicity to a minimum.
When you do encounter a problem, it is best to tackle it head-on and deal with the issues that are raised. If there is a genuine reason for the negative feedback and you respond well and deal with this effectively, the person complaining will probably be happier and will almost certainly respect the efforts that you have gone to to solve their problem. If the issues raised are actually a result of underhand play from your competitors or bitterness from former employees or similar, you are entitled to raise this in response to the comments that they have made.
Sometimes a simple mistake can damage your internet presence. One tourist-related web page for a city outside of the United States inadvertently used a photograph of an American city of the same name on their advertising. This made them look unprofessional and foolish and, over a year later, is still an on-going joke at their expense.
All too often, a consumer issue which could have been resolved quickly and to everybody's satisfaction is allowed to become a major problem for both the customer and the business involved. Usually, this is when people resort to the internet to voice their discontent and anger, creating the bad press every business should wish to avoid. The web quickly reaches an audience of thousands, so it essential that such widely-read criticisms are avoided.
There are many services available for online reputation management. Some are free and some are provided by specialist companies, so you should shop around to find the products and protection that you require. The internet is a valuable source of business and free advertising, so it is worth investing in your web presence.
by: Carrol Cuttler
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