Reputation Management

How important it is to reply to the reviews?

Replying to reviews on your website is an important part of your online process. It is time that business small and big should start thinking about this seriously. Reviews may be good or bad, responding to them adds to the credibility of the company. It is also a part of your online reputation management that sustains your online image. To remain aloof to reviews is an unprofessional approach which reflects on the reputation of the company.

But what needs to be dealt with care is how you respond to reviews, as part of your business goodwill you need to understand that you are addressing the issue brought up in the review. The review may criticize your way of doing business, and as a responsible business house you need to take it from there while clarifying your position. This move will induce confidence and respect and customers feel privileged that you responded to their likes. Review sites are great platforms to build a solid rapport with your business associates. Responding to reviews generates a feeling that you are taking seriously what is been said, and that you intend fixing the issue.

Reviews are a mirror to your business that shows where your business or brand stands. It clearly shows how people perceive your company. A chance to amend flaws or even mend what is lacking. Lately it has been seen that nearly every company in today’s era pay attention to what is been said online. The race is in keeping the company customer friendly and leaving no stones unturned to achieve that goal. Nevertheless doing so surely enhances the friendliness of the company and builds a positive image. One should be really objective when replying to the reviews, as it’s a part of official dialogue.

Being pro-active in answering to your reviews shows the users that you care about them and this enhances your goodwill. So companies need to take every chance to respond to reviews and critics as this is an integral part of your reputation management.

Google Places with Reputation Management to local business owners

Google’s local business listings now called Google Places has come up with a chance for local businesses to respond to customer reviews! This is great news for businesses and for reputation management, business owners can now respond directly to reviews both negative and positive.

Local businesses can now deal with the reviews in a positive way and not to mention get a chance to keep in touch with customers and their feedback. Customers on the other hand get to hear from the people behind the scene directly. Google Places has verified business owners and this way you can get verified and respond to customers.

This is, if you look at it Google’s endorsement of reputation management and here at Reputation Management For.com we’d advice you to get into Google Places get listed and verified, and then respond to reviews when they show up.  Google Places even illustrates how to respond to reviews with examples!

As for the annoying reviewer who is just there to make some noise, the best thing a business owner can do is filter them out and look into the ‘real’ customer concerns.

Mel Gibson keeping quiet the Tiger way

Mel Gibson by choosing to follow the footsteps of the disgraced golfer, Tiger Woods has only made his reputation slump from bad to worse. Just like Tiger chose to keep quiet  Mel Gibson too, remained out of the media eyes as soon as the accusations of  domestic abuse and the rant tapes got viral on the web. Even when this celebrated actor was dumped by his agents at William Morris he chose to keep silent and to remain in the oblivion, which was a badly executed reputation management plan from his side.

Even When Gibson’s attorneys  fiercely defended their boss by firing salvos against  his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva’s allegations, Gibson never came out into the open. So, did Gibson also made a costly mistake by not addressing his serious reputation issues, which assumed massive proportions with every passing day. But, Perhaps his silence has made the public believe that the tapes were probably real, which made his situation worse.

Gibson might have played it safe as he is infamous for his vitriolic tongue and by keeping his mouth shut  he might have thought to scramble home safely. Mel has been through such issues earlier also  and with each incident  it is becoming all the more difficult for him to  salvage his reputation. Silence might be golden in real world but not in the web where making  noise is the best way to prove your point, pull the crowd and to safeguard your online reputation.

Reputation management, a solid formula is also essential for small corporations

Is reputation management more important a matter to small businesses than to large corporations? Yes, small companies have a lot more to lose from a storm of negative comments and it can actually destroy them when compared to a multi million dollar firm that has the deep pockets to afford such an awful attack. A small company may not be often able to wait or counteract in accordance with big corporations.

But there is always a solution for small firms to control their online reputation by taking a proactive approach by constantly using organic SEO to boost positive listings in SERPs, address negative publicity swiftly and professionally.

Reputation management has always been a success factor in ensuring a company’s success. Online reputation management involves maintaining your company’s positive image over the web and combating the negative publicity as soon as it arises.

With a plethora of sites through which consumers exchange their ideas, the anonymity that the Internet provides may encourage disgruntled customers to voice the bad experiences with a sole purpose of sabotaging the company in question. Unfortunately no matter how well a business is run, there will always be dissatisfied customers who will take to the Internet no matter how willingly you try to address the situation.

Transparency is always important in managing your online reputation. When faced with such scrutiny, it’s best to address these problems directly instead of hoping or assuming they’ll clear all on their own. Let your customers know what you are doing to improve your company’s brand image and when problems seem to arise, make them know your side of the story as well.

Of course, it’s far easier to have reputation management services from experts and work on building your business and products better.

What can reputation management do for you?

Reputation Management services has become a key aspect for almost all companies. This dynamic service is coming to be regarded as a major boon for all businesses, brands, individuals and products who were victims of this so called reputation crisis. Your company’s reputation might be immaculate at present, but one can’t predict when the situation turns around.

Reputation management services might be something new, but in such a short span of time it has proven its mettle and has got recognition globally. From politician, sports personalities, celebrities, companies to doctors have all embraced it as yet another aspect or PR. It can’t be denied that many companies and brands are benefited with the effective tools of reputation management. No matter its a small business or a Fortune 500 company, reputation management service is meant for all.

It is debated that, the results of these reputation management services comes gradually and not in a haste. Well, to bring your reputation up is a systematic process needs patience, as this is a sensitive area. To promote a brand or key phrase and to optimize it correctly asks for time, and to further push down the negative results and at the same time bringing up positive contents needs a concrete strategy and proper allocation. Meanwhile the use of a pro-active SEO campaign is a smart way to bring up your brand image and reputation in search engines.

Many companies argue that, its really pain staking to sit and watch all negatives about the business, even after resorting to these reputation management services, but they have to understand the sensitivity of the issue. Reputation management campaign works as a process and it slowly weaves a positive image for your brand, making sure the credibility of your brand or company is never lost.

How it works :

After analysing the position of the company online, with the help of the articles, web pages, blogs and  pictures, the reputation management plan is designed.  After judging your present status online and by knowing how people perceive you, the repair works of your online reputation starts off.

As we all know ‘Google’ does an index of new pages fast, so by publishing blogs, web pages and articles about your company we can bring the positive side of your business. As your page gets cached by Google, you can work more stringently to rank those pages on the top searches. It can take a minimum of six months to get the results, but at the end of the day you are satisfied with what Google is coming up with about your company or brand . You have more control of your reputation and that makes all the difference!

How we deal with the Ripoff Report menace

To begin with, let me say that it’s no menace at all. Ripoff Report is just one of the many obstacles that any dedicated reputation management team can overcome. There are clients who approach us all worried about this so-called menace, making inquiries as to how this can be legally handled. Our job begins with explaining to them as to what it’s all about. We tell them that Ripoff Report presents a platform for people to air their grievances and complaints, but obviously people, those with vested interests, make use of the platform to deliberately cause disrepute to a company against which they have a personal grudge or which is a rival on the professional level. Google, or for that matter any search engine, brings that to the fore of searches; simply because this is what search engines are purported to do- work with all focus on keyword optimization and such factors that can be manipulated and worked in favor or against.

Ripoff Report makes it a point to say on their site, “Ripoff Report has been sued on many occasions based on the content which our users have created and posted. If you are considering suing Ripoff Report because of a report which you claim is defamatory, you should be aware that to date, Ripoff Report has never lost such a case (with one exception; explained below). This is because of a federal law called the Communications Decency Act or “CDA”, 47 U.S.C. § 230.”

As reputation managers we know how to deal with Ripoff Report threats that our clients face. We first convince our clients that it’s no menace at all and then set out to tackle it, meeting it face-to-face. We can do better keyword optimization and come up with loads and loads of premium and above-all real positive ones, which can work towards pushing the Ripoff thing down.

This may be a slightly longer process but it is the one thing that works always!

Fame comes with a price – Social conduct and celebrity reputation!

Do you ever think before you act? If not, then better develop a habit of doing so, especially when you are a celebrity or known personality. Your behaviour has an immediate impact on your reputation, it might sound clichéd, but practically it makes a huge difference to your image and reputation.

Usually in case of celebs such reputation disasters occurs when misconducts or anger tarnishes their social image. Being vulnerable, a single false move can bring down the reputation drastically.
Behaviour and social conduct has a lot meaning and value when it comes to celebrities. Always in the limelight, these so called stars are social figures and their acts are watched by millions. Any bad conduct from their end can be axing their own feet. In many instance it has seen that, how celebrity image has fallen down by their misconducts or offensive acts. Whether it’s by being rude to the media or by having a foul mouth, violent behaviour in public is simply disgraceful.

Some of the offensive acts by the celebrities:

  • Lindsay Lohan was recently charged with carrying “contraband” found in her wrecked car.
  • Paris Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail for driving on a suspended license.
  • Mel Gibson verbally abusing and slapping his girl friend.

Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University said “Celebrities behaving badly is certainly not an uncommon thing to find throughout history and it is certainly not going to fade away.”

To maintain and protect your reputation today is far difficult than the hardships you faced to gain that fame, as the adage goes, “With great power comes great responsibilities”. In the same way, it asks for great responsibility to sustain that fame and glory.

However, if you are looking to rectify your flaws, then we at Reputation Management For.com suggests, a concrete PR strategy and reputation management plan, which will help you to repair your lost image and resurrect from the damages. Reputation management even helps you to manage and enrich your reputation, and also helps to keep track of the status of your reputation. Celebrities and social figures are recommended to shield there reputation with a systematic reputation management plan, especially at a time when social networking has given people the space to air their views easily.

How Cyberbullying adversely affects reputation?

Cyber bullying is not something new, however the reality is that not enough attention have been paid to ensure its prevention. Cyber bullying could very badly influence the online reputation of companies and individuals.

Cyber bullying involves the following

  • The  misuse of  communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group
  • Hacking into accounts and posting wrong and often scandalous  information
  • Vicious forum posts,
  • Name calling in chat rooms,
  • Posting fake profiles on web sites,
  • Sending threatening or mean  email messages
  • Redirecting hits to spam or porn sites

Although it is not a  physical attack, it can do  extensive damage to the reputation of the other person. Nobody is immune to the attacks of cyber bullies, however, most of the  cyber bullying incidents involve kids and young adults. The recent cyber bullying tactics of Justin Beiber haters and how these have affected his online image should be a perfect example of the intricate relation between online reputation and cyber bullying.  Negative posts and bad elements gain acclaim through shared videos or online forums and it could assume viral proportions in no time.

Your online reputation can be protected by keeping the slanderous posts at bay and for this an array of ORM tools like SEM and SEO are being used with success. Cyber bullying could well be an expression of revenge or a projection of their own insecurities. The online community has a collective responsibility to bring justice to those who are victims of cyber bullying.

Can the Mel Gibson reputation ever recover?

Mel Gibson is once again in the news, well this time again not for his celebrity image, but the ‘Brave Heart’ actor seems to have lost it all. Gibson has been accused of slapping his ex-girl friend, Oksana Grigorieva twice on her face. If this was not enough, then the recorded racial slurs made by Gibson has put him in probably the worst backlash ever.

The list of charges don’t end here, a former mistress, Violet Kowal also came out with revelation to a magazine that, due to the threats made by Gibson she was forced to leave town and go into hiding for a month. With his super-celebrity status, Gibson has got many controversies to his name; he even made anti-Semitic statements during an arrest, where he hurled racist obscenities at police officers.
The Oscar winning actor is facing a hard time battling it out with all the allegations and charges which has already tarnished his reputation, with plenty of bad press and anger. Though these charges may be a few months old, its damage is still hitting the star’s reputation badly.

Top 21 google search results for Mel Gibson

A glance at the chart and its plain that there are more negative contents and news about the star, with nothing much positive to report on Gibson these days.

At Reputation Management For.com, we feel this could be the end of the road for Mel in reputation terms. While people associated with him are probably re-thinking their ideas about him, Gibson needs to judge the situation well, before doing any further damage to his reputation. His legal and PR team has to settle all the allegations, before it ruins the celebrity status of the actor. If by any chance he comes out clean from all the charges, then he needs to go in for a well-structured reputation management plan to repair the lost reputation and rebuild a positive image among the masses. As Robert Einstein said “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”.

Justin Bieber Reputation and Cyberbullying

Justin Bieber was a celebrity ,well known  for his good looks and the top of the chart pop hits till recently. However now he is more famous for being the subject of  one of the fiercest online cyberbullying campaigns by the group, 4chan. As per the figures of Mashable.com,  4chan hacked YouTube sending pop-up messages across the site and redirected Bieber’s video pages to malware and porn sites. This is only one among the many attacks aimed against this young celebrity , who took the  virtual world by frenzy. For long Bieber was the poster boy in Twitter and the social network sites, which prompted the Bieber haters to launch a nasty  elimination program that would exclude all the mentions of this pop world wonder from any Twitter feed.

This vicious attack continued even during his much publicized  “Justin Bieber My World Tour” contest where his fans were invited to vote what country to send him to. The notorious cyberbullying group of 4chan took full advantage of this golden opportunity  and started a North Korea campaign for Beiber through 4chan’s website that  tells viewers how to hack the contest system. As a result of which  North Korea  overtook  Israel as the first choice for where to send Bieber next.

However,  Bieber will never be going to  North Korea as western music is banned in North Korea and most importantly  most  North Koreans do not follow Justin Beiber nor the internet and might not even know who Justin Bieber is!

Bieber has not come out with a public response on the whole issue so far nor his website has carried any updates on this scandal. Thus the fans and haters of Bieber have been left to gossip and speculate about the future course of action of this  gifted artist. However as the scandal has been all over the webspace for weeks, the best thing for Bieber would be to clear the air and to come out clean instead of  sitting on the issue and waiting the scandal to die down on its own!  Bieber, after all is only a kid who is too young to take care of his PR issues on his own. So his team  should use their reputation management skills to issue a public response to fans and to make sure that these scandals will not stop Bieber from bringing his music to his die hard music fans in Israel.

We at reputationmanagemnetFor.Com feels that Justin Bieber should get on top of the game by keeping the channels of communication with his fans open instead of leaving them to indulge in nasty speculations!

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