Posts Tagged ‘ORM’

Online Reputation Management – A mix of SEO and PR

This post is about demystifying ORM in the simplest way possible…

  • Is online reputation management (ORM) kinda like SEO? Yes it is, the one cannot exist without the other in the online world.
  • Is reputation management like public relations? Yes it is, ORM is a lot about projecting the right image to the world.

In fact, we here at Reputation Management For.com believe that  ORM is a mix of all this and yet it is more.

Functions of ORM:

Reputation Management is all about protecting, defending and removing the best and the worst respectively, about you from the public eye.

Picking up on things on alerts, monitoring the airwaves for all that is being said about a person who can be a celebrity, a professional or a politician or a corporate entity or a brand as the case may be is an important function of ORM.

Crawling the internet for everything being said about you helps to push forward the positive content and maybe even create an online buzz about something new. This is an important part of ORM.

Having a presence on different blog networks and social networking platforms, and maintaining them regularly  is another function.

ORM is a routine, on-going process that should be part of your advertising or marketing, if it isn’t already.

When crisis strikes: ORM, however, gets into overdrive when there is a crisis and this is when the PR side of it comes out in full force. The online entity is under attack and it needs to be done systematically like in any other media.

  • Real-time searches need to be monitored and looked into and Facebook posts and tweets all add up to the quick re-bound in reputation.
  • Blog posts and news and more so in the case of press releases all play an important part in minimizing a crisis.

ORM, in short, does all that you would do in the real world – show up at the right places, make statements, give interviews, go on chat shows, keep you in the spotlight and put you in the news as and when required.

The only difference is that, this is the virtual world and the blog posts, press releases, tweets and Facebook posts all do what you would have done physically in the real world.

With the power cyberspace has on this world having ORM in place to watch your back only makes good sense. ORM is here to stay, and may be called SERM or PR with a cyber twist, but its the one thing to have in place if your business is all about your good reputation!

Crisis Management – Vital for Online Reputation Management

Crisis management is the new buzz word now, everybody from Celebrities, Politicians, Automobile companies to Theme parks are in dire need to salvage their reputation from getting tarnished online.  No organization wants to be in a situation that would stimulate bad press against them and cause disruption to their business.

Some companies that are hard hit recently were not able to handle crisis efficiently. Toyota is one company that is finding it difficult to stop the embroiling situation, the quality crisis refuses to die down for them. This clearly shows that the company is not good at handling crisis. The initial slow response, the half-minded recall, poor communication had adverse effect on the reputation of the company.

Managing crisis is the second best thing you can do for a successful business. To deal with crisis needs accurate and  decisive action. Take for example ‘A Gun manufacturing company loses a gun while on transit and before the public or the media ever comes to know about this the company is able to find it and put it back into the inventory‘. So rapid and precise action saved the company from getting a bad name.

Some of the ways to handle crisis is as follows:

  • Identify the problems: The first step towards crisis management is to identify the problems in clear terms, so that you can sort it out easily.
  • Collective decision: Fighting crisis can never be a one-man-show, a collective decision and team work is always better. Consider the relevant team and their decisions pertaining to the risk factor and go with the best option.
  • Leadership: Lead from the front and talk with everybody in the team. Monitor the function required to minimize the crisis.
  • Communicate: The most sought after action is to have continuous communication with the public and media. It is always good idea for the company to have their own portal or hub to update their view.
  • Segregate issues: Take the best team out and let them work on every piece of the issue, break the issue until you identify the grey areas. Hire a reputation management company, which has standard practices to deal with crisis related issues.
  • Encourage feedback: Read customer/client online reaction, this will help you know the correct pulse of the general public and help you overcome crisis.
  • Analyze the problems:  So you know from where it took shape and who is responsible and what corrective measures can be taken to get rid of it.
  • Learn: Take a cue from your last experience, this will help you mold a better strategy in future.  Always keep your last crisis experience in perspective and put in place tools so that your company is safe from similar crisis.

Reputation Management and Social Websites

Reputation management is here to stay as it will be an ongoing threat. The social media has made it easy for all to plug in and play. When user feeds in a negative comment it is more likely to generate new type of threat for your brand. Your infrastructure vendor will be good at blocking malware, but not the negative comment circulating on the web. So most companies will need to find way to shield their repute. We need not have to dig deep to take into consideration what the future holds, but we’ll see that in coming year companies will take a serious stand to monitor their reputation.

One of the main factors why I chose to pick on social networking sites is because they are a very important part of reputation management. If there is one thing that we learned from social media is that user content ranks very well in the search engines. Just sit back and do a search, I am sure you will come across at least a couple of social media sites in first page of your search. So imagine the height of damage these hi-speed information portals can do in a click of the mouse. The usage and access to social media in workplace will be on top priority to help protect companies from getting their brand tarnished.

If you notice many of these social websites allow users to register in company user ID and even generates URL that ends with the name of your company.

http://twitter.com/companyname

http://companyname.Wordpress.com

http://www.myspace.com/companyname

You need to be the first to register with your name and URLs on these sites and do it fast. The problem with such provision is that you are always at risk and someone use these sites to damage your brand reputation. It will be immature to say that such things will go off and settle down by itself. Companies should not take for granted the power of social websites and its impact. The one-click-connect-to-all kind of platform is powerful to damage your reputation and is an established form of media today. Remember when a user tweets about the pathetic service you offer, it will obviously put your business in trouble, that’s the power of social media

While you want to remove bad press or comments on social website, you need not have to change the way you do your business. Even if you run your business perfectly you are bound to get a dissatisfied customer who will do the rest to tamper your reputation. The best way to counter malicious content on the web is to hire a reputation management firm to take care of your stake. They will counter these allegations, build up your profiles and gets them listed on search engines with keywords that are important to your reputation. It’s one method to gain access and be in control. It also provides you with a chance to reach those customers who never visited your official company website.  Safeguarding your brand reputation comes with a cost and should be included in your business budget.