Experts recommend that core functions like Human Resources, Training and Client Servicing should be carried on in-house. And rightly so.
But what about a field that is growing every day, every minute and every second with every comment and every blog post? Yes, we are talking about the online world.
Should the online reputation of your company be managed by you or should it be outsourced to specialist Online Reputation Management firms?
Picture this. There are 1 million websites that are uploaded everyday. 175 million people log onto Facebook everyday and 55 million out of them update their Facebook updates daily. Millions of bloggers upload millions of posts everyday. Not to forget the million blog comments. Twitter records 50 million tweets everyday while 20 hours of Youtube videos are uploaded every minute.
To add to the madness, Google is known to change its search algorithm once every two weeks. Facebook is shaping its much spoken about Privacy Policy every hour. People are talking more and more about Web 3.0. Things are changing too fast. Your online reputation is being shaped each day.
In this environment, should you let an expert manage your Online Reputation or should you manage it internally?
Advantages of hiring an Online Reputation Management (ORM) firm:
1) An ORM firm tracks any online mention of your brand on daily basis so that you can spend your time on your core business
2) ORM firms keep track on all announcement/updates made by Facebook, Google, etc. and inform you on how these changes affect your online presence. Eg. Facebook Open Graph Announcement
3) ORM firms have Search Engine Optimization skills, which are extremely vital to ensure no negative mentions about your company on the first 2-3 pages of a Google Search Page
4) Outsourcing ORM is cost effective for most companies
5) ORM firms have access to advanced tracking and analytics devices. These are extremely important in understanding how customers perceive your brand.
For years, companies have ignored the Online Reputation of their brand(s). With the peak of Web 2.0 and the realm of Web 3.0 soon approaching they do not have that liberty any more. Your customers are writing – blogs, reviews, Complaint threads, Facebook Fan Posts, Tweets, etc. – about your brand everyday. Your potential customers are reading what your customers write everyday.
We cant stress enough for the need of Online Reputation for your brand. Although we have tried we cant say it better than Warren Buffet:
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently.”
But isnt your reputation online subject to what you really do? I mean if you have a clean record why would anyone want to put you down then?
I personally feel the route to a clean reputation online is a clean profile in itself.
I have a question tho, should firms with a good reputation still get themselves consulted by ORM firms?
But how can we promise a better online reputation? Even if you have xperts looking out after it….people are still out there waiting to loop you out. Its a very blatant ratio…you, your market strategists and then innumerable schadenfreuds, whom you haven seen, met..none nada!
[...] A consumer’s mind is really a battle ground and every marketer is trying to win that battle. Your Online Reputation is really one of the strongest weapons to help you win this battle. How are you fighting it out? [...]
Hi Natasha, great question.
I totally agree with you that a good online reputation is mostly a derivative of a clean profile.
However some reasons clean companies hire an Online Reputation Management expert:
1) Competitors trying to malign the brand through false third party accusations
2) Even clean companies make mistakes. Customers are more likely to talk about their bad experiences than their good experiences. This creates a gap between how a company is perceived online compared with how the company really is
3) Forum and Blog participations are great to get a company closer to it’s target audience.
So you see, Online Reputation Management is not only about Crisis Management. There are many other aspects to it such as Brand Loyalty, Brand Recall, Social Engagements with customers, etc.
And that’s why every company needs to manage its Online Reputation. Wether they need and expert or not is another questions.
I hope I have answered your question to your satisfaction.
Rishub – That’s why Online Reputation Management is a continuous process. No one (not even experts) can stop people from writing about a brand online but we definitely can optimize the brand’s online presence.
I think you will find this post interesting: http://gozoop.com/blog/online-reputation-management-lets-you-enjoy-your-coffee