Online Reputation Management

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Online reputation management-Changing the consumer mindset
2007-10-25 13:19:00
Online reputation management entails a transitional shift from the bad to the good. Let us understand from the perspective of the consumer how online reputation management (ORM) can affect his decision making process. A consumer who is searching for buying something online or wants to read a review before making a purchase at a nearby store will log on to the net and check for some information. Quite reflexively, I must say, many latch onto Google or Yahoo to type in a few key terms or key phrases that give information about a product. A website gives only limited amount of reviews. So in order to make the most of information intake, the consumer goes to a search engine and puts the name of a particular brand, product or service to find relevant information in the form of reviews, blogs or forum sites. The consumer is most likely (84 percent to be on the safe side of percentages) to look at the first two pages of a search engine. Can you imagine, if the search engine results on...
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Using online reputation management to market your business online
2007-10-25 11:22:00
The post mentioned below talks about the power of online reputation management and writing effective content to make good amount of information and positive news about your company feature on the first two pages of Google or any other search engine. Apart from writing good content and providing back links, there are many other steps that can help in online reputation management. Discussed below are some of the ideal methods to increase the presence of your business online: Social networking sites: You can make the most use of social networking sites for spreading awareness and a virtual 'fan club' for your product or service. Setting up online communities and making them interactive is a good idea. You can also make the most of social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us and Technorati and tagging them to certain associating tags. In fact, these social book marking sites have a huge number of visitors who will tag your content to th...
More About: Business , Market , Management , Online , Sine

Online reputation management and the power of effective content
2007-10-23 13:34:00
Online reputation management is antidote to negative publicity online. A negative post or piece of information that comes on the first page of a search engine page like Google can be bad news to your online business. It is now easy for an customer or a lay man with even limited use of computers to post their views online in forum sites, blogs and other web 2.0 platforms. You may not be able to obliterate negative results disappear completely from a search engine. However, you can definitely impact the search engine results in such a way that only positive and relevant information about your product or service features in the ?first two? pages of a search engine. As we know online reputation management is a healthy amalgamation of PR skills and search engine optimization. You can definitely use ORM to your best advantage by marketing your product or service in the right manner. Writing effective content is one of the best ways to exercise wise online reputation management. ...
More About: Power , Management , Content , Online , Effective

ORM- A bankable proposition
2007-10-17 14:23:00
The concept of online reputation management shines glaringly bright as you see banks and financial institutions facing the whack due to negative publicity. In India, for the past few days, prominent banks have faced flak and considerable negative publicity thanks to a slew of online posts and news reports which accuse these financial institutions of mentally and physically harassing their customers. In India and many other countries, private banks outsource the work to recovery agents or companies for recovery of debt. Such banks or their recovery agents employ pressure tactics or use aggressive language to coerce people to pay their existing debt or outstanding loan amount. Many bore the brunt silently and painfully, until recently when a major tabloid laid bare the shocking news of a person driven to suicide following the coercive measures adopted by the bank. Thanks to the sensationalism and public outcry that spanned the media, online and offline, the bank received cons...
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Online reputation management-We take good care of you!
2007-10-08 13:43:00
No matter what reputation you command in the market, the truth is that everybody cannot be pleased every time. Sometime someone or the other is bound to be unhappy or displeased. Ten years ago, the manufacturer and the marketeer was the king. He dictated the market and in times where there was a monopoly, the consumer had to grin and bear it. But in the year 2007, the consumer grins and bares it. The year 2007 has witnessed a lot of ?so-called prestigious? brands losing their control over the market thanks to consumer power. Online reputation management is paramount to your business. Even one customer lost is bad news because it offsets a chain reaction which can spread its tentacles to a lot of other potential customers. It is too big a risk to take! As a responsible business, you must be dedicated and honest while dealing with your customers. You must take care that ther are no negative posts or stories being floated online about your company. This can be done by taking care o...
More About: Management , Care , Good , Reputation

Travel operators and online reputation management
2007-09-27 13:01:00
Major airline companies as well as travel companies are gearing up to better their efforts at online reputation management. Online travel sites are frequented and subscribed to by a lot of users because of the convenience factors. You can book tickets at subsidized rates and you also enjoy the convenience of booking your tickets from the comfort of your own home. However, though it is a hot online industry, it invites a lot of wrath and bad publicity if things go wrong. There are issues when the credit card charge is declined, tickets are not delivered at the right time, the seat numbers go awry or if there is a fraudulent charge on the account. At all of these times and more, the consumer has to take the flak. Consumers make sure that they vent their dissatisfaction in blogs and forum sites. If you take the example of a website like makemytrip.com, in mouthshut.com, you will see giving reviews about how the service sucked or how they were charged in fraudulently. The allegat...
More About: Travel , Management , Operators , Reputation

Using online reputation management to the optimum
2007-09-24 12:54:00
Your company may be enjoying an impressive customer patronage and may be a name in the market to reckon with. However there is always a risk of a blog post reaching the first page of the search engine listing and causing damage to the goodwill that you?ve built steadily since a long time. A negative comment spreads like wild fire in the Internet and there are many who jump in the bandwagon, some doing it seriously while some adding a negative comment just for the kicks. Either way, your sales figure can pirouette and dip if you do not take concrete steps to resolve the matter. The answer is online reputation management. Here are some ways to use online reputation management: You can respond to the negative blog with a clarifying post. You can write them as comments in the blogs and message boards that have written ill about you .If you have proofs to back your stand, it is even better. You may even add a link that takes you to your corporate blog. While cou...
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Online reputation management-Look who is talking now
2007-09-17 10:54:00
Online reputation management and the power of social media are quite important for fortifying your company?s presence, and directing traffic to your website. What exactly is social media? Well it is the platform that allows each one of us the freedom to say what you want through blogs, message boards. You are able to share your views and opinions with a lot of people who agree, disagree or endorse your statements. Public relations are no more a domain frequented by professionals and journalists. Spreading the word is an attitude of the people, for the people and by the people. As close to democracy, isn?t it?Quite evidently, people will trust the junta(the common people) or high-brow PR experts or journalists. The empathy factor is quite high as people write in a comment or two endorsing the complaint written by a person in her blog. People are talking and how! Not just with written matter but also in an audio-visual format. Which means, that people are now uploading pictures, vid...
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Online reputation management-The language of corporate blogging
2007-09-13 09:16:00
Most companies have quite rightly hosted corporate blogs both in complaint boards like mouthshut.com and also as a part of their website. In this age of consumer generated media, corporate blogs are just what the doctor ordered. It immunizes your business against negativity, acts like a tonic to consumers who feel that their pain and anguish are being addressed, and makes your business grow in a healthy manner. While writing corporate blogs and seeing the absurdity and exaggeration of some of the posts, you may feel like flying off the handle and giving a fitting reply. Well, you may but in the end, you may be losing out on business purely due to the ?tone? of your content. You may be right and the consumer may have got it wrong this time but understands the universal paradigm-the consumer is always right. You have to explain your point politely, carefully and in a loving manner. For every complaint, generally follow a three step plan:, ACKNOWLEDGE, APOLOGIZE AND ASSURE. At time...
More About: Management , Blogging , Corporate , Language , Online

Corporate blogging
2007-09-07 13:15:00
Corporate blogging is a responsible move by organization that has to manage their reputation on the web. Most major players in the field are recognizing the power of blogs to empower people with the force to write about a particular brand. A single negative post that comes up on the front page of a search engine can cause immense damage to the brand and subsequently to the profit-earning capacity of the company. How does corporate blogging actually take place? What do these companies do, how do they keep track of everything negative that comes their way? Read on to know more.. Here are some steps at managing online reputation for a company which wants to steer ahead of competition and manage its impeccable reputation: Setting up alerts: By setting an alert, you can keep a track of every negative post that comes in the coming weeks. You can even set specification as to how you want the alerts to appear-they can come once a day, once a week or as it happens...
More About: Blogging , Corporate , Rate

Online reputation management makes headline news
2007-09-06 12:05:00
Midday, the famous eveninger on 31st August, 2007 carried a front page story on how blogging can be a resourceful tool to every consumer who wants justice done. It told about how a person who uploaded the half-hearted job done by her interior decorator and uploaded it on You Tube. She shot a small video of the haphazard repair work done on the wall of her house and uploaded it on the video broadcasting site. The interior decorating company had no option but to complete the work free of charge, because it had its reputation at stake. We have been hearing time and again that consumer is king, consumer is everything..blah, blah ?till the dogs come home, but in the end, the consumer had to pay the price. Until, the consumer decided to do something about it, through the power of blogging. Now there is no stopping her as she lays bare discrepancies, discoloration and discrimination which are rampant in reputed companies known to offer quality products and services. It is high time; co...
More About: News , Management , Online , Headline News , Headline

Online reputation management-Reviews
2007-09-05 12:31:00
One of the potent weapons that can change or sustain public opinion are review sites. Whenever there is a new movie or new product coming up, people turn to review sites. There are so many movies which have taken a beating at the box-office and there are so many products which have not even been tried, purely thanks to damaging reviews. Nothing can be done much about reviews; you can?t stop them from happening, neither can you stop people from reading them and passing judgments. They say if you can?t beat them, join them. This is exactly how review sites can work for online reputation management. Find out people who have genuinely liked your product or service. In this generation of web 2.0, you do not have the need to spend money on market research to scout for your fans. You can find people who patronize your product quite easily in the comments/testimonial section of your website, the social networking website, blogs and message boards. At any given day, there will be mor...
More About: Reviews , Management , Online , Reputation

Online Reputation Management and social networking
2007-09-04 12:48:00
It?s raining orkut, myspace, facebook, hi5,bigadda and countless amount of social networking websites-all meaning business and justifying the cliché, ?be in touch.? Social networking sites are the hot places where people chat, refer, tease, congratulate and play the blame game. It is also the best place to recommend something that is pleasant or to warn someone against something that is unpleasant. There are occasions when a guy asks his online friend for a date and she agrees with a coffee joint that is known for its cool ambience and wonderful coffee. If that café happens to be yours, a positive remark like this can be quite encouraging. Being a member of a social networking site, I scraped my friend about meeting at an inn some miles away from my house. My friend replied enthusiastically that the inn has some fond memories because it was the place where he had taken his wife for their very first date. Small things like these can not only nurture relationship but also a...
More About: Social Networking , Management , Networking , Online

The importance of Alerts in Online Reputation Management
2007-09-03 07:35:00
If you are under the impression that you are too involved in your business to care about the Internet, you are mistaken. Your online reputation can be at stake. With a lot of people turning to electronic media for news and gossip, you cannot undermine the power of online reputation management. There is a principle called karma in the Hindu culture, which says that every deed has its repercussions. If you do good, you are rewarded. If you do bad, you are punished. The consequence may take its own time but soon you do get your just deserts. There is a scientific rationale behind it too; as Newton said: every action has an equal and opposite reaction. As you sow, so shall you reap is another saying that typifies the relationship between cause and effect. Taking what I said in the above paragraph to the next level, I would say that this karma spreads across the world through Internet. If you do good things, you are talked about. If you do wrong, you are sniggered at. Type the na...
More About: Management , Online , Import , Reputation

Online reputation management-A case study
2007-08-29 09:03:00
Online reputation management is about setting the wrongs right. Whenever things go wrong, we should look at how we can use the negative bit to our advantage and make it a plus point. To throw more light to this, let us understand through a case study about how a bank worked toward some smart online reputation management, inculcating both search engine optimization and smart PR skills. There was a bank X which ran into some sort of rough weather courtesy disgruntled customers who were not exactly having a high regard for the company. One of them was my friend who was also a person who did not like taking things lying down. He ran an impressive blog in which he wrote really scathing stuff about the bank, and to make matters worse, the posts came up on the front page of the results page of a search engine inspiring a lot many people to add more. My friend wrote in his blog that he had got a phone call from the bank some weeks ago for a ?gold? credit card. An executive had com...
More About: Study , Management , Online , Case , Reputation

Online reputation management-Dealing with troublesome blogs
2007-08-24 11:29:00
The need for reputation management online stems from CGM(Customer Generated Media) furore that has spread in the Internet. Ever had a bad experience while using your credit card? Has the bank treated you unfairly? Are you pissed with the callous attitude or indifference shown by customer reps on the phone? Do you feel that they just dumped the vacuum cleaner at your place and forgot about installing it properly? You do not have to keep your grouse within yourself or express your sentiments to the neighborhood. You can tell about the unfair deal to the whole world through blogs. Blogs are dynamic and can shape public opinion with the influence of something as trivial as a mere post. Unlike newspapers , magazines and huge online news portals which at times are politically correct and have to abide by editorial guidelines, there is no real censorship or editorial guidelines to adhere by in case of blogs. A blog is your very space to write about everything from termites to tornadoes...
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Online reputation management-Customer Generated Media and Tracking tools
2007-08-23 07:57:00
Every single moment, someone or the other is talking about you, your product, your services, your business, your competitors or your industry. They may be complimenting about a particular aspect of your business, appreciating certain things or generating hype for your business. There are also people who do not think too high about your service. They are cribbing, complaining or criticizing about your service or your product. Let us say a much-hyped movie is on the verge of release. A lot of money, time and efforts have been spent in creating the magnum opus, and an equal amount of money has been spent on publicity. Can you imagine how much it can hurt both the distributors and creative team when the pre-release hype is countered by negative posts and scathing amount of criticism. A lot of people who read negative posts and information are bound to stay away from the movie affecting its business. Not just a movie, but every conceivable product or service has its online reputati...
More About: Media , Tools , Management , Customer , Online

Online reputation management?Damage control in practice
2007-08-22 13:09:00
Picture this. You have consciously built a brand image for yourself and everyone around is happy because you are on top of the world. But then as you become successful, you attract detractors too. One or more such animals with an axe to grind against you start spreading stories about you and most of them are not pleasant. Some of the posts appear on the first two pages of a popular search engine. You find yourself as the object of ridicule and contempt. You have been branded as an alcoholic rather than a workaholic. People read negative, exaggerated information and then spread stories adding their own dash of spice in their discussions about you, with their colleagues. You have to seriously safeguard your reputation before some more negative posts appear on the front page of Google. A reputation-maligning post like this on the front page of Google or such other search-engine is as bad as infamous front page news. When you see a scandalizing post like this affecting you, your p...
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Blogging career in Online Reputation Management
2007-08-20 12:34:00
We all know that blogs are web-tools that can shape and influence public opinion. Every company online is wary about some negative post that can crop up in the first pages of a search engine like Google, and affect the business. In a manner, which is akin to an eye for an eye, companies use their corporate blogs to come clean and clarify speculations written about them. For a company that wants to have a positive image and favorable information written within the top 2 results page of a search engine, blogging becomes very important. The benefits are in the form of free advertising and clear information provided in the form of enriched and enhanced content. Secondly, blogs form a medium to forge a wonderful relationship with its customers. Thus all said and done, a professional blogger assumes an important and some times crucial position in the spectrum of online reputation management. For a person who likes to blog instinctively, this piece of information comes as a veritable opp...
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Online Reputation Management-More than just a PR
2007-08-20 12:21:00
We know that public reviews and opinions on blogs can be quite influential and overwhelming upon a company. However it can also have an impact on a person?s life. Success can be harmful at times. A celebrity, an influential person or even a layman is susceptible to bad publicity online. However, it is even more ruthless and embarrassing for someone who is in the public limelight to be shown in the poor light. People generally check the first page of results in a search engine. If something bad or embarrassing about a particular celebrity is mentioned in the first page, people actually start forming opinions and passing judgements. Tongues begin to wag and the celebrity?s maligned reputation begins to cloud around him like a ball of smoke. The media has a field day sensationalizing the whole issue leaving a lot for the public figure to clarify. Blogs and forum sites can tarnish the image of a person in a matter of minutes. If these views find their way on the first page of a...
More About: Management , Online , Manage , Reputation

Online Reputation Management(ORM)-Setting things right proactively
2007-08-20 12:10:00
Anyone who runs a business or a professional agency will swear on his or her last buck that a negative publicity can be quite eroding. If the first page of a search engine like Google has some not so good things about your company or the brand, it means that there is something you have to do before you clientele and customers head for the exit door. God has blessed consumers with the power of the Internet. Decision making has become easy for them because they can share their opinions, views and interests with a lot of like-minded people through reviews sites, forum sites and blogs. What do you do, if your company is the object of scathing attack and relentless criticism? A place in the front page of a search engine is important, but it is equally important that something good or positively interesting is written about at the same time. If there is some negative information written about your company found in the first page of results in a search engine, you have to really do s...
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Online Reputation Management- Three words, three-fold success
2007-08-20 12:09:00
The world of online marketing is growing exponentially. No one can combat the reach of the Internet when it comes to spreading information. Information can be easily transferred in the form of text, images, competitions, video clips etc. The cost of sharing information is very low or negligible and quite evidently, it has become an outlet of people to express their emotions, feelings, views and opinions.Mom, dad, son, daughter, the gardener and the pet of the family-everyone turns to the Internet to check the review of the latest product, the latest gizmo, the funky outfit or the new movie which has hit the movie-houses. People form a verdict about a certain thing or service based on the reviews they read or the comments made by other people in blog posts. No wonder, my friend who wanted to buy a Hyundai car ended up buying a Wagon R, after checking the reviews online.A person or a company?s reputation is available for everyone online to see. Thus, it is important for personalities,...
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When Search Engine Optimization meets smart PR skills
2007-08-14 14:12:00
It is an obvious truth that 90 percent of consumers make use of search engines like Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN etc to find what they are looking for. This means that when they enter the name of a particular product, service or brand, you hope that your company website or a positive review about your company ranks at least on the top search results page. In more ways than one, the search engine page is a barometer of the success of your enterprise. It is not just about a company but about an individual too. Everyone likes good things to be written about them, don?t they? The flip side to this whole thing is that is not possible to have a control on what people write in various blogs and article directories. Apart from the consumers, what appears about the company on the search engine listing can affect your potential clients, employees and even prospective candidates who are on the look-out for a job. In order to thwart or stop the negative information, you need to exercise Online ...
More About: Search Engine Optimization , Search , Search Engine , Smart , Optimization

The mechanics of Online Reputation Management
2007-08-14 12:43:00
We all know that gossiping is a universal hobby (hobby is called a pastime isn?t it?). Gossiping has been there in this world since the time man existed. It is just post 2004, the gossiping that was restricted to just the office corridors or college campuses, has extended multi-dimensionally in the form of blogs. Now what you gossip about, can influence millions of people especially when they appear on search engine results page. Review sites, forums, blogs, RSS feeds are the media available to consumers to air their thoughts in full color. Imagine the damage that can be done to a company as a result! Online Reputation Manage ment works on the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat) basis. The company has to analyze its strengths and weakness. It has to find out the areas which can cause threat to the business. A blog post or a forum post if it lands on the top ten pages of a search engine (in many cases it does!) can be immensely detrimental to the image of a...
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Blogs and Online Reputation Management-The heady Mix!
2007-08-14 11:24:00
Did you know that every second 14 blogs are added online? Blogs and forum based websites are becoming fast popular. Blogs cater to every taste and all genre conceivable. The reason why blogs are more popular than websites themselves are because of the fact that they are quite dynamic and can be operated by an average computer user. Of course, it is an unbeatable communication tool online, influencing opinions and fostering interactions. There is a strong connection underlying the concept of online reputation management and blogs. Online reputation management is a developing field that encompasses public relations and search engine optimization. In forum sites as well as blogs, people freely air their views and express their feelings about a certain brand or product. Consumers can be either patronizing or ruthless. Why just the consumers? Even the employees who had a bad experience with the company can bad mouth the products and the company, affecting the brand image of the produc...
More About: Management , Manage , Reputation

Online Reputation Management -It's all about spreading the good news!
2007-08-14 09:48:00
We all know that bad news travels faster than good news. A bad or negative consumer experience can affect a business ten times more than a positive experience. It can impact the decision of the buyer and make him shift towards a competing brand. Let me illustrate a real life example that happened with me. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to buy a new mobile phone for myself. I had a brand and a model number in my mind. However just before purchasing that particular cell-phone, I decided to do some online research. After all, as human beings, we are driven by user experiences. Well, what I saw changed my decision. The top ten online search results which popped up as I keyed in the query left me in a bit of daze. Pieces of text lying below the name of my favorite product in the search results page, had some negative information that put me off. I did not even click on the link to venture further. I then keyed in the name of a competing brand. Things were much brighter here. There we...
More About: News , Management , Good News , Online , Good