The internet is an incredible source of information. Whether you want to know the latest trends in fashion, the marital status of a person or the best price on that new gadget you have your eyes on, all you got to do is search Google. There is a downside to all this accessibility though. People can easily find out all sorts of details about others, which can be detrimental if there are negative statements written about them.
If you do happen to be in such a situation as an individual or a business owner, then you must employ a reputation management strategy to remedy it, but before doing anything else, you need to know the different situations when reputation management can be of use to you.
Reputation management for an individual
- Criminal Record
In the real world, a person with a criminal record will certainly face difficulty finding a job, being accepted in the community and making a fresh start in life. The bad news is that the virtual world can contribute to making things worse. It takes just a matter of seconds before an employer can see loads of information about an employee or applicant, including a criminal record.
- Negative statements, videos, blogs, and social media posts
We cannot please everybody. This is a fact. There will always be people who despise others to the point of leaving negative statements or social media posts about them, without even thinking of the consequences. Statements of opinion are generally protected forms of speech, as are statements of fact. The moment something like this is posted online, search engines like Google and Yahoo! will crawl the links, and viola, that person’s name is now associated with negative statements.
Reputation management for a business or brand
- Negative feedback, comments, and reviews (from customers)
No matter how perfect your product or service may be, dissatisfied customers often resort to airing their experience online. Once their circle of friends and followers know about it, the situation can easily snowball. As a business, you cannot please each and every customer that is out there. One negative feedback or review can do serious damage to a small business. Very often even a big company will experience a downturn in revenue once a negative review or comment goes viral.
- Bad publicity (done by competitors)
In show business, bad publicity is still considered publicity. However, when it comes to business this is not always the case, despite what Donald Trump may say. The sad thing is that not all negative comments or reviews posted online are made by actual customers. Some of these reviews are posted by competitors themselves in order to gain market share. Nevertheless, some negative publicity may be true, and is the outgrowth of a disgruntled individual whom you or your company harmed in some way. This is why there are public relations professionals whose duty it is to rehabilitate their client’s image. It is terribly difficult to mend your company’s image if the search results are filled with unflattering reports, however.
A bad reputation online will take a toll on the future of a person and/or business. Now, you’re probably asking what you should do in order to get rid of a bad reputation. The answer to the question is to employ a reputation management consultant to suppress bad articles about you and your business.
It can very often take a long time (even as long as a year) to clean up one’s bad reputation online. However it is all worth it because it means that you can finally start a brand new life (e.g. people with criminal records) or increase your business revenue by regaining the trust of clients and customers online. For this reason, we are a reputation management agency that can render quality reputation management services in an efficient manner. To learn more about how our online reputation management can help you, contact us for a quote.