Online Reputation-The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Being a victim of identity theft two months ago and now most recently, an email hacker—I have felt that my online reputation and safety has been compromised. Which got me thinking, how does one control their online reputation? I was furious after seeing that my email account has been jeopardized with sending spam (inappropriate, of course) to every person I have ever contacted via email. This includes coworkers, friends, and family, not to mention my future in-laws and of course, my past and most current managers. I wanted to crawl into a hole. Now all I can think is, who will ever open an email from me? As Warren Buffett once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minuets to ruin it”.
Yes, I know an email isn’t the end of the world and my reputation isn’t ruined. However, it really made me think, how do companies control their online reputation? More and more companies are jumping on the bandwagon of social media sites, forums and blogs, but every company needs to think about who will be reading, researching and posting information about them. Especially since 84% of consumers said they were more likely to check online for reviews prior to making a purchase (Retail Bulletin, October 2009). It’s important to know what people are saying, but it’s even more important to know how to handle it. Below I will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of online reputations.
The Good
Good reviews, whether it’s a product review, forum posts or a blog post, it can be a great confidence boost, but it can also be great for sales, branding, feedback and free advertising! When making purchase decisions, North American Internet users trust recommendations from people they know and opinions posted by unknown consumers online more than advertisements on television, on the radio, in magazines and newspapers, or in other traditional media. (Nielsen Online, April 2009)
The Bad
Bad reviews happen, deal with it. As the saying goes, “too much a good thing can be bad thing”. This is true in online reputations. A mix of good and bad reviews can help supply trusted content to online users. Don’t panic when you get your first negative review— think it through first, then respond by addressing the situation and be tactful about it. This shows great customer service and that you pay attention to what customers are saying.
The Ugly
Anyone and everyone can read and write reviews. Some people abuse this right. Not every bad review needs a response. If you feel that there has been falsely written article or reviews, contact the source or moderator to try to rectify the situation. There might be a misunderstanding on either end. You can ask them to retract the statement and/or provide further information to correct the post.
The best advice I can give companies is to monitor their reputation at all times, you never know who is looking—it could be a current or prospective customers, future employee or investors, all are just a small sample of those that will look for you online when determining the reputation of your company.
For more tips on saving your online reputation, check out this post by Andy Beal, “Ten Tactics That Could Save Your Online Reputation”. http://mashable.com/2008/03/11/online-reputation/
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Very nice post. I could only imagine what you went through. I really like that quote though that “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and just 5 minutes to destroy one”. Although you hope that people are honest, its sometimes not the case. But, there are good sites and companies who do take their business very seriously. I just shipped a yacht to Sydney using Yacht Exports, a company I found online, and was very pleased. So hang in there!
Comment by tom fitz — April 23, 2010 @ 2:12 pm
I agree. You may have never thought much about online reputation management. You may have been taught that the best reaction is no reaction, and that if you ignore a pest it usually goes away. While that may be true, taking no action to a cyber-assault on your good name is definitely a bad idea.
Comment by Trade Plumbing Supplies — April 24, 2010 @ 9:27 am