In sports, offense and defense are both necessary to achieve victory. The same can be said in online reputation management (ORM).
To date, many professionals and companies rally to rule the Internet with positive content and affirmative associations. However, no entities are immune to the harsh realities of the online universe, and some are struggling with off-putting listings and trappings from questionable sources. The digital world acts as a lens, magnifying the blemishes committed intentionally or unintentionally by organizations and individuals, even those without an online brand. The Internet is highly capable of broadcasting a single mistake or any blistering content with a bullhorn, putting one’s reputation and bottom-line at risk.
Of course, the best method to combat damaging tactics and protect one’s reputation is by doing the right thing on all affairs and owning up to mistakes. But sometimes this isn’t enough. There may come a time when individuals and businesses would come across fractious and hard-to-please people who would make it a mission to tell online audiences about the bad experience they’ve encountered. For those who want to build and maintain their brand, the concern shouldn’t be about “if” these instances can happen, it’s “when” these events will occur. This puts focus on the adage, “the best defense is a good offense.” The unpredictability of the digital world is beyond reach and anything can happen out of the blue, even without provocation.
Those who are caught between a rock and a hard place are better off defending their reputation with best-in-class ORM services with a strong grasp of how to optimize high-ranking assets, suppress negative listings, and sustain positive results. It’s important to maximize positive content and crowd out negative material fast using legitimate methods to effectively shape search engine results and win back disgruntled consumers.
One of the major benefits of ORM is that it helps to determine the key influencers, such as what people are searching for and how they perceive a brand. Understanding the factors that drive consumers away from or toward the brand is important so that marketers can build an effective blueprint which they can facilitate before, during, and after a crisis. While consistent monitoring, active vigilance, and regular posting of positive content are the golden rules of online reputation defense, it surely helps to augment ORM services with business strategies that concentrate on how best to serve the consumers and to build brand loyalty among them.