Your reputation means everything. A positive one can drive your business, bringing new customers and positive press. Get a bad rap though, even an unwarranted one, and you may soon find yourself in full crisis management mode, struggling to take back control.
The average user who searches your company name will only view the top ten results, absorbing the top few as snippets, and usually clicking on only one of the top three. This means that in order to perform proper reputation management, you absolutely must have a serious web presence. Outspoken Media’s “Online Reputation Guide” is a primer on creating, managing, and maintaining your rep online.
The results of a negative online reputation may be as subtle as a user clicking on a competitor’s search result instead of yours or as damaging as an industry-wide boycott of your products and/or services. Besides the obvious financial implications of having a company’s credibility called into question, there are potential legal ramifications that could dominate your time and cripple your financial sustainability, as well. This will often cement trusted news and legal results in the top search rankings so that even if a case is dismissed or resolved, you’ll be living with the consequences for years to come. Things like, determining who is responsible for the negative reputation, if you’ll have to reposition or remove certain employees or dealing with potential losses in workforce, add further monetary, morale and growth consequences.
The Internet is unforgiving, and has a looooong memory. If you don’t take over those top spots with what you want people to see regarding your company, others will fill the void – and they aren’t always friendly.
JB
Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com