The Growing Reputation Management Crisis

Online Reputation Management or ORM is not a new concept or service. Over the past decade the amount of reputation service companies has drastically increased. Many companies have even created their own internal departments directly tasked with ongoing reputation management issues and client servicing. Previously unworked niches or industries are now becoming more and more aware of the need but also the challenges reputation management companies create for some clients.

First let’s start at the beginning SEO; Search Engine Optimization. When the Internet emerged it was clear that this was not a fad but the way of the future. But most business owners and marketing professionals did not know how to position themselves online. From building a website to sending email it was a learning process for everyone. A new area to compete for customers emerged and everyone wanted to be on top of the results. SEO companies sprouted up as being the solution to help companies rank online and be seen before their competitors. There always exists the ability to advertise through Google, but organic search results (non-paid ads) are of course highly desired.

SEO has evolved. Google has evolved. The days of building links and profiles by the thousands and pointing them to a site and writing irrelevant content have disappeared. Today, Google wants the user to have a positive experience and in order to have that type of experience the recipe calls for original content, real links and profiles providing a real experience for the user; essentially no spam or bogus content. Because of these changes having been made to SEO, Reputation Management has also evolved. In the past only a small handful of companies provided ORM. Through content creation and management, and profile creation companies were able to improve the way a client looked online by promoting their message. Today paid ads for the keyword “reputation management” range in the $40-$55 a click and the industry is full of competition. Many competitors offer flashy “guarantees” or “only pay for results” campaigns; in fact, it has become a very competitive market.

Competition is not a bad thing. But there are several things occurring that are causing a negative impact on the entire industry of reputation management. Here are a few of the main points that are negatively affecting the industry.

1. Profile creation and control. If you read the terms and conditions for most ORM companies you can see that fine print will state that any profile they build they own and control it and its content. So even though a company may hire them for say 6-8 months beyond that they retain control of the profiles. A profile could be the companies main Facebook page if it was a new brand, their .com website or dozens of other important social and media profiles. This is a term called brand jacking; and it is one faced by many companies even today! If there is an out of date Facebook page that has not been posted on for over 6 months and the URL is not optimize appearing on page 1 of Google’s results, this can hurt brands credibility.

Companies can face an uphill battle. These companies now must compete with Facebook to outrank a new page, a difficult task. Essentially these companies are “locked out” of the ammunition closet. More importantly how does the brand look now? What can you do to avoid this? Make sure your company owns all profiles created. Signing an agreement regarding website hosting and server access is important and owning your URL’s provides security. Making sure only owners are admins and employees are only editor status on all profiles is also very important, and that the recovery email is an owner/founders email.

2. False claims and promises – Many companies claim a guarantee or quick fix approach, and sadly these are not valid. There is no secret formula for hard work, and there is no immediate repair to damaged online credibility. In 2019, fixing online issues involves changing the way companies respond, engage, and deal with online issues.

Many companies claim they will guarantee to remove negative reviews, while in some cases review removal is possible, it is not easy, and certainly not guaranteed without having full company control. Removing reviews requires real client intervention and results that are only attainable by working with the resort/travel clubs member services team to provide real time solutions.

Reputation management companies have hurt the industry by holding companies and brands hostage. Basically extorting money from companies for the safe return of their brand online. DO NOT let this happen, hiring a reputable company to help monitor your brands online sentiment, deal with and manage reviews effectively, and help promote your companies vision and news, is not something companies should ever go without. It really is a must in today’s world. The cost of in-house staff can be far greater than the cost to outsource to professionals. Also, in many cases, working with a third party, helps them act as a mediator and changes the angle in which they can approach client issues. Clients are often much more receptive to a different approach, rather than the same old collector, or member services agent telling them what they feel to be the same old story.

Choose a company who is BBB accredited, look for keywords such as “company name REVIEWS” if they have bad reviews and are not taking care of their own image, how can they help you?