As with any industry that suddenly receives a lot of hype over a short space of time, those people involved in online reputation management are currently weathering the storm of unrealistic expectations from clients who for some reason think we have transformed into miracle makers. I know my fellow SEO specialists experienced this also when their skills first became sought after. Every prospect wanted their SEO company to get them number one spot in all the search engines overnight for their favoured keyphrase of ‘cheap car insurance’….
Of course, this does all come down to managing client expectations, which is an absolute fundamental in any business where you are dealing with customers. However, it is even more important in new business areas where those expectations haven’t traditionally been set already. Sadly, most people build their expectations on the hype, but there are a few home truths about online reputation management which can’t be ignored.
If you’re a bad egg, no amount of spit and polish is going to help.
Your online reputation management consultancy is not up there with some kind of theistic deity. If you look like Quasimodo, then no amount of airbrushing and subtle lighting is going to make you suddenly look like Helena Christianson. Similarly, if you are running a dodgy business, or have swindled money out of your customers and now don’t like the fact that they are online criticising you – the reality is that there isn’t a huge amount that anyone can do…except you.
If the barrage of complaints and bad press is all true, then with a bit of humility, a bit of a reality check, a lot of a change and a whole heap of determination to stay changed, your ORM consultant will be champing at the bit to help.
You have to have some involvement
Wouldn’t it be nice if the whole world just went ahead and did exactly what you wanted it to do without you having to get involved? Unfortunately, life isn’t like that. You can’t expect your staff to do their work how you want them to do it unless you talk to them. You need to tell an architect the kind of house you want or a dress maker the kind of dress you want. Even using Tesco Online requires you to choose your groceries, even if someone else takes them off the shelf and delivers them to you.
Calling up an ORM consultant saying ‘I’ve got a problem’ and then expecting them to go and fix it isn’t really realistic. For it to be done well and to your benefit, you need to be involved in the process throughout. Unlike your Tesco shelf picker, you’re going to have to form a relationship with your ORM consultant, and out of that relationship will come the results that you want.
It isn’t possible to just ‘take things off the web’
As Jessica Brown wrote, you can’t make things just go away. As I have discussed before, things can’t just be taken off the web. Google isn’t a big wiki which can’t be edited by anyone who has a mind to (goodness, could you imagine…?) In many cases, especially if the undesirable material is on one of the hard hitters like Wikipedia, you might just have to live with it for the time being and be content with balancing the opinion with your side of the story. This is why there are no ‘one size fits all’ solutions in ORM.
You don’t have ultimate control over everyone else’s opinion
Stalin tried it and it didn’t really work for him that well. Fortunately many of us do live in the free world where we are entitled to have an opinion and just as entitled to tell people about it. You don’t have the direct ability to force someone’s opinion one way or the other – the best you can do is put out the facts as you see them, get involved in the discussion and do your best to influence that opinion the other way. But, of course, you may not succeed. You can’t win over everyone. And if you really think about it, that is quite a good thing. What a boring world we would live in otherwise.
This is still business.
For many people, the negative results have arisen due to their business. It has either come from customers, employees, associates, competitors or the media. Ultimately, no matter what an ORM consultant achieves, you are still in business and the basic games played by everyone else in business will still be there. Your competition are still going to try and grab market share. Your customers are still going to expect things of you and will complain if they don’t get them. The media will still be hungry for an interesting story. Your role is to manage your reputation online while still running a successful business. It requires constant vigilance, good business practice and a good understanding of the social internet.
Thank you to Scoobymoo for the image
If you like this post, why not subscribe to our RSS Feed. Or you can visit our main website at Tiger Two or follow me on Twitter or Friendfeed
If you like this post, why not subscribe to our RSS Feed. Or you can visit our main website at Tiger Two or follow me on Twitter or Friendfeed
