Reputation Management
Businesses who think social media is a passing fad and doesn’t represent your customer base will probably be forced into early retirement. New research from Forrester reveals how wide and pervasive the adoption of social media is among all age groups.
As one would expect, the highest usage of social media belongs to those under 35 years old with 90% participation, but over two-thirds of those 55 and older are consuming social media as well. Overall, more than 80% of all Americans now create, join or participate in some form of social media.
The adoption of social technologies is a game changer for businesses. A few years ago companies could manage their reputations and were for the most part the sole creator of web content about their brand. Now with sites like Yelp and other reviewer platforms businesses must develop a marketing strategy that includes constant monitoring or reputation management.
But what do you do if someone posts negative or untrue statements about your company or product? The best defense is a good offense. Creating positive content will not make the negative disappear, but having nine positive reviews and one negative is better than letting the negative stand alone.
Achieving a 90% positive rating can actually lend credibility and appear more authentic to those searching for information about your business or product. Nobody expects perfection, but if nine out of ten people like your product or service you would probably feel pretty good about those numbers.
The Internet and the ability to create content and post anything on the web will present unique public relations and marketing challenges for all types of businesses. There are many factors to consider and you need to ensure your marketing team or consultant is creating a strategy that is specialized and targeted to your industry. A one size fits all reputation management strategy is not worth the investment.
Much of the social web is uncharted territory, but if the research tells us anything it is that businesses need to engage and participate in social media. As we await more case studies and follow brand or reputation management challenges we will learn effective multi-channel strategies for combating the onslaught on consumer driven content.
Until then, confront the fear of the unknown and start tracking yourself, your brand and your business online because what you don’t know can sometimes hurt you.
