Hit by malicious rumours, cos rope in ‘online reputation management’ firms

Hit hard by malicious rumours and negative comments on Internet about them, thousands of companies have roped in ‘Online Reputation Management’ firms to deal with this menace and protect their businesses, a survey has found.
According to the findings of the study conducted by Indo-UK online reputation management company aReputation.co.uk, more than 6,000 SMEs and 240 large corporations in India have engaged such ‘Online Reputation Management’ service providers.
As many as 300 online management firms are currently present in India with most of them catering to small firms. The market size of online reputation management firms in the country is estimated to be close to Rs 200 crore.
The firms are spending Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore to invest in their online image building, aReputation.co.uk said.
With increasing Internet penetration and growing influence of social media, the number of instances of negative comments and malicious rumours being spread on the web has also grown rapidly over the last few years.
As per the data from aReputation.co.uk, 49 per cent consumers are likely to research a business through popular social media networks such as Facebook, Google Plus and LinkedIn.
As a result, majority of the companies despite having good intentions are suffering from online criticism, it said.
“Companies and executives can spend years building a reputable and strong brand but it can be beyond disconcerting to wake up one day and see slanderous remarks reflecting online, particularly when the items move beyond constructive criticism to include outrageous accusations and defamatory remarks,” aReputation.co.uk spokesperson David Miller said.
Employing cutting-edge tools, online management firms help companies tackle negative publicity on the web.
“We have clients here in India who have faced all kinds of crisis without any response plan in place. By the time they come to us, quite a bit of damage is already done,” Miller said.
Miller added that online criticism can lead to companies lose customers and increased employee attrition levels.
Commonly, companies face online criticism in the form of malicious rumours, negative comments, disreputable remarks and scandalous conversations.
However, companies are taking major steps to improve their reputation online, Miller said.
These steps include reaching their customers directly through complaint forms on websites, email surveys or follow-up surveys, leaving reviews online, making sure they have a response strategy ready for negative ones and trying to resolve a situation before it turns into a crisis.

Source
http://indianexpress.com/article/business/companies/hit-by-malicious-rumours-cos-rope-in-online-reputation-management-firms/

aReputation-Fixing search results through Online Reputation Management

A recent study conducted by a team of researchers surveyed over 300 executives, mostly C-suite and board directors, and discovered that reputation is considered the highest impact risk area to business strategy.

This finding cuts across most industry sectors and ranks above threats to their business model and the impact of economic trends and competition.


Businesses and brands are increasingly seeking the services of companies that specialise in tidying up search engine results. The effect of a terrible review, a critical blog, an unflattering link or rant from a disgruntled ex-employee sitting in one of the top 10 Google spots can be devastating for a business as click-through rates plummet. Obviously, some companies have the online reputation they deserve, but an unjustified, malicious or obsolete complaint may linger for years, blighting every new query.

In most industry sectors, reputation has risen from outside the top five strategic risk concerns to the top of the list. In the energy and resources sector, for example, reputation ranked outside top-10 on the list of strategic risks in 2010, though today, it irritably sits on the top spot.

Large corporations and high-networth individuals are constantly targets of disenfranchised employees and customers. Companies and industries with reputation problems are prone to incur the wrath of legislators, regulators, shareholders and the public. However, what is said is not always a true reflection of a company. Perceptions are not always based on fact, but on opinion, conjecture and rumours.

“The breadth and depth of today’s reputational challenge is a consequence not just of the speed, severity, and unexpectedness of recent economic events but also of underlying shifts in the reputation environment. Those changes include the growing importance of Web-based participatory media, the increasing significance of NGOs and the declining trust in advertising,” said David Miller, spokesperson for aReputation.co.uk, an online reputation management company based in UK but operating extensively in the Indian sub-continent.

According to Miller, “the challenge with any reputation management crisis is effectively targeting those that need to be informed while not generating undue attention from those that don’t. The best way to accomplish this is to create targeted press releases within the News Room that can be linked to from a variety of sources. ”

Speaking to Forbes, Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of Reputation.com, put it succinctly when he said some time back, “you can relinquish your influence over that reputation and your cultivation of it and just let fate take over, but it’s actively costing you something. Even if your online reputation is neutral, there’s an opportunity cost because you may be missing out on visibility or connections that could help you.”

USA-based Reputation.com and UK-based aReputation.co.uk are two of the frontline global online reputation management companies that cater to a wide menu of clients. Their relatively niche, yet substantial, presence in India is likely to inspire Indian ORM companies who have so far been unable to tap the potential of the reputational market. While Reputation.com has a strong presence amongst small and medium companies across all sectors, aReputation.co.uk is known to cater to large corporations and high-networth individuals.

Unfortunately, companies struggle to categorize, let alone quantify, reputational risk. Risk managers are divided on whether reputational risk is an issue in its own right or simply a consequence of other risks. Whatever position companies take on this, almost all executives agree that reputation is a hugely valuable asset.

Whether you are handling your reputational needs or outsourcing it, generating positive content is critical. In a world where more and more people are likely to judge you based on what appears online, there’s no excuse for feigning ignorance or imagining it doesn’t matter.It's much better to take a proactive approach to owning the real estate on Page 1, as opposed to clawing your way in, after bad news is attached to your brand.

Corporates relying on ‘aReputation’ for positive media outreach

Business in the 21st century is undergoing a sea change, with commercial entities and their leaderships increasingly moving away from dicey and non-measurable marketing and public relation strategies to corporate reputation management.
There is a growing awareness in industry and management circles that in the warp-speed world of today, one wrong move can have you nailed, especially through social networking mediums such as Twitter and Facebook.
Proactive brand reputation management as opposed to enlisting public relation firms to deal with criticism and crises is the mantra for retaining a sound reputation and in turn possessing the potential to stimulate stock prices.
Given the existing market climate, a company’s success or failure is largely dependent on how it is recognized. Large enterprises are accountable to shareholders and investors. There is pressure to log in profit and more often than not, there is a wrong move. Slip-ups like reckless expansion and wobbly strategies can damage reputations and that is likely to lead to a deficit in public trust.
Large corporations are inclined more towards brand reputation management rather than launching new products and companies have started using their online reputations as assets to expand the flow of investments, gain customers and fuel market share.
Online reputation repair and risk management firm aReputation’s (www.areputation.co.uk) spokesperson David Miller pointed out, “India’s top 1000 corporate houses require end-to-end online reputation management, both as a reinstation to print and television users who also use internet, as well as a mechanism to reach out to the 100 million-plus internet users who spend majority of their waking time on the internet, laptops and smartphones.
“The public is now connected to the outside world in more ways than just TV. News spreads quickly online. Our analysis shows that a streamlined approach to managing a firm’s online reputation has a meaningful impact on customers and boosts employees’ morale. We don’t use smokescreens, rather, we strive to fix the issue.”
No image problem is necessarily permanent. With the help of a professional company, almost any person or enterprise can redeem himself or itself. Identifying the right reputation manager is not easy. The competition with regard to online reputation is stiff and only those who understand the larger picture tend to leave the rest behind.
Miller said, “We manage 120 of India’s 1000 largest businesses’ brand on various social media platforms — Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc. aReputation manages and helps launch a business’ social media presence by developing brand strategy, creating relevant profiles and posting to and monitoring those profiles. Our USP remains online reputation repair and crisis management.”
Interestingly, aReputation not only has a handle on current social media platforms, but also monitors industry trends to determine what the new social media tools are, constantly updating tools and avenues. Managing negative content and helping to keep personal information private is also a service that is used on a large-scale by high-networth companies.
According to Forbes, the purpose of an online campaign is not just to be a soapbox for your brand; it’s about selling and promoting your brand to a wide variety of audience including investors, employee, customers, vendors and the general mass.

Reference: http://reputationbuilders.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/corporates-relying-on-areputation-for-positive-media-outreach