Online Brand Reputation Management - 101 (Part 2)
This is the second part of this blog. Part 1 was posted priorly.
The world is literally at our fingertips.
So how can we protect our reputations? It starts with Online Brand Reputation Management. Google searches are very important.
Every internet search yields a search engine results page (SERP). Every second there are 63,000 Google searches, and every day there are 5.5 billion.
People perform these searches for countless reasons. They may be googling themselves or looking for their next investment manager. They might even be googling you. After all, it’s a fair bet that anyone to whom we hand our business card will search online for more information. Positive online reviews from real clients will foster trust with prospects and referrals. Conversely, negative hits to our online reputation will quickly damage our offline one. Hence, Online Brand reputation management is necessary.
Search engines employ complicated algorithms. If a negative post cites relevant links and information, it will leapfrog more laudatory results. A negative link is the last thing users should see when they search for your business.
Unfortunately, most people only go through information on the first page of a search. In fact, 95% just look at that first page of Google search results, and 67% of all clicks are confined to the top five listings. So if positive information is further down, it is effectively buried.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffett
In the age of digital Darwinism, we are now guilty until proven innocent. And even when we are innocent, we may still be guilty online.
Consider this scenario: A portfolio manager at a wealth management firm is wrongly accused of negligence by a disgruntled client. The baseless charges are later dismissed, but when the firm is googled, the accusations appear high up on the first page of the search results. If proper Online Brand Reputation Management is not done at this time, it can lead to bad news for your company.
Ignoring this digital footprint could have catastrophic consequences for the company. Left unchecked, the negative commentary will not only directly affect growth, but will also lead to tangible losses. A damaged online reputation can destroy an established firm and its brand.
So the best reputation offense is a strong defense and Online Brand reputation management . A proactive presence builds digital resilience, protects a firm’s reputation, and makes it easier to repair reputational damage.
Your reputation and that of your firm are your most valuable assets. Make sure you’re safeguarding them with Online Brand Reputation management.
Originally published here.
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