Online reputation management (ORM) is one of the big things in the digital space at present and will only get more important – in my humble opinion!
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, whilst all the Web 2.0 stuff is great for consumer comments, those comments can be both good and bad. When you look at Tripadvisor, it is highly unlikely that all the comments are 100% positive … if there is a negative comment though, how have the hotel dealt with it – did they just ignore it, or comment back and explain the issues?
How did you react in that scenario – personally, if the hotel ignores the bad comment I would consider that a bad comment on the hotel itself – if it can’t be bothered to reply then how will they be at looking after me?!!
These days of course, there are multiple routes available for people to praise your service, or slag you off too. Either way you should be checking what people are saying about you.
This all came to the fore yesterday when a client of mine showed me his own experience. I think it would be safe to say that when this chap became a client he was less than convinced by my evangelism on the benefits of social media! How he has changed! Not only is he now blogging and tweeting away like a good un, he is now going to add Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube to the mix too … and part of the sources for his articles etc will come from what he reads via the alerts he has set up in Google Reader (personally I use Feedly as I think it is more user friendly).
One of his alerts is his company name of course, so when a particular client started something of a rant in a forum, he was alerted to the comments and was able to go back and respond. He may not be able to stop her saying things, but at least he can balance the view.
I would therefore suggest you go do three things right now if you have not done so already.
- Set up Google Reader
- Set up Google Alerts
- Set up Feedly
Of course you may want to add your competitors to your alert list so you can see what they are up to aswell!!
If you have had any experiences yourself, please let me know, or if you use any other tools I’d like to hear about them too please.
Great post Dave. Its all about “word of mouse”! If someone likes your service or product, and has had a positive experience, nowadays it’s so easy to spread the word across the web pretty much instantaneously. Of course it applies to the bad comments as well..so vital to monitor your brand online all the time.