Abstract
Corporate reputation refers to perceptions of an organization held by all stakeholders acquired over time. This indicates that corporate reputation must be earned. It represents the image of an establishment that the customers have. While a section of scholars believes that reputation cannot be directed and controlled, most believe that it is an integral part of a business and must be managed.
Therefore, reputation management refers to an attempt by organizations to influence how their clients perceive them. Social media transformed the way organizations communicate and transact their businesses. Social media and other new media represent both a threat and an opportunity for businesses. Overexposure on the internet can damage a company’s reputation. On the flip side, a business may use social media to increase its market. The media involved include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+. Online reputation management strategies that may be used by companies include pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, maintaining an online presence, and pre-saturating online channels with content.
Introduction
Corporate reputation refers to perceptions of an organization held by all stakeholders acquired over time (Argenti and Druckenmiller 2004, p.369). This indicates that corporate reputation must be earned. It represents the image of an establishment that the customers have. While a section of scholars believes that reputation cannot be directed and controlled, most believe that it is an integral part of a business and must be managed. Therefore, reputation management refers to an attempt by organizations to influence how their clients perceive them. This paper will examine the online corporate reputation and its impact on businesses.
Online reputation management (ORM)
Online reputation refers to a company’s image online. The online environment poses a great risk to businesses and their brands (Argenti 2006). The online image of a company can be the creation of third parties. Both the company and third parties influence online reputation. It is the responsibility of the company to control its online image. Third parties may deliberately damage the reputation of a business. To mitigate this risk, businesses should take charge of their online brands. Online reputation management signifies a concerted effort by corporations to manage their reputation in the cyberspace. Consequently, most corporations now acknowledge that online corporate reputation aids them in achieving business goals. Therefore, in summary, online reputation management is concerned with keeping track of company image online and knowing how to respond appropriately.
Media platforms
There is a number of platforms through which companies can manage their online reputation. They include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, search engines, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, and SlideShare. Online review platforms are other important media. Twitter has been gaining popularity lately. It increasingly becomes the public relations tool of choice (Evans, Twomey & Talan 2011). It is preferred due to its ability to reach many people. In addition, it was originally designed as a blogging site. YouTube a video-sharing tool. Companies can utilize this to market their products. A business can also publicize upcoming events through this channel.
Facebook is the largest social media platform based on user numbers. This represents a great opportunity for marketing. It is up to the corporations to choose which platforms to maintain an account. However, in order to retain control over their image, organizations need to appear in more than one platform. It is important to note that an organization need not appear on all platforms. All a company needs to do is to select carefully the media platform that will give it more exposure. In this regard, social media and search engines appear to be the most beneficial (Jones, Temperley & Lima 2009).
As new media emerge, companies should identify those that meet their requirements. Two-way communication characterizes social media. This provides businesses a unique opportunity to interact directly with the stakeholders. Direct interaction with stakeholders is an essential part of relationship building. Communication with customers should portray the companies respect and concern.
Components of corporate reputation
Good corporate reputation is not accidental. It requires the effort of the entire firm to build it. Building a good reputation will necessarily take time and resources (Alsop, 2004). Considering that reputation is a dynamic component of a business, it should be nurtured continuously. When building corporate reputation, it pays to remember the following components:
Developing superior products or services
the best way improves the corporate image to produce superior products or services. Clients seek high products and services. A business that is associated with high quality will get more clients. How an organization interacts with its clients also influences how the client perceives it.
- Develop trust and confidence- this refers to the quality of the organization to win both employee and customer trust. Every meaningful relationship is founded on mutual trust. It is important for companies to work towards earning the trust of their clients. Proper communication is a way of earning trust. It is also important for an organization to deliver what they promise to deliver. Failure to meet customer expectations erodes trust.
- Availability- the business should be available. This is to allow interaction with customers. An organization may use information obtained this way to improve product quality. A business should not pass counterproductive messages by not being available online. This also includes actively participating in online discussions.
- Admit mistakes- perhaps admitting its mistakes is a company’s single most important way to build trust.
- Corporate social responsibility- participating in activities that are beneficial to the community improves reputation. This is because the business gets a considerable mention in social media. This puts the business ahead of its competitors. Generally, people respond positively to organizations that take part in or sponsor community activities.
Online reputation management strategies
Due to the increasing popularity of new media platforms like social media, many organizations now consider online corporate reputation management an integral part of the corporation. Based on the available definitions of corporate reputation, it is clear that it is a concept that must be nurtured (Alwi & da Silva 2007).
Reputation changes over time. A corporation that has a good reputation today may not enjoy the same standing in the future. It should be recognized that businesses should put measures in place to improve and maintain their reputation. It is important to note that reputation is a collective responsibility of all members of the organization. In addition, there should be a team charged with this responsibility. The online reputation management team monitors the online mentions of the organization and its brand (Hutton, Goodman, Alexander, and Genest 200). It also develops and disseminates content.
Various strategies have been used to manage reputation with varying outcomes. They include:
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising
This strategy involves the purchase of visibility. An organization can buy space from search engines. The purchased space enables a company and its products to gain prominence in search results. However, this strategy is both expensive and troublesome. Competition for visibility increases the cost of the space offered. On the one hand, it increases the company’s expenditure. On the other hand, it is open to abuse by competitors.
For instance, a competitor may purchase all the top search results in order to reduce the visibility of others. However, it is one of the most controllable strategies. It takes a short time for a buyer to appear in the top search results. It is important to note that while it improves a company’s prominence, it may damage its financial standing. Therefore, this strategy should be employed carefully. The organization’s financial position should be considered when purchasing such visibility.
It is also important to note that the cost of visibility should be compared with its potential benefit. If the online reputation team is satisfied that it will improve the corporation’s financial standing, then it can be adopted. Generally, pay per click advertising favors established players who have more money to spend on advertising.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
This encompasses practices aimed at giving a company prominence in search engine results pages. It is an increasingly difficult task. Search engine optimization is very unpredictable. It is difficult for a company to remain at the top of search results pages owing to code modifications effected by the search engines. This strategy focuses on drawing online traffic to the organization’s website. It also aims at pushing negative reviews and content about the company down the search results ranking. Online reputation managers hope that positive content will gain prominence over the negative ones. There is no single method that can be used to improve search results rankings in search engines. Therefore, search engine optimization requires considerable patience.
Allocating resources to online reputation Management
It has been observed that while it easy to cause a reputation crisis online, it is difficult to restore a damaged one. A site carrying negative content can gain prominence and cause considerable damage to a company. A business should allocate enough resources to establish an online reputation management team. The team will devote their time to tracking information about the business online and establishing appropriate ways to respond to online commentary. Restoration of damaged reputation is very difficult, and it requires considerable time. However, while a company seeks to restore a damaged reputation, it should be aware that, in some instances, it is impossible to regain the reputation completely. It is important to divide resources among all the components of online reputation.
Setting up monitoring systems
A business can set up a system to monitor online mentions of its brand. Monitoring enables a business to respond to damaging or potentially damaging content before it gets to a larger audience. It should be remembered that negative content could spread very fast and get out of control. Setting up monitoring systems like Google alerts and RSS feeds allows a firm to respond timely. Early identification of negative content gives a firm enough time to give a well thought out response. Late responses are generally ineffective. Therefore, monitoring of online content is the only way an organization can identify disparaging content and respond early.
Pre-saturating Content Channels
This is a strategy that involves attempting to saturate all the top slots in search results with positive content. It is not enough to occupy only the topmost slots in a search engine result. Pre-saturation is done in the hope the damaging content is not seen at all by clients and potential clients. However, this is not an easy task. It is complicated by the fact that negative content can sometimes attract the attention of leading media establishments, thus gaining prominence. Another problem with pre-saturation is the sheer number of online platforms. Online platforms are numerous, and it is not possible to pre-saturate all of them with positive or desired content. However, attempting this strategy is worth the effort.
Maintaining Presence
Maintaining online presence ensures that a company interacts with the stakeholders. This may be accomplished either by setting up accounts in the major social media platforms or by hiring online reputation managers. These online profiles should be used to enhance customer satisfaction through improved interaction. Clients value meaningful conversations, especially those that show that the firm cares about them. This may also enable a firm to respond early to potentially damaging content. It has also been observed that the presence of positive reviews may influence how the next reviewer behaves.
Other strategies that are considered undesirable exist. They include paying reviewers or offering them discounts in exchange for favorable reviews, establishing fake blogs with positive reviews, creating content that tricks the system, and taking legal action. However, it should be noted that taking legal action might become counterproductive. Negative content may escape the attention of the majority of social media. Taking legal action may attract unwanted attention. The attention may cause more damage than the original content. Therefore, a business should be cautious when dealing with legal content. Legal action has the potential to escalate a problem. In most instances, other social media users will side with the reviewer. This may portray the business as an insensitive organization whose only interest is profitmaking.
Impact of social media and other media on business
Dean (2004) observes that online reputation has greatly changed since the emergence of social media. This is largely because the internet gives consumers the freedom to express their views. These views can be either beneficial or disparaging. This is worsened by the huge number of people who can receive a certain message in a given time interval. Information spreads fast in social media. In most instances, the damage will already have been done by the time a company responds.
However, companies can use these qualities of social media to promote their reputation and brand. Companies can use social media to create new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Casalo, Flavian, and Guinaliu (2008) report that taking part in online forums, providing the information is structured can augment the relationship between a brand and its customers. This implies that even though the internet is largely chaotic, there is room to exert some control. Businesses can use social media to disseminate brand-building messages. It has been observed that participating in social media discussions shapes how stakeholders view a certain brand.
Good online reputation may lead to improved revenue. On the one hand, potential clients are likely to be influenced by the positive reviews of other customers. On the other hand, negative reviews may discourage potential customers. Consequently, organizations should strive to improve their online reputation.
Some studies indicate participation in online discussion may lead to improved ratings. This is largely due to the fact that interaction builds relationships. Strong relationships between clients and businesses may lead to more revenue for the company. Positive interaction may lead to quality improvement. Moreover, it has been shown that those with negative comments are likely to drop their comments if they find that other customers have left positive reviews. The ratings of a company have a direct relationship the revenue. However, while seeking favorable ratings, a company should guard against overexposing itself in cyberspace. Overexposure represents a danger to the company. There are a number of ways to improve ratings online. They include offering succinct responses, taking part in corporate social responsibility events, offering superior products. Offering products of high quality is the most important.
Role of the CEO in reputation Management
The reputation of an organization and that of its chief executive officer is increasingly becoming intertwined. In such a scenario, the top managers should ensure that their reputation is good. When a top manager attracts negative comments, the damage may spill over to the business. In addition, the senior-most managers are the most visible members of any business organization. Therefore, the actions of top managers should be geared towards building and maintaining a good image for their organization. Therefore, it is safe to say that the reputation of the chief executive officer is synonymous with that of the organization to a certain degree.
Response to a reputation crisis
A reputation crisis refers to a situation in which the online reputation of a firm has been damaged, and the situation is going out of control. Such a situation requires a planned response (Ledingham, 2003). The best way to deal with a reputation crisis is to prevent it from occurring. A firm should allocate resources to programs designed to prevent an online reputation crisis. Elements of crisis management include rapid response, well thought out response, sincerity, and honesty, and establishment of monitoring systems. A rapid response ensures that the crisis does not go out of control. All crises have a manageable beginning. Delaying is a sure way to escalate the crisis.
It is important to remember that while a rapid response is recommended, haste should not precede reason. The crisis management team should analyze the situation and only respond when they are sure of what they are saying. A poorly thought out response can worsen the crisis. All responses should be geared towards salvaging the damaged reputation. Sincerity and honesty should guide all correspondences between representatives of the business and the clients. If clients sense some dishonesty in the responses given, the company’s reputation will suffer further damage. The crisis should be monitored closely. This allows the organization to formulate responses based on the information being shared on the internet. Generally, an online reputation problem can quickly evolve into a crisis.
This paper examined online reputation management. Social media transformed the way organizations communicate and transact their businesses. Social media and other new media represent both a threat and an opportunity for businesses. Overexposure on the internet can damage a company’s reputation. On the flip side, a business may use social media to increase its market. The media involved include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.
Online reputation management strategies that may be used by companies include pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, maintaining an online presence, and pre-saturating online channels with content. The reputation of the business and the reputation of the senior managers may become intertwined. In general, an organization should do its best to avoid crises. A crisis can have far-reaching effects on the reputation of the organization. Online reputation refers to a company’s image online.
The online environment poses a great risk to businesses and their brands. The online image of a company can be the creation of third parties. To mitigate this risk, businesses should take charge of their online brands. Online reputation management signifies a concerted effort by corporations to manage their reputation in the cyberspace. Consequently, most corporations now acknowledge that online corporate reputation aids them in achieving business goals. Therefore, in summary, online reputation management is concerned with keeping track of company image online and knowing how to respond appropriately.
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