Careers today can hinge on online reputation management
By Jennifer Goddard Combs
The Goddard Company
Special to Santa Barbara Lawyer Magazine
According to a recent study, 91 percent of consumers regularly or occasionally read online reviews, 90 percent are positively influenced by a good review and 86 percent are negatively influenced by a bad one.
Whether it’s on Google, Yelp or any other digital media outlet, consumers’ online comments are eminently important. They can hit businesses right in their virtual pocketbooks and, for better or worse, they can turn entire careers.
That’s why in recent years it has become an imperative for all businesses to consider online reputation management along with search engine optimization in their digital marketing budgets.
Online reputation management (ORM) is a vast and complex area of marketing that continues to be defined.
Obviously, the larger the brand, the greater the online exposure to consumers’ conversations both good and bad – and the greater the need for somehow monitoring and managing the conversation. But businesspeople at all levels in all fields should be aware of the risks and the benefits associated with their online reputations and their best options for dealing with them.
The age of Yelp
With the proliferation of Yelp and other digital review media, online reputation management has rapidly risen to a necessary art form and an increasingly important niche area of internet marketing. And it goes way beyond Yelp. Think how vast is the internet and consider all the places that reviews can turn up on search results – from online forums to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to product review sites … and the list goes on.
Today’s increasingly online-savvy consumers seek out all channels available in the course of making their decisions about what products they should buy and whom they should hire – and what they should state on the record about their consumer experiences.
Whereas social media marketing and SEO are clearly defined and generally well contained, their roles well known and established in the marketing world, ORM is still floating around out there, still finding its way to a place where good usable advice and information can be harnessed and made readily available to all businesses.
For an attorney or any other businessperson concerned about reputation, the simplest solution, of course, is to hire a marketing firm that will take on the role of reputation manager in addition to its more standard PR duties. We personally have seen a surge lately in requests for ORM – and notably among lawyers, whose careers rise and fall on reputation and public perception. Our advice
As the reach of the internet continues to grow, the first advice we give our clients is to include ORM in their marketing budgets going forward.
Whoever it is providing oversight, there are some basic things to consider and steps that businesses can take to manage their online reputations, to capitalize on all positive publicity and minimize the impact of any negative publicity:
· SCAN THE INTERNET: First and foremost, monitor all online mentions, using Google alerts and other software tools.
· REVIEW THE REVIEW SITES: In the case of our attorney clients, we pay close attention to online lawyer review sites and any other digital places where consumers go to find a lawyer; those are the same places they may later leave their feedback, so it makes sense to track what’s being said there
· THE BAD NEWS …: Of course, if you’re truly engaged in ORM, there is always the chance that you’ll uncover some publicity you’d rather not have; in terms of ORM, controlling the spread of negative publicity across the web is the greatest challenge.
· THE GOOD NEWS …: You are in control. You may have a marketing team, but you ultimately get to answer the questions: How would you like to manage your and your company’s reputations? With honesty and humility? (We recommend this.) With humor? (Sometimes a good idea.) With apologies? (Only if a complaint is fully warranted; if it’s wholly unfounded, we recommend zero engagement.) And how do you want to publicize the positive feedback? (Happy dilemma.)
Positive feedback is a beautiful thing. This kind of news should be shared across as many media as possible, online and otherwise, in as savvy a way as possible, and we’re more than happy to help. Spreading good news is the fun part of ORM.
PR professional Jennifer Goddard Combs, of The Goddard Company Public Relations & Marketing, has worked with a number of attorneys and law firms throughout her more than 20 years generating successful publicity campaigns for companies, products and nonprofits locally, regionally and nationally. The Goddard Company is at 550 Maple St., Suite G, Carpinteria, CA 93103; 805-565-3990. Visit www.thegoddardcompany.comFor more information, please call Jennifer Goddard at 805-565-3990 or email jennifer@thegoddardcompany.com.