With the explosion of Web 2.0 and social media marketing popping up all over the web, businesses have wrestled with how to manage their brand online. An organization’s online reputation can be made or broken in less than 140 characters, and all this could happen in an instant.
For some organizations, the marketing department uses the company’s brand in a way of communicating to the general public the mission, values, and goals of the company. Along with this way of doing things you will find the employer brand, which basically defines how well the employees of the organization is living up and experiencing the brand culture in their day-to-day job. The Human Resources department of the organization combines the employer brand into the company brand to retain and recruit the best employees in hope they would live, breath, and eat the brand.
This is all changing where everyone in the organization can play a role with building up credibility for the organization.
Online reputation management basics
With the current trend of social media in our everyday digital lifestyles, companies everywhere are turning their attention to managing their online reputation. The ORM (Online Reputation Management) process and basics includes the monitoring of the brand, services and key executives. This also includes optimizing the organizations online presence and digital profiles to minimize negative search results and when negative comments and updates do arise, engaging customers to address it in reasonable time.
PR agencies are now partnering with many digital marketing companies to help them manage their online reputation through all the various forms and channels of social media. With more companies jumping onto the ORM bandwagon to manage their reputation online, a number of individuals are doing the same. This is called personal brand management. If you are active on various social media channels, you have a brand that’s accessible online – your name. How well are you managing your personal brand?
Online information is public
How many times are you making information public about your personal life, not realizing that you are creating a permanent record that cannot be deleted no matter how hard you try. Somewhere, someone looking for you will find the stuff you say about yourself and of others. Sometimes it is not what we say, but what our friends are saying in our social circles that can have a negative impact on our personal brand on how we can be viewed by colleagues or future employers.
ORM plays such a big role in today’s digital environment and its a must that you setup all the processes and listening tools in place so that you can monitor what is being said about you, and how you are viewed by the general public.
There is no privacy anymore. You will be the person you appear to be, so you must appear to be the person you are.
Good summary!