So I’m guessing we’ve all heard about our silly Prime Minister’s comment yesterday (that’s the one and only Gordon Brown for anyone not paying attention) that seriously landing him, and his Political Party in hot water – well – actually I think the water was bubbling! I won’t bore you with the details as I’m sure you can find 17 million posts about it and listen to the audio on every media channel available, but here’s a brief:

Wired with a news microphone, Gordon Brown unwittingly made a couple of comments that were promptly caught on tape and re-run all across every possible media channel available… His PR team then promptly put together a plan to defuse the situation with clever (or not) Reputation Management…

There… Enough said about that: Read about it here: Gordon Brown – ‘Bigoted woman’ gaffe & Reputation management at reputationmanagementfor.com

Reputation Management for all!

But how does ‘Reputation Management’ work in day to day business and how could it help you or your company?

What are people saying about you on the web?

What are your customers saying?

What do your employees say behind your back?

What about ex-employees? Ex-management? Ex-suppliers? Ex-customers? Your ex-wife/husband?

Do you know?

Reputation Management in Business Matters!

Yes we all want to hear about it when someone sings our praises or when someone sends us a lovely letter recommending us to every family member, all their long lost friends and anyone who knows them.

But what about when they hate you?
What about when they think your company sucks?

What if they blog about your products being cheap, nasty, crap, not fit for purpose or if they are telling everyone they know on Twitter and Facebook that your customer services is non-existent and that “you don’t care”?

What if someone has written a blog about you being a money grabbing, arrogant, self-serving moron?

Have they got your attention now?

They should have because, like all media, we love the gossip and all things negative is like a people magnet. We jump on negative news and chatter like flies on poop. You know we do…

If there’s a couple or articles about you or your company – one is all sweet and nice but the other is ripping your company to shreds – guess which one is going to get the most eyeballs?

Lets face it. If someone dislikes you or your company enough to do something like the above (as found on Facebook), they are not going to sit down and write you a lovely letter encouraging you to change your ways or asking you politely to address the problems in your company.

No – They are going to scream to the world! Because they can!

Welcome to the Internet – where everyone has a voice and everyone is being heard. Others will join in the discussion and out of the woodwork comes everyone you or your company has every annoyed / angered / left high and dry… They all start adding their two-pence worth for the world to see…

Have they got your attention now?

Do you think it would have been a good idea for WeatherSeal to get involved in the conversation as soon as it started? You bet! Do you think they could have done something that would have defused the above thread as soon as it was launched? Absolutely? Do you think they care what people are saying? I’m pretty sure they do.

Is it too late? Never.

Worried this could be happening around you, about you, about your brand or your company? Maybe it’s time you looked into “Reputation Management”? In a nutshell; here’s the least you should be doing:

Reputation Management in a Nutshell

- Monitor what people are saying in Twitter using “search.twitter.com”
- Regularly search Facebook for groups, pages and discussions
- Do a blog search at blogsearch.google.com
- Set-up some alerts in Google (or your favourite newsfeed or reader)
- Don’t forget Yahoo searches, bing searches etc.,
- Save all these searches in your iGoogle account (or similar)
- Monitor your company name, your domain(s), your abbreviated company name(s), your own name and the names of all your senior management team, shareholders, directors and owners.
- Get involved in the conversation as soon as you have assessed the situation and are ready to respond. It is not always pertinent to dive in. Think about your responses, be genuine and transparent – be real.

Don’t Sit Back And Expect It To Go Away

Don’t just sit there while the storm brews around you. Your brand, your company, your reputation is in the hands of anyone who wants to shout about you or your business…

Be one of the first to know what’s being said and get in there and defuse the situation, make a negative situation into a great positive – don’t just let it happen.

The ‘bad press’ won’t just go away by pretending it doesn’t exist or (even worse) thinking it doesn’t matter. Don’t think your customers won’t read it – they will!

 

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