It seems there is a lot happening that is unbecoming and even illegal in the world of ORM (Online Reputation Management). It is time you sat up, took notice and did something to repair your online reputation.
When your online reputation is threatened, you invariably receive an email from an ORM service provider letting you know that for a nominal fee, the service would get the negative remarks deleted. Horrified of what the adverse comments might do to your business if it were seen by customers/distributors/ prospects, your business quickly complies. Problem solved, and your fair name is saved.
Sometimes this could lead to perpetual problems. Several weeks later the item may reappear on a different site, and you will receive an identical offer fro the same or different ORM service provider. You pay the fees, and the new item is removed from the web. You cannot afford to get into an endless loop of extortion.
Buying up the URLs for potential negative sites about your company and filling them with links back to your site or positive or educational information could be helpful,These steps will bar detractors from launching those URLs and can help to push any negative items that do appear further down in search results, but they should be carefully and professionally handled.
But do not go overboard with purchased URLs as it can prove counter-productive. They may push the genuine press results and positive stories about your company further down in the search results.
There are better ways to deal with adverse sites than to pay the fees they request to remove the negative or embarrassing material. Programs like Flickr can help to push the negative item naturally down by replacing it with more acceptable comments/pictures.
In fact, there are lawsuits pending against a number of scurrilous issues in the ORM sector of late and one can expect to see many more.
But what do you do when your company has been maligned unfairly online or on one of the prevalent consumer feedback sites carries adverse comments. Can you fix it? Do you need to hire a pro?
It’s interesting that “Reputation management” has evolved from a catchphrase to a science and today to an actual industry. The industry divides its clients into two categories: 1) the people and companies and major consumer brands who are proactively seeking reputation protection and 2) the folks that are reactive and in the ORM agency’s office because they’ve just confronted with an incident.
While reputation management as an industry may not yet have de facto appreciation, the issues it addresses can be far-reaching. Even if your business is too small for a reputation management department or program, ORM is one aspect every company ought to master.