If your reputation has been negatively affected by online reviews and articles, is it really possible to fix that? Can hiring an Online Reputation Management Agency really fix a bad reputation that is widely publicised on the Internet? These are the questions often asked by celebrities, companies, politicians or experts who have made an innocent mistake which ends up marring their online reputation for many years.
What Can an Online Reputation Management Agency Achieve?
The first thing you need to consider is that an online reputation is all about what people are saying today on social media, and what appears on page one of a Google or Bing search. Likely no one is reading what it says on some forum that is served on page three of a Google search, and nobody is paying attention to what was said on someone’s Twitter feed a year ago.
So what Online Reputation Management agencies do is address these most visible and poignant locations. In the case of a company they will identify forums, review sites, blogs and online media sites where well-placed positive brand-building comments and articles will rank high on searches. This will slowly replace the first page of search results for the brand name with comments which will enhance the company’s reputation and drown out any negative comments.
In the case of persons affected by negative social media comments, they will devise a strategy to seed positive comments and posts about the individual to deliver a positive public relations campaign.
How Does the Agency Know Where to Expend Their Efforts?
Often paid a monthly retainer fee, the Client may wonder how the Online Reputation Management Agency will ensure that their efforts to improve the reputation will be effective. Agencies utilise often proprietary software which identify the highest searched terms for the brand, and then identifies the highest ranked online locations for those search terms where positive reputation reviews and comments will have the highest impact. However, it is also strategically necessary to spread positive reputation comments across broader locations, so that the results look natural and convincing.
Very much like Search Engine Optimization expertise, Online Reputation Management is dependent on technical knowledge of Google Search algorithms and the nature of Google Rankings. The two knowledge sets are closely related, and often a large SEO Agency will have a team of Reputation Management experts within who can help Clients on a long-term basis or for a turnaround period.
Can an Online Reputation Really Be Improved?
Frankly, yes. As stated above an Online Reputation Agency doesn’t need to change everything ever written about a Brand on the Internet, they just have to change what appears on the first page of a Google search for that brand. As any Marketing Expert knows, that’s no mean feat, but a good Online Reputation Management Agency should be able to achieve this within six to twelve months and then provide ongoing support to ensure that a reputation stays positive for the long term.
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