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Steps Involved in Online Reputation Management (Influencing Continued) and Digital Crisis Management

Participate in Related Discussions

To be able to influence your social community, you should make yourself noticed. Why not comment on other blog posts or discussions related to your business?

You can create interesting dialogue by sharing well-crafted and insightful responses to topics that are relevant to your customers. This also positions you as an expert in your field.

Read relevant blogs to understand what is going on in your industry, but only comment on events, articles, posts, etc., where you can add value. Commenting on everything will not increase your visibility or reinforce your image as an expert. Unless you bring value, you will just be adding to the noise. Define your expertise narrowly and go deep. Never be afraid to take a risk with an opinion, no matter how controversial you think it may be – as long as you approach it carefully and professionally.

Digital Crisis Management

By definition, digital crisis management is the act taken by an organization to prevent unexpected situations or events, leading to negative publicity in the digital space, which can affect a company’s reputation, image, resources or people. Digital crisis management involves the procedure taken to minimize risk before they occur. It is the development of plans and actions taken to deal with a crisis as it occurs online to minimize its impact and to assist the company’s recovery.

Example of bad crisis management:

In 2009, Toyota (auto brand) had very poor crisis management regarding its faulty floor mats and accelerator pedal. Although Toyota had the opportunity to utilize social media platforms to manage this branding crisis, they did not do so.

Problems to your online reputation can arise from: Blogs, Forums, and Consumer Opinion Sites Consumer Complaint Sites Social Network Sites Competitor Attacks Trademark Infringement Counterfeit Products

One could argue that the consequences of such poor crisis management severely damaged the reputation of Toyota as the number one automotive brand, with $30.5 million brand earnings. Moreover, many of Toyota’s customers were very disappointed with the lack of communication.

Successful crisis management requires timing, response and sincerity. If you expect your audience to be true to you, you should be able to do the same. Digital crisis management involves more or less the same steps for online reputation management. The principles remain the same. Handle issues quickly, accurately, professionally and with care. Companies should leverage all the tools they can access to monitor all relevant social media and able to take control of complex situations.

5 Development Stages of Digital Crisis Management

The development of digital crisis management occurs in 5 main stages and they are as follows:

1. Speed

Everything happens very quickly. With the help of social media, bad news spreads faster than ever via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and so on. If you are the target, you have to react very quickly and monitor all relevant consumer-generated media. This will help you trace the root of the problem.

2. Hyper-transparency

Today, you can no longer hide secrets. Everyone has the power to expose striking situations – making “private” become public. You need to ensure that there are no inconsistent practices in your business. Make sure that your corporate social responsibilities are legitimate, justifiable and reliable.

3. Dialogue

A two-way dialogue between you and your audience is very important. Communication is the only means to pass on your message. The most effective and efficient way to build goodwill is to invite your customers to participate in a conversation. You must be attentive to what your audience is communicating to you by being receptive.

4. Search

Did you know 80% of Internet users start their session at search? Online users’ use search engines to do research, gather information so that they can make practical decisions. If the information they come across during a search relating to your brand is unfavorable, it can affect the decisions they make. A search can either make or break your reputation.

5. Brand Enemy

Your brand may have many enemies and they many have tons of information concerning your business. You should be aware of the news and comments circulating around online concerning your company. An individual voice can travel around the world more easily today. Therefore, you must keep an ear for what is going around.

Mark Twain famously said, “A lie can make it half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes”. This is fully applicable in today’s environment where businesses are frequently victims of online attacks. Unfortunately, there are numerous companies that are not prepared for such a crisis. That is why it is vital you have a digital crisis management strategy prepared before you become victim of reputation damage.