Online reputation management- It’s more important than you would expect
June 16th, 2014
Where do we start! Social media has opened up the internet like never before. Everyone from the billion dollar investment bank to the granny next door has an opinion on anything and everything. With the immense success of social media and the internet, in general, to generate business, it was only natural for it to have its pitfalls. The age of transparency has brought with it intense social awareness and introspection of brands which are online, and offline too. Online reputation management does not involve just social media alone, it takes into account various forums and review sites where your products and services can be given the throne or the electric chair.
Online reputation management and live examples
Both Facebook and Twitter have seen a ton of examples on how big brand corporations, professionals, athletes and high profile businessmen have messed up – big time. Twitter seems to have the highest response rate when it comes to such intentional or rarely, the unintentional gaffs. We’ll put out two examples of major brands and 2 personal Twitter handles on how not to go about doing social media business.
1) The JPMorgan case
JPMorgan Chase is well known for the billions of dollars worth of lawsuits against them. When they came up with the idea of having a Q&A on Twitter, they were not prepared for the amount of hate they faced on social media. Below is the tweet that started it.
What ensued was both hilarious and dark. Angry and resentful public who were not in the least happy with the bank’s functioning, hijacked the handle and vented out their frustrations in the most colorful of ways. Below is a small list of the choicest of tweets.
- Does the sleaze wash off with a regular shower, or do you have to use something special like babies tears? #AskJPM
- I have Mortgage Fraud, Market Manipulation, Credit Card Abuse, Libor Rigging and Predatory Lending. Am I diversified? #AskJPM
- Did you have a specific number of people’s lives you needed to ruin before you considered your business model a success? #AskJPM
- When Jamie Dimon eats babies are they served rare? I understand anything above medium-rare is considered gauche. #AskJPM
- Do you have a secret jail in your offices so your executives get at least one chance to see the inside of one? #AskJPM
- Do your clothes fit better since you don’t have the added weight of a soul? #AskJPM
- What’s it like working with Mexican drug cartels? Do they tip? #AskJPM
- What’s the best way to get blood stains out of a clown suit? #AskJPM
- Can I have my house back? #AskJPM
JPMorgan did immediate damage control and pulled back the handle as well as suspended the Q&A.
2) The next example illustrates how an error can turn into a major debacle. US Airways sent out an X-rated image as a response to an irate customer. It was visible to over 418,000 followers and anyone who went to their Twitter feed. This could have been a misplaced picture but the multiplication factor that social media gives makes it a truly terrible scenario for a major brand.
They did issue an apology and removed the tweet.
3) Racism is not acceptable, in any form. Period. When a New York city PR tweeted this horrible tweet, it went down in history as an extreme showcase of race and color prejudice. It is a clear example of how racism is rampant today and putting it up on social media does not help the case.
4) Fat shaming is a reality today. When you see a highly educated lecturer presenting his deep hatred for obese people, you know humanity has hit an all time low.
The case for online reputation management has been made. Today, with sensitive issues getting media coverage, it is essential to have a very strict code of conduct for business houses as well as individuals.
Why everyone needs online reputation management
On social media, millions of individuals follow your every move. It pays to make this move count. When large brands send out tasteless tweets and posts, it hurts sentiments much more than we could imagine. The first and foremost point that one needs to know is that it is not cool to have an unpaid intern handle your major social media accounts. It requires a certain amount of business experience and knowledge to operate such accounts. The basic point against this is not about their inexperience, it states the importance that brands are putting on these social media outlets. It is obvious that they do not give due credit and invest in it which is a major issue in itself.
Social media can create immense opportunities for any business, if it is utilized effectively. Online reputation management does not stop at social media. Consumer forums can be equally devastating today. A negative review can hurt your product/service in ways beyond belief.
You need to have a plan that monitors all of these platforms and understand the pulse of the market. From this, you get knowledge which will help you manage your marketing plans better, and in effect, give you inputs on improving your product/service. Creating relationships with these very customers and addressing their issues will give you some very good brand ambassadors.
Make online reputation management a part of your digital marketing program. You never know when some petty tweet can snowball into a mammoth issue.
