In this article we analyze Corporate Web Reputation on the web, how it can be monitored, analyzed and improved
A company’s Business is closely linked to its Web Reputation and online reputation
Web Reputation, since the advent of the Web, is one of the fundamental elements that have become strategic in the communication of companies, professional firms and all businesses in general such as restaurants gyms, bars etc.
It has become increasingly important in recent years due to Social activities.
We at Factory Communication Marketing, Communication, Web & Social Media Strategy Agency based in Milan have been saying this all along.
It is essential to keep track of the endless world that is the Web to protect one’s online reputation.
It is strategic to know what Customers think about us, our Company and our Products and/or Services.
What is Web Reputation?
We can define it as the “what people say about us” online. Online reputation can be negatively affected by elements and facts that we are not even aware of.
One negative comment, one article, one post on a social channel can affect your Marketing Strategy and jeopardize corporate reputation.
Nowadays there are so many channels, such as Sites, Blogs, and Social Networks, and as a result, it is often difficult to keep track of everything.
We can separate the activities into two different groups:
- Those related to the management of our Online Communication Channels.
It is clear that in this case it is easier to keep track of every single user activity.
Simply set up Social, or our website, to be notified automatically in the event of a comment. We can then take action quickly and accurately. - Those related to external channels that we may or may not know about.
In this case the business is definitely more complicated, millions of sites and blogs, billions of pages and articles, tens of billions of posts on Social Networks.
How to keep everything under control?
Web Reputation risks: the personal attack on Cristina Parodi
This morning, during breakfast, as always I read the news online. To understand how the Market is doing, the Economy, what are the emerging trends….
What I omit to read are the gossipguless…. as someone calls it.
Yet one headline intrigued me, “The Unexpected Attack on Cristina Parodi: ‘She Doesn’t Know How Many Horns She Has Anymore.'”
Briefly, as the Today article reported, during the Rai Radio 2 program “I Lunatici,” Cristina Parodi had said that the rise of the deputy prime minister and minister of the interior was due to “people’s anger” but also “fear” and “ignorance.”
Cascina (in the province of Pisa) councilor, Sonia Avolio of Fratelli d’Italia, probably felt offended by that statement and responded with a video on Facebook in a decidedly inelegant way “I wanted to send a message to Cristina Parodi who says that those who vote for Salvini are ignorant means ignorant without knowledge, and she who no longer knows how many horns she has, but I’ll tell her: one for each freckle, if she can count them. And let her go with her sister, along with the pans.”
Now what does this have to do with Web Reputation?
Unfortunately, it does have something to do with it.
We are accustomed to hearing about Brand, thus the name of the Company: Alfa Romeo, BMW, Juventus, Fastweb etc just to name a few.
In the case of people in show business, sportsmen, etc., the Brand corresponds to one’s name. So it is an extremely important and also personal asset.
How much can such articles affect the value of the Brand “Cristina Parodi” negatively or positively?
Brand Reputation and Web Reputation go hand in hand.
I have always affirmed that it is essential to position one’s company on both Web and Social, according to one’s Budget, Communication, Marketing and Commercial goals.
But if you are one of those Entrepreneurs who still, do not want to go down this road, at the very least use the Internet to understand what people are saying about you.
The fact that you have decided not to be online does not mean that people and/or Companies are not talking about you.
There are so many online services that allow you to accurately and continuously monitor your Brand, Services, Products, Competitors, etc.
Web Reputation Monitoring: Use Google Alerts
Web Reputation, since the advent of the Web, is one of the fundamental elements that have become strategic in the communication of companies, professional firms and all businesses in general such as restaurants gyms, bars etc.. It has become increasingly important in recent years thanks to Social activities.
It is essential to keep track of that infinite world that is the Web. It is strategic to know what Customers think about us, our Company and our Products and/or Services.
There are plenty of professional tools that allow us to do this.
In this article we want to tell you, specifically, about Google Alert a free service made by the leading search engine.
This is a very simple service that can be activated in 5 steps:
Step 1. To access the service it is not essential to have a gmail account, simply go to the following address www.google.it/alerts.
Step 2. In the field provided, enter the key words for which to search. Google will display some answers in real time to let us know if what we get reflects our expectations.
3rd Step. After specifying the Key Words the email address field will appear where we want to receive reports.
4th Step. By clicking on the “Show Options” label, you can customize the search.
Web Reputation Analysis: What to look for?
There are so many reasons to use Google Alerts, we at Factory Communication use it mainly for:
- Verify the web reputation of the agency and its components;
- Check the web reputation of our Clients;
- Check our Competitors;
Make a careful search for possible services, products, or information useful to the agency.
More simply you could use it to find out when offers are available on a product/service you are interested in. For example, a trip….
Web Reputation Monitoring: What They Say About Us
Let us analyze how we should behave following a review or a comment left by a user.
We thought of a few examples to provide some food for thought.
Online reputation management: The case of the aggressive, or unfair, competitor
Thanks to Google Alerts, I can find out that one of my Competitors is talking bad about me, or is making an aggressive business policy towards me.
For example, if I am a printer vendor, I might find out that one of my Competitors does a special scrapping discount on one of my printer models.
It is therefore clear, that it proves to be a very aggressive activity against me.
It is essential that I be informed of this, in order to take action or perhaps to be able to inform my clients that it is an unfair activity, or to counter with an additional commercial offer.
Company Web Reputation: Use the information collected to improve the level of my service.
Once I know what the Web says about me, it is important to analyze this information objectively.
Let’s take an example: if through a Social Network such as TripAdvisor, I have 100 reviews of my restaurant and, of those, 90 of them say that my staff is rude, the way I can intervene is not to go and correct the reviews, but to change the staff.
Let us, therefore, always keep in mind that, Web Reputation is a very valid tool that can provide us with the thermometer of how the world around us, Lead and Customers, perceives our product or service.
Web Reputation searches for negative reviews
They may be due to a particular historical period: for example, if I have a gym and in a given historical period a trainer did not do his best work.
Or, for a given period, the person/company in charge of cleaning did not do their job in the best way possible.
The intervention I have to do is very widespread and methodical. So if I have five to ten announcements advising against going to my gym, the message I need to send out is to thank the customer for the report and let them know that we have taken action, to resolve any problems, and that we remain available for further information.
The message that is to be structured, should not be offensive or vulgar. In some cases the user may have intentionally left a negative review because he himself is a gym or restaurant owner.
If our way of writing is kind, we do not give them the opportunity to respond negatively.
We must, therefore, always try to be conclusive, thanking the user for reporting any problem and informing them that we are working to improve the quality of our service.
Web Reputation Analysis: The positive reviews
If a customer leaves a positive review, it is nice to thank them. In some cases we may use this review for advertising purposes.
We can, for example, contact the user who left a positive review about us and ask him or her to star in it.
How? Asking him if it is possible to use his review and place it on our Site, accompanying it with his photograph and possibly, if he is available, making his first and last name visible.
Agency Web Reputation: Review becomes a Case History
So many people like to be protagonists. So many leave a review for this purpose as well.
Why then not turn a good review into a Case History?
The Client could become our workhorse. It could be featured in an interview or, even better, a video interview.
In return we offer them the opportunity to be our dinner guest. This is a Goal: It is not me who speaks well of my company, but my Clients who do.
This Client will be our best advertisement. Why? Because you will speak well of us to all your Clients, contacts and friends.
Corporate Web Reputation: conclusions
In conclusion, we can say that managing the Web Reputation Analysis of our restaurant, or our gym, is a very challenging activity, because there is a chance that our user will leave a comment and respond to us again.
So we need to know how to deal with these kinds of relationships, not only the negative ones, but also the positive ones.
Having a good Web Reputation is critical, but so is relying on a team of professionals.
Web Reputation should not only be managed to protect us from possible correct or incorrect ads, consistent or inconsistent with our business, but also to be able to turn an ad into a possible sale and advertising and viral activity.
Proper Web Reputation auditing and management can greatly improve your Company’s image and Business.
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