mediablox

Online or Internet reputation management is important for anyone who conducts business online or even in a brick-and-mortar setting. When someone says something negative about your business to another it’s impactful. It’s said that the best advertisement is word-of-mouth and it works both ways. Unfortunately, online it’s a thousand times worse, because those speaking out and doing the damage are allowed anonymity in most cases.

Everyone cares about their reputation, whether it’s business or personal. We can all recall moments from our childhood where we were either picked on or saw someone being picked on by the school bully. How we reacted to that slap to our reputation varied. Maybe we ran away and avoided the confrontation, maybe we fought back verbally or physically. Either way there was always a reaction that others were able to witness first-hand. Either way we were afforded the ability to confront our attacker.

In the real-world we can challenge a disgruntled customer or lying competitor, it’s not always as easy when the attack comes online. An online attack can damage corporate perception, employee morale, and client support or even sway a courtship of a prospective client or future employee.

Many feel that in today’s age of suing for damage feelings that the practice of unethical business practices are over. Unfortunately, they are not they are just under the guise of a different platform – the internet. Online you will find numerous examples of unethical practices and companies using underhand tactics to “bad-mouth” their competitors. Those that feel that their products or services are above reproach are not beyond being used in this way. In fact, they pose the greatest threat to their competitors and are the ones to most likely fall victim to online attacks.

There are so many tools at the disposal of attackers today. Blogs, social networks, forums, press releases are all tools used to launch an attack. Reputations of companies are called into question online daily. If a negative result or low degree of satisfaction is returned in search results related to your site, the consumer will generally look elsewhere. This has a negative impact on your company and brand. PayPal, Amazon and even Google have all fallen prey to bad online publicity. While they are large organizations with deep pockets and the power to fight back, what would it mean to a smaller company without the means to retaliate effectively? Never underestimate the damage that could be done by ignoring your online reputation.

MediaBlox offers our clients piece of mind with our Reputation Management tools. If you would like to find out more about reputation management and how it could help your business, contact us today. If your company has taken a sudden, unexplained dip in sales, it’s well worth considering.