Reputation Management Before And After The Rise Of The Internet
The management of one’s reputation before mass popularity of the internet was much simpler and less of a hassle. It consisted mainly of watching what you said during interviews and during press conferences. If there any questions you would respond to them directly in a press conference or by telephone.
Business owners would respond to customer complaints often directly. This would would involve a disgruntled customer and addressing their needs. A saying to safeguard one’s reputation at the time before the rise of the internet was to do not do anything outrageous that would land you on the front page of a local newspaper and have you portrayed in a negative fashion.
The time of directly addressing customers mainly by phone and responding directly to questions from the press is mostly gone now thanks to the internet. With the rise of the internet the tables have actually turned. Customers can now write reviews about a product or service they purchased or hired from a business on the web. This can be both good and bad for a company or professional person.
Positive reviews will obviously bolster the reputation of a product, company, business or service. Negative reviews on the other hand will damage the reputation and credibility. The accessibility of the internet to the general public means that anybody can post reviews or feedback on a product or service. This was not like a long gone by era where reviews or feedback was given by magazine writers reviewing a product. Another way people found about reviews from a person was by word of mouth from someone who actually used a product or service.
The ease of posting a review, sometimes without even having to verify they used or bought a product of service creates some challenges. It also changes the game of reputation management. Companies and business owners must now watch and monitor what is being said about them on the internet. It is not enough any more to simply respond positively to interviews, newspaper inquires or do press releases anymore. Press releases are now even done through the web now. Instead of being delivered by a notable company figure or spokesperson, they are often just published on the company’s page or through another website that releases press releases for a charge.
The rise of the internet has made reputation management increasingly more digital and customer focused. There is less control now on directly controlling what is being said or posted about a company, product or service. Reviews and feedback are now the key components of establishing credibility and trustworthiness in a post internet world where search engines are widely used to scope out products and services beforehand.
HOW DO CELEBRITIES MANAGE THIER REPUTATIONS?
Celebrities would be a prime example of somebody that would benefit from this service. They use Public Relation, or PR firms, to effectively handle their publicity and make sure they are portrayed in the light that is most beneficial to their career. Their name is their actual brand so this is crucial! They hire these PR firms to actually monitor what people say about them online. How else would these celebrities know what to respond to if they are getting hundreds and sometimes thousands of tweets, posts and other press every day? Also these Public Relations Specialist make sure they are putting positive things out there in the public eye about the celebrity to build their image. This is one of the greatest ways to make yourself look like the humanitarian award winner if the year. Just keep on flooding your timeline with all the good you are doing in the world and people will love you. Celebrities are delegating this full time task to PR firms and reputation management companies. They simply Google reputation management and choose a PR firm…with a good reputation!
HOW DO BUSINESSES MANAGE THIER REPUTATIONS?
Businesses are another sector or group of people who benefit from hiring a professional reputation management company. When you search reputation management google gives you several business information and websites that specifically deal with making your business thrive by image damage control. Got bad reviews? No worries because these reputation management control companies have you covered. These companies will create an online presence of greatness for your business. They will not neglect your social media accounts and this is very important because if you just have a social media account but do not use it, that defeats the purpose. Your social media accounts are your personal platforms and your business platforms. It send a red flag if your business has an inactive Facebook or old instagram pics. Businesses are also delegating this full time task to PR firms and reputation management companies. When they search reputation management google has several amazing options, but if I were you I would choose the one with the best reputation!