15 Mar The need for corporate reputation management consultant

In the competitive world today, smart organizations undergo all the necessary processes that manage risk and prevent their identity from damage. There are security and safety protocols, diagnostics and monitoring, maintenance requirements, regulatory standards and quality control. Regardless of the preventive measures, even the smart organizations at one point are likely to face hardships.

Even though it is an inevitable possibility, a very small amount of organizations prepares for the long term consequences- or the possible crisis. Reputations that are damaged can affect relationships with clients and customers, investors and regulator. It also jeopardizes your ability to attract new business while retaining the previous employees/business.

Many companies do not understand the significance of handling crisis. Mishandling the peacetime leads to a long-term crisis.

Preparing for the crisis:

Preparation is important for managing potential and actual crisis situations in a timely manner. Information today is disseminated at an extraordinary pace through online media and social networks. The key organizations should communicate with the stakeholders and at what pace is always revolving.

This calls for a reputation management consultant who is aware of how things work. If something happens right now on one of your social media channels, would you know how to respond to it within an hour? If you don’t- then you need a reputation management consultant.

Below are the three ways in which a professional is better than you at reacting to the crisis:

1. Leading Vs Reacting

The first step during any incident that may lead to crisis is knowing how to react to a situation. This reaction is established by carefully analyzing the event and understanding the long-term threats it poses for the reputation of the company. Properly handling an emergency situation even completely removes the damage. In fact, smart reputation management consultants are able to turn the event in your favor.

The goal is to detect the problem as early as possible. React to it in the best manner possible. Monitor and share information to open the doors for success and further preventive measures.

Most people don’t have the training for reputation crisis. Going to the gym does not mean you know how to gym. Same goes for the reputation crisis management. A reputation management professional is a leader. They do not just “react” to a situation- but analyze it and ensure that it is well handled before any potential threat to the reputation of the company.

2. Search Engine Optimization

Now search engine optimization here does not mean simply marketing your content online. In the case of crisis what can help you the most is improving your content and molding it towards a positive scenario. Building SEO across positive videos, articles, images and other mediums of content is significant during reputation crisis. When an employee, investor or customer searches for your company online- they should see more positive reports than negative ones. Ensure that the positive attributes triumph over the negative comments.

A reputation management consultant knows which form of SEO is required during a certain situation. For example, video marketing is the best way of covering up for a bad product review. What this does it make the customers believe more in the authenticity of a company profile and make their decision based on the detailed information provided to them through a video? Other areas of SEO includes service activities, news reports, publishing articles and press releases.

The makeup and structure of reputation management team must be updated to provide communication and brand leadership. During the crisis, the brand acceleration moves in reverse. People who understand the crisis best are those who understand what kind of SEO is required in which situation.

3. Speed check

During the crisis, organizations should learn how to quickly respond to the headlines and messages concerning the stakeholders, customers, media representatives, investors and government officials.

There is no such thing as time frame now. Whether it is a genuine issue or a negative comment on your blog, responding within an hour of the incident is IMPERATIVE.

The inspirational headlines show the core values of the organization. Plan an education process for the reputation of your company. These should contain the information your customers should be provided during the crisis.

There is no way you can wait for things to settle on their own. Acknowledge every feedback, respond to every query and react on all the negative comments.

A reputation management consultant knows how to deal with emergency situations. They monitor the path on which your organization is moving online. Several times, they are aware of where the negative comments could come from. This keeps them alert and prepared. And this is exactly what your company needs. A speedy response to the crisis. If you are able to handle this on your own, well and well. But we all know that there is always enough an organization can do alone.

Learn More

Request a demo to see how Reputation Shielder’s efficient, mobile process can help your business manage your online reputation and reviews. This will, in turn, improve local SEO and ultimately boost revenues.

Author: Susan MillerSusan is an accomplished graphics designer, published author, and writer with 2 different publishing companies, & over 5yrs of experience. She is Elevatie's online content manager and graphics designer.