About social media and online reputation management

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Online Reputation Management Using
Social Media
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to
lose it”
- Benjamin Franklin
Reputation is a very delicate concept; at the same time it is an idea so strong that
it helps businesses grow to greater heights. For a corporate body, reputation is
an overall quality or goodwill, seen or judged by people in general. It is how
public recognizes the company. For example some companies are known for
their aggressive production and marketing techniques, some for their luxury
brands, some for their niche target audiences etc. Reputation is in short a
perception that persists in the minds of its competitors, other entities in the
market, the public and its stakeholders.
Reputation builds up trust, credibility, partnerships, collaborations and business.
Management of this decisive element plays a very crucial role in existence of any
corporate body. A company employs various media to manage its reputation.
Messages that are carefully drafted, keeping in mind an idea of a better
reputation, are conveyed through different media. These communications are
done through their public relations departments. Now reputation management
has gone online. With the advent on Internet companies are highly benefited.
Being on one side of the globe they can easily maintain their reputation across
the globe through online reputation management. Online reputation management
is a very tough practice as the company is represented in a virtual platform.
Online reputation management involves in maintaining or boosting the reputation
of the company, through regularly monitoring the communication flow. For
instance the PR team has to convert the negativities about the company into

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trivial matters and place them in subtle manner in the communications where it is
utmost important to have a mention about it. The PR team has to monitor the
communications floating in the industry and keep an eye on the threats to the
reputation. Any blemish on the reputation online affects the company’s image
very badly.
The PR team not just uses the company website for reputation management, but
also the Social Media are actively made use of. Popular Social media platforms
include:
· Blogs
· Facebook
· Flickr
· Hi5
· LinkedIn
· MySpace
· Twitter
· YouTube
The greatest boon of this media is its interactive nature, credibility and easy
reach. The companies can directly reach out to the needy in a snap. The PR
team can either help fix a deal, reply to query, cater to an aggrieved customer,
reach out to the potential customers, let the stake holders know about the current
status of the company or a particular project, can share the joy of company’s
success etc. Social media if utilized properly can help the company generate
great deal of revenue as well. Discounts, offers, packages etc can be conveyed
with a personal touch, luring the potential customers to buy or use the service.
The reputation of a company is as important as its survival and its future. A better
reputation yields better business and promises prosperity. A good reputation can

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hold a company’s hands during the toughest of hands. Revenue spent on
reputation is an investment that will only ensure prosperity, security and life.