What’s Your Online Reputation?
January 21st, 2009 by cbarberIn today’s online world, reputations can be made or broken in a blink!
Julia, my 12-year-old granddaughter, is as connected as they come. Typical of her generation, she keeps her friends apprised of her every move via fast thumbs and abbreviated use of the language. When she sends messages to me, I spend a lot of time deciphering the acronyms, hieroglyphics of sorts, but I don’t tell her that. I want her to think of me as hip enough to be on her “dist list,” so I conceal my confusion and reply with upbeat, supportive and brief notes. (Brief is big with her!)
Julia tells me that her friends think it’s pretty cool that her grandmother is online. Now that’s a reputation I want to protect! I suggest that the same premise applies to protecting and nurturing employment brands. Just as we want to stay connected with friends, family and business colleagues, as HR professionals, we should also be thinking about how to use today’s tools to keep our companies’ online reputations in good standing.
What is online reputation management and why is it important?
A company’s reputation is the essence of its brand, conjuring specific thoughts and feelings when someone hears its name. A person’s reactions, positive or negative, are often based on his/her consumer experience with a company, e.g., customer service, quality of offerings, and competitive pricing, to name a few drivers.
In the context of employment branding, a non-employee’s reactions are typically based on knowledge gained through word-of-mouth from actual employees on subjects such as culture, pay/benefits, career advancement and so on. Given that the Web is the ultimate grapevine, info and opinions travel like wildfire – easy to start, hard to put out, but not impossible to manage.
Recent research reveals that people trust information from friends via email 77% of the time, which tops the second ranker “Ratings/Reviews” by 17%. For the record, newspapers scored 46%, TV 38%, radio 29%, and direct snail mail 25%. The nod or thumbs down from a friend is even more powerful now that word-of-mouth is seldom whispered these days; it’s shouted out through mass emails that are received in seconds.
I’ll give you an example. When one of my friends sends me an email that starts with, “You’ll love this,” I read it every time and am usually delighted enough to forward the note on to my network with the same subject line. A case in point was J.C. Penney’s holiday ad entitled “Doghouse.” It went viral among women so quickly that the traffic crashed the site it was hosted on! (And, if you haven’t seen it, you must!)
But email is just the tip of the iceberg.
Now let’s consider the numerous Web-based forums that are specifically dedicated to work-related issues. JobVent, Indeed, GlassDoor and Vault are just a few of the hundreds of sites you can visit. Each has its own distinctive features, but all allow the open exchange of information relative to employers. Truthfully, most of what’s flying around on these sites will make you grateful for your job, boss and pay — even if all three stink!
So how can you use these sites to monitor your company’s online reputation? Start by visiting a few and entering your company’s name as a keyword. From there, simply follow any related message chains. If the content is not what you want to see, you could jump in and state your insights, clarify points, provide a different “insider’s” view, or offer your assistance. In other words, you have the power to change the conversation.
One recruiter told me that he spotted some very negative comments about his company’s hiring process posted by a candidate. The recruiter reached out immediately and offered to help the person with the issues he had encountered. Not only was the candidate appeased, the recruiter’s actions sent a clear message to anyone reading the messages that his company does care about the candidate experience. That’s power!
For some of my busy clients, I monitor the buzz for them and report what I find, both good and bad. While they might choose to ignore negative comments (always an option), at least they have the chance to respond if they feel it’s necessary.
Today’s volatility will create more venting.
With many companies being forced to reduce headcount, I think it’s safe to say we will see more mudslinging from disgruntled workers. While most employees will understand the circumstances and go about their business, some will use their terminations or increased workloads to lambaste their employers. That can’t be stopped, but it can be neutralized – and should be.
When the economy turns around (and it will) and you’ve got people to retain and recruit, you’ll want your reputation working for you, not against you. Questions about getting started? Just shoot me a note; I’ll be glad to point you in the right direction.
What I’ve covered today is a snippet on Web 2.0, but if it nudged you to take a peek at the buzz on your company, great! I must close now and respond to a text just in from Julia. Like I said at the start, I’ve got my own reputation to protect!