Caution: Don’t Try this at Home
Online reputation management should be done with professional help and a well thought out plan of action. Reputation management gone wrong has the potential to create a worse scenario than the original reason the campaign was initiated.
Let’s take an example of a company which offers to “DESTROY” negative content for less than $30.00 per month. Even by off-shore pricing standards, at best that would buy 3 hours of time by an educated and technically savvy employee. Doesn’t leave much room for supervision or a personalized approach that won’t offend those who published this critical information does it?
Here’s the fine print:
You authorize us to take such action on your behalf, and to identify ourselves as acting on your behalf…The Customer also acknowledges and accepts the risk that [company name withheld] may not succeed in effecting the removal and/or alteration of any Internet content about the Customer…You recognize that such contact may have unpredictable side-effects, including but not limited to negative responses from others.
Great, so for $30.00 we’ll end up getting flamed by bloggers after we actually think they’ll say “sure, I strongly dislike this person/company for what they did, but since you asked nicely I’ll remove my comments.”. Somehow it’s conceivable they often refer clients to that paragraph in the fine print.
Now in terms of a ORM company using a statement similar to the one above it’s common practice and only makes sense since the wrong person discovering the campaign could genuinely incite a PR nightmare or at the least may just augment the negative comment with more damaging content. That being said, the difference in our approach lies in the fact that we do not open channels of communication with bloggers or critics which clearly have no interest in resolving the issue. Our indirect strategy results in a de-emphasis of the visibility of negative press without the high-risk associated with “stirring the pot”.
And just what exactly can “stirring the pot” do? Well, perhaps a better phrase might be “poking the hive”. Take this example which was featured in the press as an example of reputation defense backfiring: The google search for “Ronnie Segev” or copy/paste this URL: http://www.google.com/search?q=Ronnie+Segev
One such result is entitled “Evil: Ronnie Segev & [**company name**] Can Eat A D***” a clear blow to both the client and the company representing his quest to clean up his online reputation. Additionally reports of his Wikipedia entry being “cleaned up” are repetitiously displayed throughout the next few pages of search engine results.
So what are the Safest Ways to Get Rid of Bad Press?
First, work with a company that understands the sensitive nature of the problem. Understand that considerable resources and expertise need to be devoted to your project if success is to be achieved and disaster averted. In life and in business there is little more valuable than your reputation and being prepared to pay a premium to confidently move towards protecting or improving your reputation is the first step towards a serious reputation management campaign.