Philadelphia Business Journal
September 4, 2009
A negative review. A nasty rumor. An angry blogger or a social
media impostor. Billions of bits of information litter the
Internet, but it takes just one of these to sink a company's
reputation.
With consumers making the Web their primary resource for finding
products and services, a businesses' online image is more important
than ever. But protecting that image is becoming increasingly
difficult.
"It's amazing how easy it is to look into somebody [online],"
Chris Miles said. "And a lot of times there is information that's
both negative and not true."
Miles is the CEO of Moorestown, N.J.-based technology consulting
company Miles Technologies. In addition to handling IT support
and Web development, it has become one of a growing number of
online reputation managers; companies that monitor and maintain
clients' Internet identity.
The online reputation management industry developed in response
to the recent surge of user-generated Web content. In its infancy,
the Internet was an effective marketing platform where a company
could easily distribute its message to millions of consumers with
the click of a mouse. But as blogs, review sites, forums and social
media have multiplied, citizens' voices easily overwhelm corporate
messages.
This democratization of the Web is largely seen as a positive
for consumers. User-generated media can provide an unfiltered look
at a company and its products. But it can become a nightmare for
businesses.
"Sometimes a person takes it upon themselves to give the company
a bad name," said Miles. "It will show up high on the list because
it's on a popular blog, and a company could lose sales."
When that happens, reputation managers come in to clean up the
mess.
These online fixers employ a number of techniques to repair a
company's image, depending on the type of harmful user-generated
media. But Miles Technologies' public relations specialist Purna
Virji said the goal is always the same: to bury negative
information as far down the list of search engine results as
possible.
"Once there's something on Google, you can't ever take it off,"
she said. "But there are things you can do that will fill in the
space with good, positive information."
Virji, who handles Miles Technologies' reputation management
clients, creates new Web sites, posts testimonials on review sites,
ghostwrites blogs and employs various other tactics to push
damaging material off of the front page of search engines. She said
that consumers researching a company rarely investigate past the
first page of results.
"We will use an outreach campaign and promote online branding
[and] use that strategic placement to push negative posts," Virji
said.
But at what point does good public relations turn into
deception? A recent survey conducted by global market research firm
Opinion Research Corp. indicated online product reviews influence
the purchasing decisions of 84 percent of Americans. Another study
by Rubicon Consulting said that online reviews are second in
influence only to word-of-mouth publicity.
With consumers depending so heavily on user-generated feedback,
there is an expectation that Internet search results are a true
representation of the company, whether positive or negative.
Reputation management techniques that tamper with searches and
manufacturer favorable user reviews seem to disrupt this and
therefore fall into an ethical gray area.
However, Miles argues that online reputation management is
simply an extension of traditional public relations. His service
gives companies a way to defend themselves from distorted rumors
and false accusations that can permanently affect their
operations.
"You have to remember that there are people behind these
companies," Miles said. "If the information is not true, the lies
hurt people and cause damages."
He added that, while there is no official policy on what
information they will agree to bury, there are boundaries the
company refuses to cross. Miles Technologies will not alter
information pertaining to recent criminal convictions, business
ethics violations and other similar offenses.
"We want to use these things for good," Miles said.
Such moral standards are common among established reputation
managers. Nevertheless, directly adjusting a company's online
presence remains a point of ethical contention. Virji said that
anything she does to enhance a company's image is factually based.
Positive reviews are created from real customer testimonials and
new Web sites are no different from traditional press releases.
But it is up to the individual company to determine how far it
is willing to go.
Host Web sites for user-generated media expressed their distaste
for such techniques, but acknowledged there is not much they can do
to combat it.
"It's not intrinsically wrong, but it's definitely not
encouraged," said Jay Walsh, the head of communications for
Wikimedia, the foundation that runs user-edited encyclopedia
Wikipedia.
Google Inc. spokesperson Jake Hubert echoed the sentiment,
adding that search engines will detect questionable tactics.
"There's no problem in creating positive content to combat
negative content if done within the guidelines," he said in an
e-mail. "But if you use spammy and manipulative techniques … we may
take action on it."
Despite the ethical disputes, companies will need to learn to
manage their online presence, because the collaborative,
user-driven world of Web 2.0 is here to stay. In the latest report
by marketing research company comScore, eight of the Top 10
most-visited Web sites in June were search engines, social media or
product review sites.
As the marketing landscape changes, Erin Allsman of
Philadelphia advertising agency
Brownstein Group advised companies to take
control of their Web presence and embrace user-generated media
rather than fight it. She said it is much easier to maintain a
positive reputation with Web users than to try to rebuild it in the
future.
"Knowing your audience is the number one PR rule, and now it's
also the number one rule of online reputation management," she
said.