I'm wrapping up my series about online reputation management today by connecting a few important dots. Experts say that by drawing these strategic lines, you won't just get your company's reputation under control; you could fix your customer-service problems, too.And who doesn't want to have great customer service?
We want to be the next Amazon, Kohl's or Costco -- the top-rated companies in a recent customer ranking by the Temkin Group. We want to get a glowing write-up from a management professor, like Wal-Mart did after Hurricane Katrina, for our reputation management initiatives.
Perhaps more to the point, here's what we don't want: We don't want to have the next United Breaks Guitars and the subsequent fallout. Or to have something like the Dell Hell chart on Jeff Jarvis' blog, often cited by rep managers as a case-in-point for managing a corporate brand reputation protect and reputation.
We've already covered the link between service and reputation. And we've seen the importance of negative feedback to improving customer service.
But let's take a few steps in your customer's shoes. How are they interacting with the information about your company?
Turns out that while they are influenced by the online discussion and customer reviews, they're becoming more sophisticated than you might have thought.
When prospective customers see a negative review, for example, they're likely to view it in a broader context to determine how your company is responding.
"Are they actively working to resolve the issue?" asks Taylor Pratt, a vice president of product marketing for Raven Internet Marketing Tools. "Are they ignoring it completely?"
Customers are also looking for patterns in the data. Is it an isolated incident, or is there a trend? Does the problem repeat itself?
Your clients are just as likely to be influence by a pattern or an unresolved case as they are about a single negative -- or positive -- review.
Also, they don't believe everything they read.
"It is still the wild west out there," says Steve Tile, CEO of Northstar Research Partners. "Companies that are trying too hard to manipulate the messages are called out immediately. Many companies are still working towards codifying the do's and don'ts. The truth is that the rules change every day."
Maybe the only thing that can be said with any certainty about reputation management is that its future is decidedly uncertain.
"Consumers are getting savvier by the day," says Lee Culberson of the marketing firm Professional Mojo, "By the hour."
Efforts to overcontrol your company's reputation are far likelier to backfire. "They'll see through propaganda," says Culberson. Better to have a strong, authentic presence and to strive for an accurate self-image.
So here's where it all comes together: You can't manage your company's reputation correctly -- which is to say, be strong, authentic and accurate -- without also addressing your customer-service challenges proactively.
One must follow the other.
Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate, syndicated columnist and curator of the On Your Side wiki. He also covers customer service for the Mint.com blog. You can follow Elliott on Twitter, Facebook or his personal blog, Elliott.org or email him directly.
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