While the concept of a parallel universe is still a scientific mystery, there is another world where we all live in a digital form—the cyber world. Through continuous technological advancements, we have reached a point where our presence in the digital world is just as important as our existence in the physical world. Cyberspace is more about protecting reputation, and that applies to businesses as much as it applies to individuals. Regardless of how popular or obscure you are on the internet, here are the top five reasons why you should monitor your online reputation.
5 Reasons to Monitor Online Reputation
1. Affects Your Candidacy as a Jobseeker
If you are a jobseeker hunting for a job these days, you might as well want to spend some time going through your online interactions. Employers like to screen their candidates before hiring them, and there is no better way for them to do it than to explore their candidates’ online social networking profiles. If you have had religious, political, racial, etc. arguments and you seem to be leaning too much on either side of the spectrum, it could go against you. Be sure to avoid controversy when interacting with people online even if it is a tough test of your patience.
2. Affects Your Hiring Process
It is not just the job seekers who have to show maturity in their online interactions. Employers have to show the same level of seriousness with their online reputation too. It only requires a few clicks for a candidate to explore a company’s online profile, interactions, customer perception, etc. before they go for an interview. Not to mention, old employees can share their bad experiences with their employers on the internet too. If a candidate finds out about them, they might not even show up for the interview.
3. Impacts Your Brand Image
Your brand image relies heavily on what customers say about you in online reviews and feedbacks. Today’s customer likes to visit several blogs and reviewing websites before deciding to purchase a product/service from a brand. If there is a lot of negativity about your brand online, your customers will form a negative opinion about your brand without even giving you a chance to prove the notion wrong.
4. Lets Your Competitors Malign You
As much as this type of marketing should be avoided, some businesses like to resort to it. Some marketers believe the only way for them to promote their brand is to belittle their competitors. In the recent days, Amazon has faced severe criticism for letting fake brands post fake reviews on their own products. These brands pay people to admire their brands in reviews and malign their competitors. Could one of your competitors be maligning you right now?
5. Lets You be a Part of the Trend
Social networking websites like Twitter revolve around trends. Twitter users like to receive recent news and announcements from their favorite brands, celebrities, sports stars, etc. on Twitter. You have to continuously appear in Twitter trends to remain relevant. If you are out of touch and missing from the recent trends on social networking websites for a long time, your customers and prospects will forget you.
People are quickly shifting away from TV, radio and newspaper. The internet is their favorite medium for entertainment, news and information. Certain things can go viral on the internet and unfortunately, bad ones seem to go viral at quite a pace. It only makes sense that individuals and businesses pay close attention to their online reputation, and put an end to any piece of information that maligns them before it is too late.
