When it comes to social media, a company’s reputation strictly belongs to the public domain. When everyone keeps his/her fingers crossed that all is well on social media sphere, taking everything for granted would be equal to a same-side goal. And if something damaging happens, ORM (online reputation management) comes into play.

It can be your unsatisfied client or your ex-employee, who can negative comments about your brand on different social media channels. When you find any such comment about your business on the web, the first thing you should NOT do is, deleting it. And the next is as follows:

Listen: Listen to what they are saying. And don’t reply back unless they are done. Identify the crisis first. If you find any of your clients is making the negative comments, try to take this offline, gradually. But if others are doing it, try to figure out the reason. For example, if any of your competitors is spreading bad words against you, try to understand his motto first and then make a plan.

There are free tools like Google Alerts, which can help you track your online mentions easily.

Respond: Respond, don’t wait for them to take your silence as your weakness. As soon as you decipher the issue, you should jump in to stop the negative buzz. Appoint a core team to handle ORM, so that the versions don’t mismatch. Fix a proper plan to deal with the concerned people. For example, if it’s regarding any misconception about your product/service, you should immediately clarify things with the right information.

Engage: Your social media accounts are the best possible way to engage with your online community. And if you have already built a loyal community there, it would be easier for you to fight the negative buzz. First of all, your loyalists might take the opportunity, if they are satisfied with your views and really buy what you are saying. But if there is none from your network to vouch for you, you should start focusing on each and every complaint.

If there is any content-related issue, and you need to change it, first thing you should do is, apologize and revamp the content. After changing or modifying the content, you should share it with the World Wide Web. Your responsibility does not end here. Be sure to update the content on social bookmarking sites too.

ORM is an art. If you can do it effectively, it can do wonders for your brand, else it may prove damaging enough.

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