| We all know that bad news travels faster than good | | | | invaluable. In fact, we can see them people pouring out |
| news. A bad or negative consumer experience can | | | | their sorrows, venting their frustration, expressing their |
| affect a business ten times more than a positive | | | | joy through blogs. Evidently, people are also venting out |
| experience. It can impact the decision of the buyer and | | | | their dissatisfied consumer experiences which influence |
| make him shift towards a competing brand. Let me | | | | others to think twice about brand loyalty. |
| illustrate a real life example that happened with me. A | | | | One can imagine how much amount of losses, |
| couple of weeks ago, I decided to buy a new mobile | | | | companies will have to suffer due to the whiplash and |
| phone for myself. I had a brand and a model number in | | | | nasty comments written by these consumers. This |
| my mind. However just before purchasing that | | | | calls for an immense amount of damage control and |
| particular cell-phone, I decided to do some online | | | | repair. Companies have to be careful that nothing |
| research. After all, as human beings, we are driven by | | | | negative or untoward comes up on the first two |
| user experiences. Well, what I saw changed my | | | | pages of a search engine. A forward thinking |
| decision. | | | | company will have to have a corporate blog in place |
| The top ten online search results which popped up as I | | | | that can combat such negative news. The |
| keyed in the query left me in a bit of daze. Pieces of | | | | methodology, a company adopts to combat |
| text lying below the name of my favorite product in | | | | apprehension and negativity, and sustain its goodwill |
| the search results page, had some negative | | | | and positive image forms the crux of online reputation |
| information that put me off. I did not even click on the | | | | management. |
| link to venture further. I then keyed in the name of a | | | | Let us see how a company can use the power of its |
| competing brand. Things were much brighter here. | | | | blog as a valuable online reputation management tool. |
| There were some positive reviews about the product | | | | ABC company does online research and finds out |
| on the top ten search results that came up. My mind | | | | how well (or badly) its product and customer service |
| was made; I went ahead and purchased the product | | | | rate in the top ten search results of the search engine |
| which initially had not ranked top-most in the list. | | | | page. It collates data from various blogs, finds out the |
| Like me, there are many consumers including you who | | | | nature of the complaint and its severity. After this, the |
| may decide to do some research and learn by other | | | | company suggests solutions or shares options with the |
| consumer experiences before buying a product or | | | | help of blog posts that can ideally solve the consumer |
| subscribing for a service. With the Web 2.0 search | | | | queries and keep their speculations to rest. While a |
| culture coming and the Time Magazine declaring the | | | | company gives its story though its blog post, both the |
| Person of the Year as You, it is evident that each one | | | | parties are benefited. The consumers restore their |
| of us can create a magnanimous impact with a click | | | | faith and confidence in the company because they |
| of a mouse or a keyboard button. In the olden days, it | | | | know that the company truly cares for them. The |
| was a well-known fact that the pen is mightier than | | | | company on the other hand, gets an opportunity to |
| the sword. That proverb can be modified to say that | | | | clarify its stand and earn the goodwill of the |
| the Internet is a greater weapon than the biggest | | | | consumers. This translates into repeat purchases, |
| ammunition in the world. Needless to say, the greatest | | | | brand loyalty and of course a bigger market share. |
| and most dynamic weapon online that can influence, | | | | Thus we see that the online reputation management is |
| provoke and even manipulate the human mind-a | | | | an infallible tool to a company because it can simplify |
| weblog or a blog. | | | | and clarify a lot of issues and problems which |
| The year 2004 heralded 'blog' as the word of the | | | | consumers face purely because of miscommunication. |
| year. Years later, the word has transformed itself into | | | | No wonder the company I purchased the product |
| action. Today it is a revolution and in the future, blogs | | | | from, had a stronger online reputation management |
| are poised to change the way decisions are made. As | | | | compared to the first one. |
| these are usually free, blogs are both convenient and | | | | |