Few with argue with the statement that Public Relations is responsible for managing corporate reputation. That’s common sense and it’s accepted by 99% of our marketing brethren.
However, when we move online, who looks after online reputation management?
You see, this is where the problem starts.
Our profession is the natural owner of online reputation management. No other marketing discipline has the experience or skills to manage reputation online. It’s part of the PR toolset. But that doesn’t stop them trying. And guess what? We’re not exactly making it difficult for them.
There’s an interesting article in the New York Times: “More Companies Pay Heed to Their ‘Word of Mouse’ Reputation”, which looks at the growing need for organizations to address the management of their reputation online.
Now PR practitioners (and dear regular reader I know you are sick of hearing this) have been slow to embrace the brave new world of online PR. We talk about it, but we don’t think about it.
There’s a marketing landgrab going on out there and if you don’t get your skates on it’ll all be gone before you click on it. The marketing disciplines are all laying claim to everything from search engine optimization to online customer relations.
If you think I am over reacting take a look at this quote from the normally excellent MarketingFix blog:
“As someone who loves to make sweeping generalisations, here’s one for you – The worst people at creating online buzz are PR companies – they just don’t appear to appreciate that online is a very different environment to offline. Act like a PR person and you will be ignored.”
This is the reality. The traditional marketing mix is under a little bit of pressure. Check out this quote from the New York Times piece:
“The potential financial implications of online reputations are substantial. “The more consumers come to trust the opinions posted on online forums, the less effective traditional advertising will become in influencing consumer behavior,” Mr. Dellarocas said.”
So as the pressure for new business areas grows, our marketing cohorts are casting their beady eyes onto the unclaimed online environment. The sad thing is that MarketingFix has a point. We haven’t addressed these areas. So let’s make today, the first day that we reclaim online reputation management for Public Relations.
Now don’t get depressed! The online environment has the potential to create more opportunities for PR than ever before. Please do not forget that you already have the majority of skills required to manage online reputation. You just need to understand the differences between how people behave online and off-line.
If you don’t start understanding how to work online, someone else will. Get on it.
Murphy's Law 