Are You Visible and Can You Be Engaged?

Before the modern changes in the media landscape major companies promoted from on-high. Notes of comparison between consumers were almost strictly one-on-one so the management of reputation and brand perception was a linear progression between consumer and producer. A disgruntled customer had few opportunities to express their displeasure and the process was largely under the control of the corporations and legal system both of which restricted the spread of negative commentary. Other than telling your neighbours and friends of an unfortunate experience there was little which could be done. Of course informal reporting networks like this have been successful over the generations ion spreading the truth far and wide. The issue is the time frames involved and the public lack of focus which give volume to the individual voices.

Honesty and Promotional Truths Revealed

While consumer law is said to make advertising and promotion honest these is little evidence to support this. Layers of consumer regulation largely have the effect of creating more elaborate misinformation which evolves to deal with the obstacles in its path. Again the traditional way in which many companies overcame the apparent dissonance between their claims and reality was to quote legal loopholes which permitted one thing to be called another. When society was broken up and communication between population nodes was slow and disjointed it was possible to control the information available to consumers. These days, however social media and mass emailing means a single dissatisfied client or just one misstep in dealing with consumers can lead to the online version of an explosion. In a short time the same brand entropy which may have taken years can be manifest in promotional spot fires all over the globe.

In one of these developing situations dishonesty and dissembling can only harm your reputation further. Regardless of the nature of the complaint modern social media requires companies to deal directly and honestly with developing publicity storms. Even in the case where a campaign may be based on wrong information or deliberately designed to wound the best approach is to take on board the criticism and respond openly and honestly. Not everyone in the world will side with the complainants and your reputation amongst reasonable consumers will be enhanced by "turning the other cheek".

What Brand Attributes Can You Deliver Which Provide Online Focus?

A positive way to overcome the possibility of a negative spiral in your online promotions activity is to constantly express positives. Put ideas out there which can have the effect of giving people good things to talk about. Offer a great value promotional product to people and watch how they spread the word amongst themselves. By managing and dealing in positives you can block out the growth of negatives driven by outside forces.

Your brand reputation is an amalgam of values, desires and historic events. To make the most of the value it represents it must be nurtured like any other aspect of your business asset base. The emergence of social media platforms online has come as both a problem and an opportunity which the more savvy marketers are now turning to their advantage using techniques which involve those suggestions listed above.