For those of you not familiar with PR and online reputation management, these two terms might seem like one and the same thing. But don’t be fooled. While both of them are centered on shaping the perception of an individual or brand, unlike PR, reputation management is less about direct communication with customers, and more about the technical aspects. PR on the other hand is more forward facing and visible, and will use different techniques to help create or nurture a positive image.
Whether you are looking to give online reputation management services a try, or wish to develop an efficient public relations strategy, or why not, even both, keep reading this post as we go more in detail.
What Is PR
A term that is sometimes not correctly understood, PR aims to improve the public image of an individual or business. The public relations process is all about sending the right messages, at the right time, to the right people, and today, it’s one of the most effective ways to build on existing marketing strategies, and secure your name’s, or brand’s reputation.
The duties of a PR department include activities such as:
- Planning publicity strategies and campaigns. These can sometimes be created with the help of an advertising company as many times they colap.
- Writing and producing presentations and press releases.
- Dealing with enquiries from the public, the press, and related organisations.
- Organising and attending promotional events such as press conferences, open days, exhibitions, tours and visits that help showcase a company and facilitate interactions with potential customers.
- Reach out to social media influencers. This is a new field of public relations that has been completely transformed by the rise of social media.
Overall as seen above, a PR strategy looks at increasing a brand’s credibility within a given industry, and improving its overall reputation.
What Is Online Reputation Management
Are you launching a new company and you want people to find out about it faster? Do you have reputation problems and don’t know what to do to get rid of all negative search results? Is your business’s page plagued by fake reviews written by your competitors?
Online reputation management can help solve all these and much more. By taking control of the online conversation so that people only find the positive aspects about you or your company, reputation management is one of the most effective ways to shape online appearances.
Online reputation management techniques include:
- Creating positive content for all channels including websites, blogs, social media platforms, videos, podcasts, white papers, and so on.
- Responding to comments, blog posts, or online reviews directly.
- Using SEO to suppress online negative search engine results. With most people only going through the first 2-3 pages of results, the content that appears behind will most probably never be seen.
- Removing arrest records, mugshots, or negative content by legal claims.
- Removing personal information off the internet.
Since both online reputation management and PR techniques involve making a person or brand look good, when used together they can help boost brand authority and put your best brand face forward.