The problem that United Airlines had is that instead of having an active online reputation management plan it appears that they felt that the best plan of action was to do nothing.  Putting their heads in the sand was a costly mistake and it’s the same mistake that many businesses are making on a smaller scale every day.  Most people are aware that the vast majority of purchases today of any significance have an online element, in other words even if the purchase isn’t made online there is usually research done online before the purchase is made.  The growing trend is not only to research the product but also to Google the company to see if they have a good reputation to buy from.  If you are on the verge of buying a new central air conditioning system and you Google the company and find reviews from unhappy clients saying they do sloppy work are you going to buy it from them?  It’s not easy to measure the amount of business lost by having a bad online reputation but clearly it’s something that is having more and more effect as technology trends continue.

One of the biggest hurdles that businesses have in addressing the online reputation management issue is how do you do it?  With so many places for people to express their opinions online it seems like an overwhelming task, where do you start?  It’s these challenges that have led to the development of our advanced tools and online reputation management strategies.  We now have tools that will listen to what’s being said everywhere online about your company, your brand, your product, your name or even your competition.  We build strategies on how we want to respond to what’s being said both negatively and positively.  We have methods of building more positive content online to drown out any negatives that will inevitably come up.  It’s a whole new aspect of internet marketing and WSI is at the forefront again