http://www.reputationadvisor.com/orm-approaches-the-tipping-point/ The Online Reputation Management Blog Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:52:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 http://www.reputationadvisor.com/orm-approaches-the-tipping-point/comment-page-1/#comment-20235 Andrew Ward Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:31:38 +0000 http://www.reputationadvisor.com/?p=282#comment-20235 We are clearly reaching the tipping point for Online Reputation Management, but I believe that the industry is creating another bubble. Customer recommendations are proven to have greater influence on prospects over all other forms of advertising because they are perceived to be objective information based on real world experiences. Right now social media is driving online reputation management and I believe that it is enjoying a “honeymoon” period due to consumer’s trust of user feedback on ecommerce sites like ebay’s merchant ratings. But unlike ecommerce sites where authenticity can be managed via the shopping cart, it is impossible or impractical to authenticate the millions of blog post or the motivation of the blogger – is it self promoting, is it pay for post or is it just span to earn a Starbucks gift certificate? Unless authenticity of social media can be managed I believe that it will be relegated to entertainment and marketing applications but will fall short of an effective reputation management tool. People want authenticity not smoke and mirrors, that is precisely why they filter out adds when ever possible they are just irrelevant. We are clearly reaching the tipping point for Online Reputation Management, but I believe that the industry is creating another bubble. Customer recommendations are proven to have greater influence on prospects over all other forms of advertising because they are perceived to be objective information based on real world experiences. Right now social media is driving online reputation management and I believe that it is enjoying a “honeymoon” period due to consumer’s trust of user feedback on ecommerce sites like ebay’s merchant ratings. But unlike ecommerce sites where authenticity can be managed via the shopping cart, it is impossible or impractical to authenticate the millions of blog post or the motivation of the blogger – is it self promoting, is it pay for post or is it just span to earn a Starbucks gift certificate? Unless authenticity of social media can be managed I believe that it will be relegated to entertainment and marketing applications but will fall short of an effective reputation management tool. People want authenticity not smoke and mirrors, that is precisely why they filter out adds when ever possible they are just irrelevant.

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