Steve Nash to announce the signing of his new NBA contract on Twitter. Oprah, Ellen, Ashton Kutcher, and ESPN all promote Twitter to the masses. CNN teams up with Facebook to provide live chat during major events. It’s happening right now. The majority is adjusting to instant spontaneous expression. And the ORM flood tide is about to roll in.

I’ve been awaiting this season since 2005, when I bought up a handful of domains related to online reputation management with the expectation of turning my Web marketing business into an exclusive reputation monitoring, management, and consulting service.

How Will We Recognize the Tipping Point?

A few things have to happen first. As you observe each step you’ll know we’re “that much” closer.

Phase 1: When the average person feels more comfortable sharing their opinions online than offline, you know we’ve reached critical mass. It’s only a matter of time.

Phase 2: Once people feel more comfortable searching out opinions online than asking around offline, the level of influence each online opinion holds trends up drastically.

Phase 3: When people spread opinions, rumors, and gossip found online without verifying accuracy, the iron is white hot.

Phase 4: Any and every possible comment will be shared, read, and spread about brands, products and services, and each company will either be prepared to address them as they are posted across the Web or they will be caught unaware and suffer the damage caused to their reputation, which inevitably leads to an erosion of consumer/investor confidence.

Phase 5: Online reputation monitoring, building, and repair services will have to ramp up their staffing to handle the volume of clients and mentions online.

Some would argue that we’ve already reached Phase 3. I see phases 1-3 still rising. But the tipping point is near. Most companies should already be engaged with ORM services to protect and expand their influence. But even the latecomers will hop on board soon enough.

The Limitations

As the name implies, SERM is limited to search results. To be more precise, it’s usually limited to page one of search engine results. I’ve consulted for a company, for example, whose primary business model is to sell stakes in various investment opportunities. This company has had negative search result appear on page one every time anyone searches for the CEO’s name in Google, Yahoo, Ask, or Bing. Now, it’s not my job to prove his innocence, though I strongly believe he was an innocent party involved in what the negative result claims. But he came to me to see what I could do about pushing that negative result back to page two by any means necessary.

The Purpose

The idea here is that when selling investments or any high dollar item, people are more likely to do some background research on their own before making the plunge. And if, in the course of a simple Google search, a person were to find a highly suspicious accusation or complaint against a leader or leaders of the company, consumer confidence drops to zero. Hence, bad search results lead to tarnished reputations and lost profits.

By promoting other positive pages and mentions until they rank higher than the negative mention(s), one could “push” the negative results back to page two or even page three, depending on the scope of the engagement.

The Assumption

The assumption here is that people only look at page one of search results (statistically proven). But if you think that sweeping the problem under the rug solves the problem, think again. There are dozens of ways people find information, and hiding negative results leaves the backdoor wide open.

What if the negative comment was made on a blog? Readers can find that post or comment through RSS feeds, internal links, external links, blog directories, social media promotion, etc.

On a forum? People looking for topic specific forums will encounter negative comments on a regular basis before ever encountering a negative search engine result. Forum members may be well versed on your company’s or employee’s soiled reputation and may share what they know both online and off.

In other searches? If I’m looking for research on a type of machine and it leads me to results that also mention something negative about a brand, person, or product, I will be influenced by what I’ve read. It won’t matter that I was looking for x. I also got y and z. My first impression of Brand Y or Employee Z was negative. It’s passive search influence, but it’s very real.

The Answer

As with all incomplete marketing and PR initiatives, the problem begins with a lack of vision, which is the result of a lack of understanding the situation and its consequences. SERM by itself solves nothing. It’s serves as a PR band aid on a gaping wound. Most people might not see the wound, but those who do will see the festering mess that continues to go unaddressed over time.

The answer is to develop a more robust internet reputation management strategy. When I say “more robust strategy”, I’m not tossing out SERM as a bad idea. Not at all. But if you’re dying of poison and only take some Advil, it’s no fault of the Advil that you still die. Advil is a painkiller. Not a detoxifier. Cringe at the dollar signs if you must, but do what it takes to monitor, manage, and build your reputation as though your business depends on it because, well, it does.

SERM is a superficial face-saving strategy, but not a solution. It is SEO for pages other than your primary site in the hopes of promoting 10 positive results to encompass page one of search results for products, people’s names, and other trademarked items. Combine SERM with other best practice ORM strategies and you’ll find that instead of just whitewashing your brand, you can actually strenghten brand perception and customer loyalty. Like everything in business, you get out of it what you put in.

I had an international client whose brand name you would all recognize, but will remain anonymous here. This client was not willing to spend much money on web marketing due to the particular standards, vision, and business style of their leadership. When profits were down, so went the marketing budget. In other words, they were cheap.

This company wanted to monitor its reputation for potential crises, so I performed a one-off reputation analysis. In early 2008, I delivered an extensive report to the company, detailing the issues, potential issues, and misprints that needed to be addressed. The company thanked me and proceeded to do absolutely NOTHING. They decided that the time, effort, and money required to address the public’s perception of their brand was too costly considering the nation’s economy and some losses already incurred during the year.

Before 2008 ended, this major company declared bankruptcy. Yes, bankruptcy. Granted, the execution of my proposed strategy would have cost them tens of thousands of dollars. It takes some time, effort, and money to rebuild what has been damaged. Client X opted out of the expense. They have since lost billions. Makes you wonder why they balked, eh?

Now, as powerful as it would be for me to use this company as example of what can happen as the result of a bad reputation left unchecked, I must admit that there were multiple factors involved, including the economy and the rising cost to do business, which cut deeply into profits. Add to that dilemma the inability to get credit due to the recession and you get the perfect storm.

Consumer confidence was at an all-time low. The lack of reputation management allowed confidence to erode and when additional shares were offered up to the public, not enough were sold to keep the company afloat. One way or another, your corporate reputation will make or break you. It may not boost your profits to an all-time high, but it could keep you afloat in a recession.

Since September, I’ve heard more than once that indirect methods of ROI are first to go when the economy takes a dive. The board of directors wants to see results, and in times of crisis, narrowmindedness leads to inexcusable vulnerabilities. My ex-client COULD have salvaged something, had their reputation been intact.

Let this be a lesson to all of you who are looking for places to cut corners and free up budget. Your reputation is NOT an area you can afford to sacrifice. Image, reputation, and consumer confidence are what keep commerce alive during rocky times. Are YOU doing what is necessary to guard your brand’s reputation?

1. Online Reputation Management
An emerging field combining public relations with search engine optimization monitoring online conversation to enhance brand reputation in search results.

2. Object Relational Mapping
A programming technique for converting data between incompatible type systems in relational databases and object oriented programming languages.

3. Oak Ridges Moraine
One of the most significant landforms in southern Ontario.

4. Other Regulated Material
A material which poses a risk in transportation, but does not meet the definitions of any other hazard classes

5. Operation Resource Management
The strategic purchase of operations resources.

A Word of caution: Be sure to clarify your intended use of ORM before launching into a sales pitch or explanation of why such service / action is necessary.