Protecting Your Company’s Reputation in Today’s Social Society

Today's Job Seekers are Digging Deeper

In today's social society, companies more than ever are being judged by their community. Whether it's the loyal customer that praises them for their business acumen or the disgruntled employee who left on bad terms, these opinions and reviews matter and can either positively or negatively affect a company's reputation.

For instance, a hiring manager posts a job on their website for a Territory Sales Representative. A potential candidate sees the post on Indeed, clicks on the post and gathers more information about what the job entails. However, the potential candidate's next step might surprise many hiring managers. They go to a website such as Glassdoor.com that allows them to get an insight into the company via their employees. Therefore, the disgruntled employee that left on bad terms and wrote a bad review about the company, now has a potential candidate questioning whether they should even apply for the position. While, this company may have been voted "Best Places to Work" by the BBJ, that one bad review can have a powerful impression.

Word of mouth reviews and opinions from peers are more influential than the accredited BBB stamp on a company website. Job seekers are digging deeper. Just like companies looking at Facebook and LinkedIn to research potential new hires, top sales talent is gathering as much insight as they can about hiring companies. It should come as no surprise that the opinions of others can deter top talent from considering working at a company.

So how do companies prevent blogs, websites and customer reviews from posting negative feedback about their organization? Simply, realize that we live in a connected community; companies can no longer hide behind a facade when honesty, transparency and trust are identified by what the "everyday man" is saying.

Many companies realize how important protecting their on-line reputation is and have invested in hiring employees to find negative and positive content about their company and reply to the comment or reveiw. Therefore, the company is proactively protecting their company in a manner that portects their brand and image.

What have you done or been asked to do inorder to protect your company's image?