What is search engine reputation management, and why and how do employers manage it? We talked about this and more with representatives of Reputation House, an agency that works with employee reviews and other areas of reputation marketing.
Their journey began over a decade ago, evolving from a small company to an international enterprise. With representative offices spanning 8 countries and a team of over 200 people, Reputation House not only focuses on creating, maintaining, and safeguarding reputations but also extends its expertise to high-tech industries. The agency’s contributions include the development of two mobile applications for reputation management (for individuals and businesses) and the IQBuzz intelligent monitoring system.
Figures and Facts from Reputation House: How Employee Reviews Affect Job Seekers
Social media is increasingly becoming the main source of personnel search. Statistics prove that 95% of companies actively use this medium in the recruitment process. The growth rate of online recruiting is impressive: over the last five years, the demand for it has increased by 54%.
It’s no surprise that many candidates utilize social media and other online resources in their job search. Here, representatives from the agency emphasize a crucial point: the perception of a prospective employer directly hinges on the information job seekers uncover through search engines. According to Reputation House, negative employee reviews and an overall poor company reputation are significant factors, leading 69% of candidates to decline a job offer. Interestingly, even if the offer is increased by 100%, a bad reputation remains a decisive factor for a third of job seekers in rejecting an offer.
What should you do if a negative opinion about the company has already been established on the Internet or if no one knows about it yet? The solution is SERM from Reputation House.
What is Search Engine Reputation Management?
Basically, it can be viewed as a synthesis of PR technologies and SEO promotion, supplemented by a number of other tools. The main task is to make the search output work in favor of the employer. When a potential candidate searches for information online, he will find the content that will help him form a positive opinion of the company.
As part of SERM, Reputation House is dedicated to bringing competent, verified information, where there is no unmotivated dissatisfaction or complaints into the top 10 search results. A variety of tools are used to accomplish this, including:
- Monitoring the dynamics of brand reputation in order to identify the slightest changes in it and react to them in a timely manner.
- Working with employee reviews, Reputation House focuses on quality and efficiency. Specialists support neutral and positive comments, leveling out the negativity. Inaccurate information is removed by agreement with the owners of the platform, and only in very rare cases is it necessary to resort to judicial settlement of the conflict.
- Creating positive and neutral content and publishing it on the right resources. Reputation House works in SERM natively, organically integrating information verified by the customer into the content.
- The agency approaches each case individually, developing a unique strategy for the client. Many factors are taken into account, including the current reputation situation, desired results, etc.
Reputation House’s SERM service can dramatically change the perception of a company as an employer for the better. But why should it be done?
Bonuses from Reputation House’s Work with Employee Reviews
It’s important to note upfront that instant results shouldn’t be expected, especially in cases where there is no online information about the company or its reputation is severely damaged. Typically, the process of creating or rectifying a reputation takes at least a few months. However, even after that period, it shouldn’t be left to chance. As emphasized by Reputation House, without controlling employee reviews, the search engine can once again become filled with negativity. Moreover, there’s no guarantee that these negative opinions are genuine; they could potentially be the result of unfair competition
By working with employee reviews within SERM, Reputation House helps the company:
- Demonstrate a well-developed feedback culture. Employer comments are perceived as a willingness to open dialog and a desire to improve labor conditions. When job seekers realize that employees are heard, they are much more likely to respond.
- Be attractive to qualified and highly specialized employees. In-demand personnel are looking for more than just a high salary: they are also interested in the values that the future employer holds. The more interesting the HR brand is, the higher the chances of creating a strong team with which you will be able to take a leading position in the market.
- Increase attractiveness for partners and investors. Rarely does anyone want to cooperate with a company that cannot deal with the dissatisfaction of its own employees. And SERM technologies from Reputation House make it possible to ensure that the client’s internal problems are not seen at the top of the search results.
- Show that it cares about its employees. In addition to career prospects and salary, people are increasingly interested in a comfortable working environment and care for their mental and physical health. And if these aspects are reflected in the feedback, it will only benefit the employer.
And most importantly, working with employee feedback will help to make changes to the company’s internal policy and eliminate mistakes in staff interaction. There will be fewer reasons to write negative reviews on the Internet, which means that you will have to make less effort to maintain a positive reputation.
