We live in a society where pretty much anything can be bought and sold. Which is why I was somewhat less-than-surprised to hear that businesses had taken their poor online reputations – and sometimes the reputations of other companies – into their own hands, and turned to Fiverr.com to purchase online reviews. These reviews served two purposes:
- To give false or dishonest praise to a product to boost its reputation.
- To give false or dishonest criticism to products to destroy their reputation.
While this seems like a pretty simple scheme, it is backfiring for over 1,000 members of the Fiverr community who now face lawsuits and criminal charges for posting fake online reviews. What seemed like a quick way to earn $5 is going to cost them much more in the long run.
So what lesson can we learn from this?
Firstly, online reviews and your company’s reputation matter – a lot! While you may have a stellar company and satisfied clients calling every day, there will always be someone who wants to post a negative review, tell a friend that your services were terrible, or a dissatisfied candidate who posts to your Facebook page saying “I hate this company!” Having an online reputation isn’t enough, you need to be making sure to monitor and protect it.
Secondly, there are services out there who will do just this. No underhanded paid-for reviews, no sneaky purchased testimonials – just real, honest feedback shared to your website, review sites, and social media pages that helps protect your online reputation and position you as the stellar staffing service you are.
Where can I find out about this great service? Click here to learn about Haley Marketing Group’s Reputation Management program.
