David Wiseman is a Senior Account Manager at Digital Brand Reputation Management company Five Blocks. Here, he gives us an insight in to the unique world of reputation management and what his everyday role looks like.
When we walk past a store and take a look through the window, we are going to be heavily influenced by what we see. Is it appealing? Does it capture our interest enough for us to want to go inside?
In 2018, googling someone’s name is the equivalent of looking through the shop window.
What online presence do they have, how many reviews do they have?
What are other people saying about you?
In this day and age of fake news, it’s crucial that every business stays on top of their online presence. With a multitude of online review sites, businesses and high-net worth individuals are vulnerable. They are also far too busy running a business to be able to spend time on this.
This is where I, and the company I work for come in. We manage the digital reputations of our clients. I have been working in digital marketing/SEO since 2005, so this role was just a natural progression for me from previous marketing roles. I could see the role of the search results impacting on a brand, and this got me interested in the ramifications of it. The role itself appeared to have a really dynamic nature, which is what attracted me.
My work touches on the world of SEO and account management. There is also some cross-over with the world of PR – this has often been the established go-to solution for helping with problems regarding reputation. Choosing to go down this route without considering the online implications can result in a minimal impact PR campaign, and heightened attacks on an organisation.
I’d say the role of helping the client excited me more than any other areas within the role. Understanding their worries circulating around online reputation management (ORM) takes time, and executing a strategy to combat it requires a full understanding of what they are looking for. ORM is a new world to many of our clients, but once they have an understanding of just how much I can help them, the trust is there.
My role requires at least a basic knowledge of SEO as well as a firm grasp of the digital world, most notably what makes the algorithm tick.
Every client is unique and that is what makes this work so dynamic and interesting. For example, sometimes a client may not exist online because they’re called David Beckham, Simon Cowell or Harry Styles. Good luck trying to appear in the search results at all over these slightly popular individuals!
Reputation management is a very rewarding line of work as we really are helping people. We provide the peace of mind they are looking for. As we live more and more of our life online this is going to become a bigger deal.
Because of this, I have to be proactive. You never know what problems or issues will happen or where they will come from, so I have to be eternally vigilant as the client’s online watchdog. You never want there to be a situation that the client knows something that you don’t and is telling you about it.
For anyone considering a role in reputation/brand management, my advice would be to read up on it. Stay abreast of the industry and current affairs. The industry changes rapidly, so understand what’s happening around you.
If you are fascinated by the internet, its inner workings and helping people this will be the role for you. Like anything online, there are some who give the rest of the industry a bad name. So it’s important you are a professional in everything you do. Be discreet and protect the confidentiality of your clients. Don’t make guarantees to win business – under-promise and over-deliver, for the biggest irony of online reputation management is that old school word of mouth from clients is still the best source of new business.
If you would like to find roles similar to what David does, take a look on our website here.
If you would like to hear more about what David does, you can connect with him on LinkedIn here.
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