Reputation management (ORM, SERM)

SERM can be simplified as Search Results Management.In countries with large audiences, it is more frequently applied in the political sphere and serves as an integral tool in election campaigns and regime change processes. 

For example, imagine that in an African authoritarian state, a well-known public figure does not want allegations about acting against state interests to appear in the Top 10 Google search results when their full name is searched.

What do they do?

1. Allocate budget funds to finance government-affiliated institutions. 
2. Create dozens of clone media outlets to generate controlled content.
3. Invite foreign PR consultants to design and manage reputation strategies.
4. Through associates, engage private troll factories and networks of fake accounts.
5. And they all work together for a single goal: to boost a person’s reputation or to erase negative mentions and evidence from the information flow.

The whole team works on social media comments and on spreading positive news in the media. And if there’s a need to “make people forget” some scandalous incident that cannot be covered up, they release an even more scandalous and artificially exaggerated story that distracts the audience and makes them forget the previous scandal. This is called reputation management. 

As you can see, using these tools requires huge financial investments and is accessible only to major businesspeople, governments, and centers of international interest.

ORM (Online Reputation Management) is frequently applied in the business environment and, in many cases, within the context of black PR or negative campaigning. For example, a newly emerging market player may attempt to bankrupt a competitor by orchestrating a situation in which sales drop to a minimum across dozens of residential buildings constructed by that competitor. Or one producer may seek to severely damage the reputation of a rival known for high-quality dairy products.

What do they do within the framework of reputation management? You’ve likely guessed it already. They turn to the power of social media platforms, often first creating an offline trigger or pretext for public discussion. 

Then they amplify narratives online - through coordinated posts, comments, targeted content distribution, and information campaigns - with the aim of influencing public perception, reducing consumer trust, and ultimately affecting sales and market position.In such cases, ORM tools are used not only to strengthen one’s own brand reputation but also to strategically undermine competitors within the digital information space.

Broken glass in a product? A long hair found inside? Staged signs of food poisoning? Those are tactics of a bygone era. Classic modern propaganda advises acting more subtly -avoiding blunt, attention-grabbing moves and instead influencing the reputational background gradually, drip by drip. 

Social media platforms have become powerful instruments of influence. Major platforms continue to strengthen and expand their impact on public opinion. On the internet, people freely express positive and negative views, and once negative information appears online, it spreads at lightning speed, damaging the reputation of organizations, brands, and even states.

• 84% of consumers trust reviews and opinions shared by other users.
• A single negative article can reduce a company’s sales in a local market by up to 22%.
• A coordinated, large-scale negative state propaganda campaign - even without administrative pressure - can drive a foreign company’s sales in a given country down to zero.

• Monitoring. Reputation management is a continuous process. To achieve effective results, it is essential to constantly monitor information circulating online about you or your brand and provide an appropriate response when necessary.
• Professional response. Addressing both negative and positive feedback is important. Responding correctly and promptly to negative articles or posts on online platforms can mitigate their impact and may even turn the situation in your favor. Under no circumstances should you attempt to “silence” critics. Remember, that is often exactly what those orchestrating black PR campaigns aim for.
• Removing or neutralizing undesirable content. It is also possible to reduce the visibility of unwanted articles or materials. In this process, content management and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) play a key role, helping to push down negative content in search results and strengthen positive, high-quality information about your brand.