The exercise that I completed this week was setting my Google Alert for Nordstrom.
The goal was to understand how companies overcome negative press and what words will bring up negative results in articles about the company. Negative press on the internet can impact how customers feel about a company. Online shaming impacts employee morale, higher voluntary employee turnover and a decline in sales.
Task one would be understanding Online Reputation Management (ORM). Companies should be using ORM to see what is being said about them on the internet. This is the core of developing company management.
As an example, I will use Nordstrom. You can use any company that interests you or your own company to manage its reputation.
I chose Nordstrom due to their amazing reputation of customer service and always changing online site. I first entered in Nordstrom in the Google Alert monitor. By setting this alert, it will allow me to be able to see what is being said about Nordstrom online. I started by entering key words like Nordstrom scandal and Nordstrom fraud. Nothing showed up with these words which shows that there is no negative talk about Nordstrom in these categories. The words that I ended up choosing that allowed more feedback were fashion, sale, designer, campaign, and customer service.
The links that showed up were:
- Nordstrom Campaign- Nordstrom Expands Holiday Giving Campaign To Include Four Partners And A Goal Of $1 Million (Links to an external site.)
- Nordstrom sale- Animal-rights activists clash with Nordstrom over fur sales (Links to an external site.)
- Nordstrom Customer service- ‘Tis the Season to Tap Into Tech and Improve the Shopping Experience
These examples show that Nordstrom, after many years, remains a steady business with limited negative lash on the internet.
Is it right or wrong for a business to try to hide negative information online?
I think every company does not want to share mistakes that they have made, yet it is wrong to hide negative information. Companies want to show their best side to the public to get customers and also for employees to want to work their. They want to maintain their reputation and allow the public to think the best of them. I also believe that it is hard for companies to not share mistakes. In today’s world, the minute something happens, it is released in the news or on social media. Social media is easy for people to post their opinions of a company and share what had just happened to them with the company. Having negative information released can also show consumers how far they have come as well. Overall, businesses should not hide negative information from online.
I believe Nordstrom is good at mastering a successful online market. Nordstrom has great customer service and puts their customers first, which results in positive feedback online. Nordstrom also gives 1% of their gift card sales to charity and allows volunteer opportunities. Along with this, “employees can receive up to $5,000 annually to match their personal contributions of cash or volunteer time to qualified nonprofit organizations”. The company also gives back through the brands that are available at the stores which allows customers to feel back up Nordstrom as having sustainable brands.
Overall, after doing research on Nordstrom and previously worked for the company, I would absolutely say that Nordstrom is a great company to work for and has mastered the art of online brand marketing.
Citations:
“How We Give Back.” Nordstrom, https://shop.nordstrom.com/c/nordstrom-cares-non-profit-support.
“Chapter 11: Online Reputation Management (ORM) ” Digital Marketing Essentials, by Jeff Larson and Stuart Draper, Publishing by Edify, 2018.Scheff, Sue. “How Negative Publicity (Shaming) Can Impact Your Company and More.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 20 July 2017,
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-negative-publicity-shaming-can-impact-your-company_b_596d2279e4b05561da5a59ca.
