This episode features Nainakshi, a luminary in the realm of Online Reputation Management (ORM), who brings over a decade of seasoned expertise to the forefront. She emphasizes the critical role of sentiment analysis, real-time engagement, and the unique challenges posed by social media, making ORM a distinct and indispensable facet of modern brand management.
Introduction
0:35
Nainakshi has accumulated almost 12 years of experience in her career, starting at the age of 18 with Convergys, a well-known BPO. Initially working as a customer care professional, she transitioned to the social media team, where her responsibilities included addressing customer queries and feedback. This marked her entry into the world of social media, managing response times and maintaining service standards.
Her journey continued with roles at prominent organizations such as Google India, American Express, Adobe India, Airbnb, and others. Notably, in 2015, she decided to specialize in Online Reputation Management (ORM). During her stint with American Express, she had the opportunity to set up a process in the Philippines, focusing on addressing App Store reviews promptly.
As her career progressed, she became involved with Google Tez, later rebranded as Google Pay. Working with the social media team, she handled escalations, addressing customer concerns and managing the brand’s online reputation across various platforms.
In 2015, she ventured into startups, joining Airbnb’s venture in India, known as Air Seva. Here, she led the social media and monitoring team, ensuring a high average rating and addressing crises promptly.She also emphasized the importance of certifications in ORM, obtaining certification from the Academy of Google Ads and becoming one of the few ORM-certified individuals in India.
Her expertise led to recognition, with companies reaching out to her for guidance on ORM. Nainakshi highlighted the distinction between handling social media escalations and traditional customer service complaints, emphasizing the unique challenges posed by social media, where viral content and memes can significantly impact a brand. This recognition underscored the need for dedicated teams to manage social media accounts effectively.
Differentiating ORM from Public Relations
5:46
Nainakshi highlights significant differences between Online Reputation Management (ORM) and Public Relations (PR). In PR, there is typically no emphasis on sentiment analysis or benchmarking when dealing with communications like emails. The common approach involves sending surveys and categorizing feedback as good, neutral, or decent based on a numeric scale.
However, in the realm of social media and ORM, sentiment analysis plays a crucial role. She emphasizes the importance of analyzing the sentiment of comments and complaints on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This analysis informs the development of strategies tailored to the specific sentiments expressed by customers. The depth of data analytics in ORM allows for a nuanced understanding of the type of feedback received and helps in crafting appropriate responses.
She underscores that the data analytics and sentiment analysis happening on social media are not replicated in traditional PR practices. Companies are increasingly focused on managing their reputation on social media platforms due to the potential for content, including memes, to go viral. Unlike PR, where SEO strategies can be employed to counter negative articles, ORM on social media faces the challenge that negative content can spread rapidly with significant consequences.
Nainakshi notes that ORM is predominantly organic, contrasting with PR, where some may hire agencies for assistance. She emphasizes the necessity of maintaining authenticity in ORM, highlighting that organic engagement is crucial. In conclusion, she underscores the dynamic and challenging nature of ORM on social media, where the potential for content to go viral necessitates a unique and strategic approach to reputation management.
Managing Credibility: PR vs. ORM Content Strategies
8:34 Nainakshi outlines her approach to Online Reputation Management (ORM) strategy, focusing on four key elements: data analysis, automation, predictive analysis, and personalization, along with crisis management. In the context of ORM, data analysis is crucial, involving the use of AI to swiftly and accurately process vast amounts of data, including media coverage, social media trends, and customer sentiment.
She emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between valuable and irrelevant data obtained from ORM tools. She illustrates the process of filtering out spam and categorizing messages into positive, negative, or neutral sentiments. Automation is a vital aspect of ORM, enabling the efficient handling of customer inquiries and communications. She mentions the role of AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants in routing customer inquiries and streamlining communication processes.
Comparatively, in Public Relations (PR), AI tools can aid professionals in analyzing media coverage, social media trends, and customer sentiment. However, Nainakshi underlines the necessity of a nuanced understanding in ORM, where the focus is on managing credibility. She discusses the practical aspects of using tools like Loco Buzz to fetch data, categorize conversations, and streamline the information for actionable insights.
She also highlights the importance of personalization and crisis management in ORM strategy. As the discussion progresses, she expresses her intention to delve further into these aspects, emphasizing their significance in the fields of AI, PR, and communications. Overall, her ORM strategy revolves around leveraging AI for data analysis, implementing automation for efficiency, and emphasizing predictive analysis, personalization, and crisis management to maintain credibility in the digital landscape.
Favourite Campaign
11:17
Nainakshi shares her experiences from her last role at Max Life Insurance, where she became the face of two significant campaigns. One of these campaigns, the Secret Santa initiative, aimed to acknowledge and appreciate the labor class, including sweepers and cleaners. The focus was on recognizing these individuals as the unsung heroes who contribute to maintaining cleanliness in society. She explains the importance of valuing those who clean our surroundings and considered them as the true Santas in our lives.
The second campaign revolved around Women’s Day, where Nainakshi emphasized the significance of women being economically and financially active, particularly in the context of life insurance. She highlighted the common practice among women to designate male family members as the primary handlers of finances, even when they are financially independent. She advocated for women to be financially capable and knowledgeable about aspects such as insurance.
As a part of these campaigns, she was featured prominently on Max Life’s Instagram page and became the face of multiple initiatives. She expressed her gratitude for the opportunity and acknowledged the campaigns as major contributors to her professional success. Nainakshi also mentioned collaborating with prestigious agencies such as FCB, Edelman, and Kantar during these campaigns, further underlining the significance of these experiences in her career journey.
Measuring Success : Qualitative or Quantitative
14:48
Nainakshi emphasizes that measuring success varies across different parameters and contexts. She highlights the diverse criteria for evaluating success in her role, pointing out that success is not solely determined by aligning teams and implementing crisis playbooks. While these aspects contribute to success, the ultimate measure depends on the outcomes achieved in terms of helping people on social media and customer service.
Nainakshi illustrates the contrast in defining success between traditional customer service surveys and social media. For instance, in customer service, success may be quantified through metrics like Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) percentages. In contrast, on social media, success is often measured by the positive sentiment generated. She shares an example where her team faced challenges with a crisis, leading to a negative sentiment of 37%, which, in turn, was considered a failure for the team.
The key takeaway from her perspective is that different parameters have distinct metrics for defining success, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative measures. Nainakshi’s insights underline the complexity of evaluating success in the dynamic realm of online reputation management, where outcomes can vary based on the nature of the issue and the effectiveness of the team’s response.
Important metrics to track
16:25
Nainakshi emphasizes that sentiment is not the sole factor considered in Online Reputation Management (ORM), highlighting various metrics integral to the evaluation process. These include content originality score, contextual relevance score, trustworthiness score, and a content consistency checker. ORM involves the scrutiny of multiple metrics to ensure a comprehensive assessment.
Among the crucial metrics, she mentions the Turnaround Time (TAT), stressing the importance of responding promptly to customer issues. Automation plays a significant role in achieving this, with auto-responses sent immediately upon receiving customer queries. Quality control is another vital metric, focusing on the meticulous use of macros without spelling or grammatical errors, given the potential for customer screenshots being shared on social media.
Ensuring quality responses, following crisis playbooks, and maintaining consistency are key aspects of ORM. Nainakshi emphasizes the need for agents to adhere to predefined playbooks, preventing arbitrary decisions and ensuring a standardized response approach. Additionally, she introduces the concept of a biased detection metric, aimed at identifying and quantifying biases, including political, gender, and cultural biases, to foster balanced and fair content.
She concludes by underscoring the significance of metrics like multilingual semantic search in shaping the ORM strategy. These metrics collectively contribute to a robust and effective approach in managing online reputation, emphasizing the importance of a comprehensive and balanced evaluation process.
Magic Feature/Tool
18:46
Nainakshi expresses a desire for a valuable tool in the field of Online Reputation Management (ORM), citing real-time fact-checking as a crucial feature. This tool would swiftly verify facts, claims, or statements made in online content, aiding users in discerning the accuracy of information. She envisions the tool providing instant insights upon receiving a complaint, distinguishing between a crisis, a routine complaint, or a potential viral issue.
In her ideal scenario, the tool would offer color-coded alerts such as red, yellow, or green, indicating the urgency of attention required. This feature would enable ORM professionals to prioritize responses based on the severity of the issue, whether it demands immediate attention within minutes, can be addressed within the next two hours, or is less time-sensitive. She emphasizes that such a tool would significantly enhance efficiency in ORM by automating and streamlining the currently manual process of assessing the urgency and potential impact of online complaints.
Evolution of ORM
19:55
Nainakshi reflects on the evolving nature of Online Reputation Management (ORM) as a distinct and specialized field. In the past, individuals handling customer service also managed ORM without recognizing it as a separate domain. However, the landscape has changed, with companies now establishing dedicated ORM teams and seeking candidates with specific qualifications. She notes that the desired qualifications for ORM positions typically range from 3 to 5 years of experience, as the industry is relatively new, and individuals with extensive ORM experience are scarce.
Certifications in ORM have become more prominent in recent years, contrasting with earlier times when marketing certifications dominated the field. Nainakshi, with over 10 years of experience, observes that even she is acquainted with professionals having a maximum of four years of ORM experience. Despite being a rapidly evolving domain, the demand for experienced ORM professionals exceeds the current pool of candidates.
She expresses optimism about the increasing recognition of ORM as a distinct discipline within companies. She acknowledges the establishment of core ORM teams, working collaboratively with legal, customer service, social media, and brand teams. While she appreciates her extensive experience in ORM, she looks forward to witnessing more professionals entering the field, obtaining certifications, and contributing to the continued growth and development of ORM.
My two cents
22:41
In offering advice to those seeking to enhance their skills in Online Reputation Management (ORM), Nainakshi emphasizes the importance of ethical conduct. Upholding ethical standards, honesty, transparency, and respect for privacy are foundational elements for building trust with clients and their audiences. For professionals working in agencies, networking and collaboration with other ORM experts and digital marketers are crucial. She encourages individuals to actively seek out the ORM community, connect with peers, pursue certifications, and continuously expand their knowledge.
Additionally, she underscores the significance of building a solid online presence. This involves establishing a personal website, leveraging social media, and creating professional profiles to gain insights into the dynamics of online reputation management. Her advice centers on developing a robust foundation, staying informed, and actively engaging with the ORM community to foster continuous learning and professional growth.