We are all aware of the term ‘reputation’. It comes with any service, business or individual who we may come across throughout our busy and varied lives.
We may use reputation as a tool to determine where we want to go, who we want to meet and most importantly, who we want to do business with.
Until now, reputation was always determined through ‘word of mouth’; you may have heard about a good restaurant from a friend or had some bad reports about a company’s customer service. Nevertheless, it guided your opinion and set a bar for expectation.
Now, in the age of technology, we don’t need to hear about it from friends and family, we just need to go online! If someone is happy or unhappy about a product or service, they can just post about it, and believe me, they will post!
Many of us trawl through reviews until we find the glowing 5 stars or the imposing thumbs up, it gives a sense of security and allows us to develop a sense of trust. This not only goes for businesses, but for schools as well!
Who is Talking About My School?
Your schools’ reputation may be measured by the level of grades your pupils achieve each year; you may even measure it through attendance records. This is all fine, but data such as this is handled in-house and doesn’t take into consideration the external side.
Members of the public have the opportunity to talk about all aspects of the school through a variety of channels whether it’s social media, media outlets or discussion forums. Regardless of whether it is good comment or bad, our online reputation is constantly being moulded around posts such as these. What’s frustrating though? We may miss what is being said!
Having such an instant, accessible means to express opinions can often deter people to communicate in person. The days where praise and complaints are met with a letter and stamp can be few and far between. If you’re happy or angry, a keyboard is the place to go!
Having control over our online reputation can be challenging, especially as the internet is such a vast, accessible field. What’s even more challenging, is finding the opportunity to respond and capitalise on good publicity when exposure comes in.
On the flip side, the chance to respond to negative comments can sometimes resolve issues before developing even further!
How Do You Keep Track Your Online Reputation?
Our online reputation management tool - Reputation Alerts works to give your school a platform to monitor what is being said.
Although others may determine your online reputation, you are able to actively respond and gather constructive feedback on what is noticeably well-received about your school, and what may need more attention.
Having guidance on these areas allows opportunities for focus and reflection. If a problem arises that may need immediate attention, you’re already ahead of the rest. Hearing plenty of good things about results day? Jump on the hype and review your mentions – maybe the news has even picked it up?
Is someone noticeably unhappy about an incident at school but hasn’t talked to you about it? Reach out and try to resolve what issues there may be.
Reputation Alerts is there to give you control over your online mentions and aims to give you better understanding of your schools’ presence.