What a reputation management expert won’t tell you about bad reviews

Most consumers and businesses know that online reviews matter, but they are wholly unaware of how those reviews can be altered, rendered completely insignificant, or even erased. Reputation management experts (RMEs) are hired for this express purpose. But not everything about the profession is obvious.

1. Some RMEs take cases even if it’s a petty or dubious complaint. “It is our job to try to get these things removed as a value proposition. I’m trying to sell you a service,” concedes Curtis Boyd, the CEO and Founder of Future Solutions Media, a Los Angeles-based online reputation firm. “I’ve had people contact me saying, ‘Can you get this arrest record taken off the internet?’ I turn them down. Could I? Yes, you can pay me a lot of money, and I can get this off of Google $GOOGL, or the internet. Would I do it? No. I wouldn’t do it,” Boyd says.“It really depends on the reputation management providers’ code of ethics, where they are in their life, and if they are desperate for money. People will do desperate things for money, of course.”