Reputation Enforcement: IT Can Make Brand-Universities Lose To Less Popular Institutes

Online, January 11, 2013 (Newswire.com) - A reputation management company talks about how free online content delivery can bring down reputable universities down instead of up.

Recently, universities and other institutions have brought their competition to the web. By delivering free lecture and other materials to students on the internet, universities are hoping to earn more income and acknowledgement than their rivals.

These universities will earn by initially offering free contents which will later on lead to premiums, meaning students have to pay to continue using the materials or products.

Moreover, these universities also continue to gain respect and good reputation in the education industry as their web presence serves as an advertisement. Aside from the income, this then attracts more students to get into their campuses.

However, Reputation Enforcement points out that this kind of "knowledge market" has a negative effect on the host university or institution.

"Not only are branded-universities capable of offering educational materials online. People would soon find cheaper yet with the same quality educational products offered by other schools and colleges." An online reputation management (ORM) consult from the company explained.

"Other lesser-known institutions, which want the same recognition and earnings, could follow the steps of the pioneering universities in this advancement by establishing their own user base. They could even copy their delivered contents."

According to the ORM company, this risks not only the chance for the branded-universities to earn much, but also their reputation as the first-class among educational institutions.

"Since there are lots of smaller institutions that can provide cheaper materials, it is to be expected that the higher institutions will have a less easier chance to attract more customers, especially from the middle class society which obviously dominates." the company's representative explained.

"Practically speaking, why would you go for an expensive resource if you can get the same quality of that product in a cheaper means? This is the first risk.

"What's more to watch out for, as these smaller institutions get more users and subscribers they will get more popularity.

"With them seen to be offering the same standard of education through their copied instructions and approaches, they could attract more students to their classrooms.

"If this would be allowed to happen for long, branded-universities can expect their reputation to level down with the rest of the institutions."

To keep the edge, Reputation Enforcement gives a tip to universities on how they can stay at the top.

"It would be a good idea to get a reputation management. They need some team to control their web presence for them. Surely, the other institutions would make ways to get ahead of them so they should not be relaxed and confident of their prestige.

"With all the competitors online, the least that any institution or company could do to survive is to stay up."