Why Your Business Needs Content Moderation Services
UPDATED June 1, 2023
Written By Merlene Leano
What is Content Moderation?
We are in an age of overflowing content and abundant information. The advancement of technology gave way to more available communication channels. With all these ways to communicate, there are more avenues for people to share their thoughts and interact. Whenever you want to say something or know about something, it’s all a few clicks away.
It’s great. People are more connected than ever. No matter the time and place, there are several ways two or more parties can share words. A major downside of this however is the existence of people with bad intentions who use these platforms to sow chaos or take advantage of vulnerable users through scams, fake news, spam, violence, and other inappropriate content.
The internet contains a mishmash of people of different ages, genders, nationalities, and so on. Not everyone will enjoy the same thing. This makes it imperative that there’s a safe space for everyone, especially for younger users.
Content moderation is one of the many ways to tackle the downsides of the internet and provide a secure environment for all the users. It is the process of sifting through content based on a predetermined set of guidelines and ensuring a positive user experience. The process can be done by humans, artificial intelligence (AI), or a combination of both.
With a majority of the marketing game now taking place online, content moderation is a must for several businesses. Read on to learn more about how content moderation works in the business industry.
The Importance Of Content Moderation Services For Businesses
Reputation is a critical part of a business. Not only does it dictate your standing in the business industry, but it also shows trustworthiness and the ability to deliver on your promises. With trustworthiness comes business partnerships, customer acquisition, and customer retention.
According to the numbers:
- Nine out of 10 consumers say that positive reviews affect their purchasing decisions. (ReputationX)
- 69% of customers are likely to support a business with reviews describing a positive experience. (BrightLocal)
Why is content moderation important? What does it have to do with reputation?
The state of your business reputation can be easily affected by the content you make. One mistake can easily lose the faith of your customers, therefore potentially costing you millions in the long run.
Customers need to trust a business before making a transaction. As a customer, would you buy a product from a website with very low reviews, outdated, and no security measures in their transaction process? Highly unlikely (unless you’re truly desperate).
Even with an aesthetically pleasing website, if the review section is full of bots and has a reputation for credit card fraud, it would still garner the same negative reaction from potential customers.
Content moderation is even more of a must if your site caters to younger audiences. You would need a moderator to make sure that they are not exposed to inappropriate content or become victims of fake profiles.
Here are other risks you might be exposed to without the help of content moderation services.
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The Risks of Not Having Content Moderation Services
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Negative comments or reviews
A lot of people check out reviews for establishments from sites like Yelp and Google before trying them out. With plenty of review sites available, negative reviews are easily aired and seen. The abundance of negative comments and a low rating can sour a potential customer’s decision to buy a product or service.
This is especially common in news sites or politically-inclined sites. People of the opposite belief will flood the comments and the company’s emails with inappropriate content to express their disagreement.
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Offensive or inappropriate user-generated content
The recent years have seen several social issues being voiced out and tackled. People are now more perceptive and aware of messed up stuff that they used to never bat an eye at. This extends to a business’ morals as well. Nowadays, people are less likely to support a brand with unethical practices or dubious morals.
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Spam or scams
The advancement of technology comes with a number of drawbacks. One of these is giving malicious people the means to cause all kinds of chaos.
These individuals can fill up your reviews, comment section, and chat with all types of spam. These spams can span from nonsensical and annoying to disgusting and inappropriate. It prevents your online community from interacting and exposes the members to potentially traumatizing stuff.
These individuals also target people who are not technologically inclined. They may pose as a different person and take advantage of a member’s kindness by squeezing money or other valuable things out of them.
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Legal and regulatory compliance issues
There are general rules you must follow on and off the internet. But there are also local rules that you may not be aware of. Breaking these rules may cause your content to be blocked in certain locations or even banned.
The Benefits of Content Moderation Services
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Ensuring a safe and positive user experience
Content moderation ensures that your community is safe from malicious parties, and in turn can be trusted. Trust coupled with a positive experience does the job of retaining your customers and attracting new ones who are looking for a better brand.
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Maintaining brand reputation and customer trust
Reputation is a load-bearing wall in the business world. A positive reputation equates to better opportunities in terms of garnering business partners and customer patronage. Maintaining a positive brand reputation indicates that you can be trusted to deliver on your promises.
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Reducing legal and regulatory risks
Content moderation ensures that your content adheres to rules, both general and local. This helps avoid legal risks that might cause your brand to be banned, blacklisted, or censored.
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Increasing engagement and customer satisfaction
With a safe online environment and more people in it comes more engagement. People will be assured of their safety and therefore much more freely interact with the brand or the other members of the community.
These interactions may come in the form of comments, reviews, or other valuable user-generated content. These forms of positive engagement can then serve as an advertisement for your brand that shows how satisfied your patrons are with your products and services.
Types of Content Moderation Services
Content moderation comes in several types, targeting either specific content formats or types. Here are the different types of content moderation services that businesses can choose from:
This type of moderation focuses on text-based content which mostly involves email, chat, and forums. This method uses a content moderation tool called keyword filtering in which banned words are fed into a database. When these keywords are detected, the content is immediately flagged and may either be replaced with symbols, deleted, or reported.
Text and chat moderation may seem easier but it comes with some disadvantages. One is that you simply can’t account for all inappropriate or banned words. The keyword filter also does not register the full context of conversations, leading to false flags and unexpected bans.
Image content moderation meanwhile involves scanning images for potentially inappropriate content. Malicious individuals hide these types of content in images by blurring, pixelating, or adding an unrelated caption that can get past the text moderation.
When an image is flagged for potentially inappropriate content, it is sent to the moderators for review.
Therein lies the limitation of image moderation. An AI can only do so much and cannot perfectly determine whether an image should be flagged or not.
Video content moderation meanwhile is a bit more tricky than image moderation. There are a lot of elements you have to pay attention to from audio to the visuals itself. When livestreaming is involved, you will also have to monitor the chat alongside the video.
An AI alone cannot moderate a video’s content. You need a team of human video content moderators to understand the nuances and determine whether the content is really worth flagging.
This type of content moderation catches individuals who are using fake identities to target vulnerable users. It helps prevent other people from being catfished or scammed out of their valuables.
A hitch in profile moderation is that some people simply create multiple accounts, most of the time using different names. These other accounts are used for varying purposes ranging from business transactions, school, penname accounts, or just for fun. This makes it harder to determine whether an account is malicious or not.
This type of content moderation tackles a varying number of people or an online community. The sheer size of a community may necessitate a team of community moderators to watch over the interactions.
Community moderators make sure that the community remains active, the interactions are healthy, and the rules are being followed. They do a number of tasks like going over threads, approving member requests, deleting posts, and so much more.
The moderator has a responsibility to adopt a neutral stance in all interactions. Conflicts further escalate if the moderators go on a power trip and start censoring too much or controlling the content according to what they like or believe.
UGC is a popular marketing tactic that incorporates the customers in the marketing plan. It’s cost-effective and enables the customers to create content for you. However, not all of the submitted content is beneficial for your business. UGC moderators ensure that your consumers are safe and that submitted content is screened.
UGC comes in all types of forms, from memes, video essays, product reviews, and so much more. Meaning, UGC moderation also comes with the hiccups of text, image, and video content moderation.
Majority of businesses have a website where customers can check for more information and purchase their products and services. Content moderators ensure that the UGC submitted obeys the guidelines and that the bank details of customers are protected.
As the name signifies, this type of content moderation refers to the management of your social media content. The social media content moderators monitor the UGC on your social media pages and take action when necessary.
How to Choose the Right Content Moderation Services for Your Business
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Budget and resources
A content moderation service comes with different plans and price lists. Some plans are paid monthly, or yearly, or are flexible with the duration.
Look for a plan that aligns with what your business needs, lest you end up paying for a service you no longer need. It also should be given to look for plans that fit with your budget.
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Business Needs and Objectives
Identify the nature of your company and the list of platforms it operates in. What are the types of content you mostly deal with? Find a content moderation company that understands your needs and is flexible with their plans.
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Audience and user-generated content volume
Take note of the company’s size and whether they can provide the needed number of help. Check the reviews of their previous clients and determine whether the company can handle your brand’s content volume.
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Industry and regulatory requirements
Does the company belong in the same industry as yours? Or do their services fall under multiple industries? It’s up to you to decide whether to get specialized or a jack-of-all-trades company.
You also need to consider the methods used by the company. Do they only provide human-powered services, only AI-powered services, or a mix of both?
A Better Option
The content moderation process is not just about grammar checks and banning profanity, it goes deeper than that. It shows your care for the type of content you let out and fosters trust with your clients.
After all, content moderation protects both the brand and the customers. It helps maintain the brand reputation of the company and ensures that its content adheres to various laws. As for the customers, content moderation shields them from falling for scams, and being exposed to inappropriate content, spam, and other harmful content.
The service comes with additional costs and limitations, but the benefits outweigh the cons at the end of the day.
However, some businesses can’t afford to onboard additional staff. At the same time, you can’t just fully rely on AI to do the moderating. The next best solution is to outsource from business process outsourcing (BPO) companies that offer content moderation services.
To save you the trouble of looking and screening for the right collaborator, consider partnering with Chekkee’s content moderation services.
Chekkee offers all types of content moderation solutions that can be catered to your business needs. We maintain a round-the-clock operation using the combined power of humans and artificial intelligence, ensuring non-stop quality moderation.
Check the list of services we offer above and create a plan that works for you. Thanks to our pay-per-service feature, you only need to pay for the agents’ active hours, saving you a lot in the long run.
Ensure a safe and enjoyable online experience. Contact us!
