There are people, departments, and even entire organizations that are solely dedicated to fact check reports and stories. While some of the most well-known organizations that do fact checking focus on politics, there are also plenty of fact-checkers who make it their business to learn about companies. Companies need to learn if they can trust their potential service providers, partners, or clients.
Fact Checking A Company
If you want to check out statements for yourself or would like to work doing this for others, you can learn how to become a competent fact-checker. There are two core competencies that you will need to become a real fact checker:
- You should be able to research independently. In other words, you will have to learn how to get to the source of data or information to figure out if reports are entirely true, somewhat true, or entirely untrue.
- You should know something about the business of creating the types of reports that you plan to check. If you plan to check corporate claims, for example, you should have a good understanding of the kind of data that is used to make these reports. When you understand the process, it will be easier for you to spot potential weaknesses or flaws in the way information has been presented.
To better understand this process, it might help to consider an example. Let’s say a digital marketing company promises to provide your business with great returns because they can help your website get better ranks in search engines or more attention on social media. They might even give you some examples of their past successes.
If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you probably already know that you can’t just assume that they are only telling you the truth. How do you know if they are glossing over problems or exaggerating their success?
Researching Companies To Verify Past Results
To verify company claims, you might employ a few different strategies:
- Ask to speak to references: To be sure that they did provide past clients with the services that they promise, you might ask to speak with business owners from the companies that they use as examples. For instance, the marketing company might point out the fact that they attracted thousands of new fans or followers to a social marketing page. However, you need to know if these social media connections were interested in the product and that many of them also turned into website visitors and buyers.
- Research results on your own: Very often, you can spot problems with digital marketing services by only checking out the results for yourself. For example, if you want to research an SEO company, you can find out what kind of links the client has by using a free link checker. You can also check to see if the site ranks well for relevant keywords for their industry by conducting your searches on Google or another major search engine.
Why Is Company Fact Checking Important?
Every company wants to present themselves in the most positive way. That means that they might leave out some details or gloss over problems. To protect yourself or your business, you will want to take care to make sure that the company’s claims are realistic.
By learning to check facts, you can help save yourself or your employer a lot of time and money. It’s not always easy to confirm reports or make positive reports are presented in an honest way. However, learning to do it well can be a significant investment.
