As hard as you work to build your brand and your company’s image, it can all come tumbling down in a heartbeat through an accidental mishap, an accident waiting to happen, or a rumor that gets out of hand thanks to ease of getting consumer generated content on the internet.
While it’s impossible to control many of the variables, there are still measures your reputation management company can take to afford as much protection as possible. Follow these reputation management rules and you’ll go a long way toward protecting your company’s reputation:
- Run a pristine operation - There are so many ways that negative information can make its way to the web you should just assume that anything your company does is going to be displayed at some point. Be ruthless in addressing your product and personnel weaknesses whether it’s a minor design flaw or that your spokesperson likes to have a cocktail or two to calm the nerves before speaking publicly.
- Engage in proactive reputation management - Think beyond basic SEO practices and get as much positive content on the web as possible. The more real estate your company can occupy on the front positions of the search engines with positive articles, reviews, and other media the better your chances of minimizing the impact of negative content should it arrive.
- Make sure your website reflects your commitment to quality – For many visitors, your website will be their first impression of your business. As obvious as that sounds, it’s still stunning to see how many websites settle for amateurish content full of incorrect spellings and poorly conceived attempts at search engine optimization. Your visitors will take about five seconds to decide whether you’re worthy of sticking with or that they should back out and move on.
- Monitor what is being said about your company – With the rise of social media, it’s not good enough to sign up for news alerts and leave it at that. So much can get passed around so quickly on Twitter, Facebook, et al that it’s an absolute must for online reputation management purposes to be aware of what is being said as quickly as possible. You can monitor these yourself of have your reputation management company do it for you for a nominal fee.
- Engage in conversation – Monitoring gives you a chance to participate and potentially guide posted commentary whether it’s to discuss how your company intends to fix a problem or to diffuse a false rumor, you’ll be much better off the earlier you begin your participation.
- Act immediately if negative content starts popping up – Unlike traditional media, negative content is going to stay on the web for a long, long time. With sites like complaintsboard.com, ripoffreport.com, and epinions.com which rely on negative chatter the likelihood of damaging content making the web is high, whether it’s truthful or not. The longer you wait to respond to it, the more momentum it’s going to gain and the more people are going to see it. Countering the content with your version of the issue and then building an online reputation management campaign to push the content off the front pages is mandatory.
At one point or another, just about every company with an online presence is going to be in a position where they must defend their reputation. By being proactive in setting up that defense, you can make your job much easier should you or your reputation management company need to take action. For a free evaluation on how well your company is protecting its reputation, Call Reputation Management LLC at (800)-378-5532.
