There are many things in the business world that can take a very long time to create and only a short time to destroy, and unfortunately a business’ online reputation is one of these things. An online reputation expert knows only too well that it takes a considerable amount of time, effort and money to build up a business’ online reputation and then properly manage it, and yet a single negative review can utterly destroy it in a matter of minutes. Even in cases where negative reviews are proven to be entirely false, the damage they do to a business’ reputation can take a long time to repair. This is why reputation management is so critical–properly executed it can effectively protect a business’ online reputation against threats and more quickly and thoroughly deal with these threats when they arise.
How to Protect Your Online Reputation
Sitting back and hoping that nothing will ever happen to tarnish your business’ online reputation is a bit like running through a rainstorm and hoping that you won’t get wet. The very nature of business demands that there is at least some level of interaction with consumers, which in turn can lead to situations that end up defining the business’ reputation. Rather than hoping that threats to your online reputation won’t ever happen, you should take action to protect it by doing the following:
- Use tools to monitor your online reputation. There are a variety of tools, including Google Alerts, that can be used to monitor your online reputation so that you can understand and address threats as they arise. Constantly monitoring your online reputation prevents against surprises.
- Strengthen your online reputation by being active on social media. If you don’t work hard to build and maintain your online reputation, chances are that others will do it for you–and not necessarily in a manner that you will like. By remaining active on social media, consumers will notice your presence and interact with you. This gives them a reason to follow you and share your content pieces, which can help build your reputation and your brand.
- Reach out and reward good content being posted by consumers. You can go a long way toward building and maintaining a strong reputation if you take the time to reward consumers whenever they post something positive about your business. These gestures can be simple–like a coupon, discount or special offer–but they are sure to drive good word of mouth.
- Watch for who is tagging you on social media. It is important that you don’t permit others to tag you in social media postings or photos without your permission. Even if these postings or photos don’t seem offensive, they can potentially have a negative effect on your business’ reputation.
- Share your web content across multiple platforms, and encourage others to share it too. When you share your content across multiple platforms, users are more likely to come across things you created and want them to see rather than things others have created about you and that you would prefer users don’t see. As one example, a blog can be linked to several social media sites, where it may be shared even further.
In addition to the above, it can be helpful to occasionally run a Google search on your business’ name (and any common variations of it). It may just be linked with a highly unsavory individual, topic or business that you didn’t even know about, and you will need to take quick action to separate this connection. Whatever you do, it is important to recognize that the time, money and effort spent on managing your online reputation is very well spent, and will benefit you greatly in the long run.