The Basics of Online
Reputation Management

Your brand’s reputation depends on what people say about it on the web. The internet is no longer part of a list of things to take care of: it is the number one aspect to consider when doing business both from a positive perspective (what we can gain) and a negative one (what we are losing).
False reviews, hate sites, and negative comments about companies, products, and services affect sales and reputation on a daily basis and have a tangible effect on business owners’ lives: income loss, missed opportunities, and much more. Libel damages on the internet are not a one-time episode: a persistent stream of negative search engine results can cost millions if nobody is addressing the problem.
That is why Online Reputation Management is becoming so popular and sought after. Brands now realize that their quiet, digital enemies are preventing them from fully achieving the success they deserve (in the best case scenario). In this article, we will show you a few basic tips to deal with the most common problems.
Monitoring your Online Reputation
It’s not enough to rely on occasional Google searches or general business monitoring anymore. Since your company might suffer relatively small libel damages already, you may end up not noticing what is happening out there.
How can you really make sure nobody is illegally damaging your reputation and affecting your revenue? Online reputation management tools allow you to constantly monitor what people are saying about you.
The simplest tool to keep track of your reputation is Google Alert, where you can create a persistent web search for a specific search query (the name of your company, product, etc) and get updates when new web pages talking about you get indexed. This is also useful to monitor positive customer feedback.
An account of online reputation management cannot exclude Social Analytics tools and services. These allow you to gather and monitor large collections of social media data and monitor the “sentiment” linked to brand names. Some, among the most popular ones, are BlogMeter, ClickTale, and Collective Intellect.
Actions Against Negative Content
Many people find out their companies or services received negative reviews and don’t know what to do about it. There is no easy answer since each situation requires a specific approach, but there are three main aspects to take into account.
Online investigations are becoming the standard in our internet-centric world. Current technologies allow online reputation management companies to locate “attackers” with IP and email tracing and a wide range of cybercrime monitoring tools. Understanding who our opponents are is essential.
How can you remove negative content and instantly reduce the damage? Removing negative reviews is not a simple process, but with the execution of a 4 step plan like this, it is often achieved:
- Scope analysis
- Implementation of SEO strategy
- Site terms and industry internet law study
- Legal Liaison
The third thing is very simple: even if you removed the source of trouble, that has already affected your revenue and reputation. If you lost a large amount of money or your reputation was highly affected, you may want to take serious legal actions against content publishers.
Defend and Attack
“The best defense is a good offense“: this adage applies here too. When you are only reacting to negative actions against you, you are missing half of the business promotion game. If you not only defend yourself from illegal actions but also proactively seek opportunities to increase your reputation, you will be a winner. Some examples:
- Search Engine Optimization to make honest reviews more visible
- Public refutation of cyber libel
- Social media interaction
Good search marketing and content strategy plans will make your story more visible to people and honest, ethical promotion of your products and services will pay off in the end.
Author Bio
RJ Tayaban, managing director of PRimeVisibility.NET, has been doing search engine optimization back when keyword stuffing and link spamming used to work. He’s also met all sort of animals that Google has defamed every time it changes its algorithm. Having said that, RJ now knows better. Over the years of running online campaigns, RJ has figured out what makes Google tick.
SHARE THIS POST, choose your platform!
GROW YOUR BUSINESS
Start your online marketing campaign with us today and see your leads and sales soar!