Articles
Managing Your Reputation
Reputation Management
By Sharon Housley
A company's reputation is often critical to that company's success.
The anonymity and vastness of the Internet makes managing a
reputation much more difficult than it once was. Businesses must be
proactive about protecting their brands and reputations.
Brand
Hijacking
Brand Hijacking refers to the act of someone other than authorized
company personnel using the company brand as if they represent that
brand. Unfortunately, brand hijacking is becoming increasingly more
common in social media and on social networks. One of the best ways
to minimize brand hijacking, while not foolproof, is to register the
company brand and product names in all the social media channels,
before anyone else has the opportunity to do so.
In order to check the availability of brands in the various social channels, you can use the following tools:
NameChk -
http://www.namechk.com/CheckUserNames - http://www.checkusernames.com/
UserNamez - http://www.usernamez.com/
Unfortunately, some nefarious people are getting around this by simply adding an underscore to a brand name (i.e. "_brandname"). Registering a brand this way gives the appearance that they represent the brand. If this occurs, most social websites will disable the offending account when they are notified of the issue. Many social networks are adding verification by requiring valid email addresses to help slow down brand hijacking. You can then create accounts on the social networks that secure your brand.
Consumer Complaints
The Internet has made it easier than ever to publicize complaints
and short-comings of a company or a product. Now, any sort of "dirty
laundry" can easily be aired publicly with just a few clicks,
whether it be factual or not. Websites have been established
specifically for the purpose of consumer complaints. Consumers are
able to post complaints about products they feel are inferior, or
services they feel are lacking.
Examples
of such websites include:
RipOffReport -
Complaints Board - http://www.complaintsboard.com/
It is critical that companies control the search results for their company name and brand. The last thing you want is for a complaint about your company or product to appear higher than your company's website listing in the search results. Use standard search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to ensure that your website dominates the top search results for brand names.
Monitor Your Brand
Use custom ego feeds to monitor the online discussions. The feeds
will update whenever your product or brands are mentioned online.
Ego feeds allow companies to monitor blogs and online news sources
for specific keywords. Knowing what is being said about your company
and products, and when it is being said, will allow you to respond
to such things in a timely and professional manner. For more
information about ego feeds, see:
Ego Feeds -
http://www.feedforall.com/ego-searches.htmWhen you encounter a mention of your products or services that casts a negative implication, try not to let anger or emotion dictate how you respond. Always behave professionally when providing responses, and always try to offer solutions and assistance. This can often be instrumental in changing the public perception about your company brand when problems arise. Your reputation is important, so be proactive!
About
the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
Additional articles available for publication available at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm