How to Protect Your Reputation Online
Reputation Management
Do you know what is being said about you or your brand online? The Internet is one huge community where consumers are making their opinions heard. With forums, blogging, micro-blogging (Twitter) and Web 2.0 resources providing platforms for consumer interaction and discussion, there could well be a groundswell of opinion or reaction building to your marketing initiatives which you could be blissfully unaware of…until the damage is done.
Take the example of Motrin – a Fortune 500 company – who ran a video ad on their website which some mothers took offense to and blogged about. Within days the message had spread across the Web and a virtual boycott was put in place. Despite the ad being removed and a public apology posted the damage to the company’s public perception was intense and likely to be long lasting.
Often, all it takes is a single post from one consumer for negative publicity to spread. How can you monitor your brand’s reputation online and intervene before an incident can snowball out of control? One simple way is to set up a Google Alert for your brand name. This will allow you to receive an email notification from Google whenever your brand is mentioned online. You can then go directly to the source and respond to the issue. This would give you the opportunity to turn a negative into a positive by instantly resolving any customer issues; but also to show your (potential) customers you care about them and appreciate their feedback.
Another method is to set up and monitor a Twitter search for your keywords and brand name.
Finally, you can use a specific Social Media Search tool like Whostalkin; by showing you who’s talking about your brand online, it will give you an insight on your customers’ feedback and the ability to react on a regular basis.
Staying on top of your reputation online is crucial, for small and large companies alike.
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