What does online Reputation Management involve?

There are a growing number of activities involved in managing your business’s online reputation each of which must be part of your online reputation management strategy:

  1. Creating your online branded image- this involves being visible online using resources under your own control such having your own website, blogs, social media accounts, business directory listings, web 2.0 sites, syndicated articles, image portfolios etc. The advantage of this is that you can control a lot of search engine listings with your own information about your business instead of having those search results being dominated by other people talking about your business.
  2. Monitoring your online reputation- this involves monitoring what people are saying about your business on social media websites along with review and consumer complaint sites such as Yelp and Ripoffreport.com.
  3. Managing your online reputation- this involves taking the results of your monitoring activity and taking measures to control bad reviews and to draw attention to the positive publicity about your business. This is probably the hardest part of online reputation management as it involves:
    • dealing with negative reviews,
    •  engaging with those who posted negative content,
    •  maintaining a positive and truthful position without falling for the temptation to engage in a online word fight.
    • Having the courage to apologize, admit your shortcomings and rectify a situation
    • Thanking those who have contributed positive reviews and incorporating them into your online and offline marketing content.