Reputation Management: Maintain Awareness of Your Brand

Professionals in a variety of industries face constant threats to their online reputations. Attacks can come from numerous sources, and can have a resoundingly negative impact if left unchecked for too long. A vigilant reputation management strategy is critical to keep your name out of the mud, and can help to not only protect you from attacks, but also help you proactively market yourself and your company.

Dissatisfied clients and/or customers have many open online forums on which harm your online reputation. Consumer and client unhappiness often crop up on social media sites, such as Facebook, which can become a nagging negative presence for those struggling to maintain brand positivity. It’s important, says Forbes.com contributor Cheryl Conner, to actively monitor the internet for discussion threads relevant to you and your brand. This is an easy way for professional to stage an offensive. Knowing not only what is out there, but also where it is, allows you to address consumer complaints and comments directly using the same forum as your detractors.

It’s also crucial, says Conner, to create an avenue for unhappy clients and consumers to come directly to you. This helps to reduce the possibility of a publicly visible online thread, and to address problems before they have the opportunity to affect customer loyalty. By giving clients a way to express themselves through your website, you have a far better chance of stopping public negativity before it starts.

Reputation management should never entail the outright removal of negative information from your social media account or website. The seek-and-destroy method of blatant content removal often only serves to create distrust between your customers and yourself. One way to cope with negative content is not to remove negative items, but to create and update positive content that may help you effectively surround and suppress the negative information. If you or your company struggle to find the time to constantly update and create positive content for your site and/or social media profiles, it may be time to consider a professional reputation management company; one that can effectively and affordably produce and distribute positive items that promote your brand and suppress negativity.

Source: B2C_Business

Reputation Management: Maintain Awareness of Your Brand