online reputation

How to Protect Your Firm’s Online Reputation From Social Media Mayhem

Current social media outlets provide powerful tools for promoting your company and building a strong online presence. Unfortunately, social media can be equally powerful in the hands of those who want to damage your online reputation. Here are several ways you can monitor what’s being said about your business online, protect your online reputation and take corrective action when problems are detected.

  • Find out what’s being said: First, find out what people are saying about you and your company online. Log out of your Google account to ensure neutral results, then search your company name or your name and the names of relevant employees. The results should give you a good idea of how well or how poorly you’re being spoken of online. There are brand management services available, or free programs such as Google Alerts that will let you know when you or your company is mentioned online.
  • Work to improve your reputation and search engine rankings: Most online searchers don’t look beyond the first page of search results they receive. Given that, work to ensure positive information about your company appears as close to the top of the rankings as possible. Produce plenty of online content that will improve your search engine rankings. Join social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Fill out your profile on these sites as completely as possible, and participate positively and professionally when you can.
  • Resolve problems when you find them: If you locate troublesome, damaging posts about you or your firm online, ask the site administrator to remove them. Update your Facebook and other social media site settings to better control what content is displayed publicly. Reach out to dissatisfied customers and ask what you can do to resolve their complaints.

Have you checked your online reputation recently? What else could you be doing to manage and improve how you’re perceived online?

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