Regardless of your business sector, it is important to put a significant amount of energy toward managing your e-reputation. This includes everything that is said about you and your company on the Internet. You may have already found that some of the info out there doesn’t make you look all that spectacular. Here’s how to deal with this dilemma.
1. Monitor Your Image Constantly
Be vigilant and keep a constant look-out for what people are saying about you on the web. You don’t want to be the last to know! Google yourself regularly so you can monitor the top results and stay in control of your company image. There are a number of available tools to help. These will save you from staring at your screen and refreshing Google all day to see if someone left the slightest negative comment or review. Surely you have better things to do! Google alerts will send you a notification as soon as it detects your company name in a post. And Tweetbeep will keep an eye open on Twitter.
Handy Tip
What exactly is my e-reputation?
E-reputation refers to the image that you and your company present on the Internet. It also includes how Internet users perceive you. And remember, these people represent your current and future clients. When well managed, your e-reputation lets you gain visibility and highlight your expertise. But the glitch is, just like in real life, your online reputations often unravels faster than it improves.
2. Restrict access to your social media posts
As they say in California, check yourself before you wreck yourself! Have you ever accidentally posted photos of a wild night on your professional Facebook page? Or gone on a tweeting frenzy you later regret! Stay in control of what your clients see and keep your accounts separate.
Handy Tips
- Set up your account to prevent your friends from tagging you where you’d rather not be tagged. Select the option, “Review tags people add to your own posts before the tags appear on Facebook” and save yourself from potential nightmares.
- In all cases, it is strongly recommended that you keep your personal social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) separate from your professional accounts.
3. Request that content be deleted
Have you found a site that has published content that could damage your e-reputation? Contact the site manager. They have up to two months to handle your request. If they refuse, if you’re in France, contact the Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertés. But this process will only be fruitful if the post is slanderous and/or defamatory. If the client is dissatisfied and depicts you in an unflattering light without justification, you can also respond in a constructive way.
4. Take the lead
Someone wise once said, better to act than to suffer. That is to say, instead of just letting ungenerous tongues wag, it’s your turn to take the mic. Though it’s obviously smart to look out for harsh words that might damage your online reputation, it’s even smarter to take matters into your own hands and publish your own fresh new content. So take the lead! Call upon your perseverance and resilience. Activate the right strategies, especially SEO, and watch how on search engines, your content surpasses less flattering posts you’d just as soon have done without. In this way, you will stay in control of your online image and enhance it as you see fit.
Handy Tip
If you make the choice to refrain from publishing anything on the Internet, you’re giving all the power to everybody else.
5. Identify your customers’ needs
Don’t panic! In small quantities, negative reviews can even strengthen your website’s credibility. But to limit their number and impact, you need to identify your customers’ expectations. If people are dissatisfied, have a conversation that lets you identify your weak points that need improvement. This will help strengthen the quality of your service and overall e-reputation.
Key Points to Remember
- Stay on top of your e-reputation. Though virtual, it is the Internet version of your company’s image. And the impact on your business is real.
- In the online world, negative press can have terrible consequences. Bad rumours spread like wildfire on the Internet.
- So it’s important to keep track of any negative content on your company. Delete defamatory comments and take matters into your own hands by publishing regularly and adding your own voice to the conversation.
