As the internet gets older so does our online digital footprint which builds up our online reputation. Over time our online reputations have become more important on both a professional and personal basis. Companies now look to our social media accounts to see if we have a presence there, they look at what our behavior is like and how that will affect their companies. Companies too are protecting their own brand reputation online as this is what they use to trade on.
This article will detail some tips around how to manage your online reputation and provide links to a few useful tools that may help you to clean up you reputation online should you need to!
Top Tips for Managing Your Online Reputation
- Monitoring your reputation – whether you are an individual looking for a job or a company looking to understand how you are seen by others online you need to consider monitoring your reputation but what tools can you use to do this. Well simply one of the most useful tools about is Google Alerts. Just enter your search criteria and see what news and key search data comes up on you or your company. Also consider including key company employees in these alerts so that you can see who has influence within your company.
- Repairing the Damage – So you’ve seen some content that you really think is damaging your reputation. Here are some ways to fix the damage. If it is content that you own. Remove it and then ask for the content to be taken down by the relevant search engines. For example Google has a page removal tool in its webmaster tools. If the content is owned by someone else try getting in contact with them and requesting that it is taken down. If the content is defamatory you may wish to consider a cease and desist request through a lawyer.
- On Social Media – Monitor all the comments on your social media channels including your blog. Comments from competitors or that are negative towards you or your company/ products are not necessarily a bad thing if you respond reasonably and quickly. Leaving the comments to fester or responding overly defensively or in an unreasonable way will leave a lasting mark on your social channels. If there is a user that is constantly just leaving negative comments that aren’t constructive consider moderating the user or banning them from your page or blocking them from your channels.
- Deleting content – If you are going to delete comments or content on your social networks it is worth considering taking a copy/ snapshot of what was up there before you delete it in case for any reason you need evidence of what had happened. Compliance can also be another good reason to back up your content before removing it from social media sites. You can use tools like Digi Me by Socialsafe to do these backups and they do follow compliance standards.
If you have some top tips for managing your online reputation or have a story to share about how you have done this, share it in the comments area below.
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