Very few people realise that there are two components to online reputation management. Although it's important to know what people are saying about your business, it's just as important to be able to drive the conversation. The two streams of reputation management that every business should be concerned with are internet monitoring and participation. Both sides of reputation management are as important as the other, but require different approaches. This difference of approach is where many companies fall down, focusing too much on either monitoring the net for mentions of their business, or participating in the various forums. Only by devoting equal time to both can you ensure that negative publicity is quelched efficiently. Both streams need to be planned for as part of your search engine optimization campaign, and you can discuss this with us at SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk. Reputation monitoring Reputation monitoring is a simple case of tapping into the right areas at set intervals. Time is of the essence when it comes to online reputation management, so setting up regular times to check in with various areas of the net is essential. Areas that should be monitored as part of your reputation management plan include: 1. Social media sites. Monitoring the social media should make up a large percentage of your monitoring activities for reputation management. Social media monitoring should be conducted every day, as the social media sites are a daily preoccupation for their users. Ideally, a staff member should be assigned to monitor the social media and provide alerts when business keywords are mentioned. 2. Review sites. There are hundreds of review sites all over the net, and internet users are not shy about venting their opinions on them. It's important to discover the most likely review sites for your industry and monitor them accordingly. If your site is involved in e-commerce, retail review sites are the most likely option. If your site provides a service or otherwise, it can be a good idea to monitor your industry's forums. 3. Industry blogs. These are the other major forums which can affect your business' reputation. Bloggers can be incredibly supportive, but also viciously critical. Usually, getting a mention on a popular blog is cause for celebration, but sometimes it results in negative publicity which you need to counter. Participation for reputation management The other half of the equation is in maintaining a presence in as many of the above areas as possible. Establishing a profile on selected social media sites is the most important step for reputation management, as it enables you to reply instantly to any negative feedback that is aired. Participation is not just about putting out reputation fires, though. Participating in various forums also allows you to nurture your reputation across the net, meaning that when negative feedback emerges your reputation is able to defend itself. In building up a number of profiles, you can gain control of the top ten search results for your brand, effectively burying negative press should it ever emerge. This combination of proactive and reactive methods makes reputation management a point of control, rather than panic.
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