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Free Website Content
Managing Your Reputation
Reputation Management
By Sharon Housley
A company's reputation is often critical to that company's
success. The anonymity and vastness of the Internet
makes managing a reputation much more difficult than
it once was. Businesses must be proactive about protecting
their brands and reputations.
Brand Hijacking
Brand Hijacking refers to the act of someone other than
authorized company personnel using the company brand
as if they represent that brand. Unfortunately, brand
hijacking is becoming increasingly more common in social
media and on social networks. One of the best ways to
minimize brand hijacking, while not foolproof, is to
register the company brand and product names in all
the social media channels, before anyone else has the
opportunity to do so.
In order to check the availability of
brands in the various social channels, you can use the
following tools:
NameChk - http://www.namechk.com/
CheckUserNames - http://www.checkusernames.com/
UserNamez - http://www.usernamez.com/
Unfortunately, some nefarious people are
getting around this by simply adding an underscore to
a brand name (i.e. "_brandname"). Registering a brand
this way gives the appearance that they represent the
brand. If this occurs, most social websites will disable
the offending account when they are notified of the
issue. Many social networks are adding verification
by requiring valid email addresses to help slow down
brand hijacking. You can then create accounts on the
social networks that secure your brand.
Consumer Complaints
The Internet has made it easier than ever to publicize
complaints and short-comings of a company or a product.
Now, any sort of "dirty laundry" can easily be aired
publicly with just a few clicks, whether it be factual
or not. Websites have been established specifically
for the purpose of consumer complaints. Consumers are
able to post complaints about products they feel are
inferior, or services they feel are lacking.
Examples of such websites include:
RipOffReport - http://www.ripoffreport.com/
Complaints Board - http://www.complaintsboard.com/
It is critical that companies control
the search results for their company name and brand.
The last thing you want is for a complaint about your
company or product to appear higher than your company's
website listing in the search results. Use standard
search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to ensure
that your website dominates the top search results for
brand names.
Monitor Your Brand
Use custom ego feeds to monitor the online discussions.
The feeds will update whenever your product or brands
are mentioned online. Ego feeds allow companies to monitor
blogs and online news sources for specific keywords.
Knowing what is being said about your company and products,
and when it is being said, will allow you to respond
to such things in a timely and professional manner.
For more information about ego feeds, see:
Ego Feeds - http://www.feedforall.com/ego-searches.htm
When you encounter a mention of your products
or services that casts a negative implication, try not
to let anger or emotion dictate how you respond. Always
behave professionally when providing responses, and
always try to offer solutions and assistance. This can
often be instrumental in changing the public perception
about your company brand when problems arise. Your reputation
is important, so be proactive!
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com
audio recording and editing software.
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publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
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Additional articles available for publication available
at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
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