6 Steps to Managing Your Online Reputation by Using Social Media Networks

Posted At : February 20, 2008 3:38 PM | Posted By : Jenna M
Related Categories: Reputation Management

Have separate profiles
Have two different profiles, one for business and one for personal use. Your business profile should be your company name or the name of the product you would like to promote. What you share with your friends should be different than what you share with your potential customers.

Create profiles on social media networks
Create profiles for your business on most of the social media networks. LinkedIn is a good one to use as well as communities that are relevant to your industry. Limit yourself to only a few profiles to start off and once you have built up those profiles you can continue to create more. Be sure to add information about your company where possible.

Link profiles together
Create your own reputation network by linking all your social media profiles together.

Stay active
After you have established your profiles on the social networks its important stay an active member. Submit not only your own content but other content of your interest. Add friends who share similar interests with you and build relationships with them.

Discussion Boards
Participate in discussion boards within your industry. If negative feedback arises you can easily defend yourself by telling your side of the story.

Create a Blog
Set up a blog for your business and write in it as frequently as possible. Your blog can link to all your social profiles and any other relevant content. Be sure to submit your blog posts to Digg,StumbleUpon and any other related social communities.

Comments | Send | del.icio.us | Digg It! | Linking Blogs | 262 Views

Online Reputation Management: Circumvent the Tyranny of Online Democracy

Posted At : November 22, 2007 4:42 PM | Posted By : Rami A
Related Categories: Internet Marketing - SEO,General,Reputation Management

Many of you don't have to imagine what it's like to type your name or your company's name in Google and find search results that paint you in, shall I say, a less than positive light. And none of you have to imagine the kind of impression this leaves with people who are looking you up.

Your online reputation doesn't just depend on the press releases you send out, which journalists or bloggers they reach and how these outlets spin your brand. The real battleground for your online reputation is across the online arena in almost all the places where you or your industry are topics of debate, discussion or competition.

Circumvent the Democracy

This online battle is more democratic than ever. These days any individual with a grudge can have one of the loudest voices when it comes to who you are in the online arena.

So how does one battle against the tyranny of this online democracy? If it's a person with a grudge, It's always advisable to start with contacting them and trying to reach an agreement or understanding. If that doesn't work, or if your online image is tarnished by unflattering news articles, then its time to implement a more aggressive campaign.

Outrank negative search results with pages of your own until the bad publicity is pushed down to pages that most people just don't look at. You do this by optimizing your existing pages for the search engines, and creating even more pages that will outrank and quell the banter that's harming your online reputation.

Always Tread Carefully

You don't want to make this investment and have it backfire on you. Search Engines rank pages on the basis of relevance and trust; the pages you optimize have to communicate this not only to the search engines, but to users.

If you're going to dominate the first pages of search engine rankings with your own results, make sure your pages are worth being there. Crowding Google's results with pages that are juiced with links but deliver no real value to the people who will be consuming the information is spamming, which is invariably BAD 'netiquette'. You need to put in your time and understand how to play within the guidelines of the unspoken laws of the web.

Be truthful regarding the content of the pages you are optimizing and engage people in honest conversation; that's how you develop real trust online. This is doubly important in the more social aspects of online communications. More to come on that soon...

Comments | Send | del.icio.us | Digg It! | Linking Blogs | 748 Views