Ten Online Reputation Management Tips for Companies
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008;
-- Andy Beal |
Over at Mashable, I wrote a pretty comprehensive guest post about online reputation management for businesses. It’s not as comprehensive as my new book, but hopefully it will whet your appetite.
Here are the first two steps:
1. Know your achilles heel
Do you know your weaknesses? No, seriously! I don’t mean the “we try too hard to please our customers” bunk. Do you know the flaws in your products, the areas of your service that suck, or the member of your management team most likely to stick his foot firmly in his mouth?
If Kryptonite had known their locks could be picked with Bic pen, they might have been able to react faster to the meme that spread like a virus. You might not be able to correct your company’s flaws but, by being honest about them now, you can better prepare should they become the topic of a reputation attack.
2. Assume everything will make it’s way to the web
You should assume that every phone conversation will be taped, every internal memo leaked, and every hallway conversation shared with a blogger. No matter what policies you put in place, not matter how many times you tell a journalist something is “off the record” you should utter only the words you’d want to see on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
This is at the essence of being radically transparent–the message you share behind closed doors should match the one you share with employees, customers, and investors.
Want to read tips 3 to 10? Head over to Mashable.
** Are you the next big name in search marketing? Enter our SEM Scholarship Contest & you could win $10,000 in prizes!
Similar posts you may like...
Save & Share: 
Category: Reputation Management
Forward: Email This Post
March 12th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Well, if the next eight are as useful as the first two it should be an interesting read.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
These are great tips. Reputation Management is definitely on the rise as people are realizing the power of Google and their online reputation and the effect it has on their prospective business. It’s great that you wrote a book on the subject because more and more companies/individuals will be looking to clean up their online act!
March 12th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Really like the off-line tips here. We have been given to many articles lately for online reputation management that say go create social network profiles and you will be fine.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:03 am
The first 2 are so bang-on. It makes the reading the other 8 almost unavoidable.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
#2 is real important. I think people should never write or say anything that (a) they don’t want appearing on the front page of the NY Times, or (b) that they wouldn’t want their mother to hear.
March 13th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Hey, I know my weaknesses
March 16th, 2008 at 1:11 am
“2. Assume everything will make it’s way to the web”
This is a tough one, and should definitely make companies start re-thinking the use of the absolute cheapest labor possible. A single bad company representative can make a company look terrible if the interaction is with the wrong customer.