Control Your Online Presence
With hundreds of thousands of blogs out there and even more people than that writing and responding to all sorts of posts, it can be tricky to manage your online reputation. If one unhappy customer is dead set on smearing your company, they have so many ways to get their opinion out there to the general public, and clearing your name can be difficult. While you cannot change what other people say about you, you can try to boost your positive image in a few ways.
- Community Service - do something high profile that is good for your community. Make a donation to a service fund, beautify a local eyesore, or start a college scholarship program. Whatever you do, call the newspaper to see if they can be on hand to take photos and run an article about your involvement.
- Monitor Your Search Results - once a month, Google your company as well as the names of any high-ranking or high-profile managers. Check the top results to see what people are saying about you. Make sure your own company website is at the top of the list when you search specifically for your company name. You may also want to search variations of your company name - maybe with or without a space, or slightly misspelled.
- Read the Blogs - scan the blog entries for your area and your industry to see if your company is mentioned and in what context. If you find something negative, see what you can find out about the situation that led up to the poor review. You may be able to ask your managers or employees if they have an idea of what the unhappy customer is referring to so you can correct the negative impression your company may be making.
- Post to the Blogs - you can be proactive in creating a great online reputation. Look for people with questions or problems you can offer your professional advice about. Can you give some tax advice? Suggest a travel destination? Offer an alternative mechanic shop? Let readers know who you are and what company you are from so they start to associate your name with someone who is helpful.
- Social Networking Sites - while your company may have its own website, you may also want to have something listed on MySpace, Facebook, Flikr, and other sites so people searching to info there will find you easily. It doesn’t need to be fancy or include everything about your company and you will need to monitor your friends carefully so you don’t end up linking to someone with questionable content. But you have a free way to tell people about yourself and what your company does, so why not use it?
The more you can put out there on the Internet that is positive about your business, the more likely the public will find those positive entries and feel confident working with you. You can also work with the Better Business Bureau to get certified, and then include their seal of approval on your own website so potential customers know they are dealing with a legitimate company.
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