The Importance of Online Reputation to Your Business
Reputation is a valuable thing in business. Without it, no one will trust you and that will lead to the destruction of your company. Considering that in our world competition is very much alive and your competitor might do something to bring you down if you are not careful.
In online marketing, building reputation is very important, especially that your image in this field is vulnerable. Someone can simply articulate a blog or an article about you with convincing facts and post it on social media platforms. Believe it or not, 70% of the people using the internet will believe it.
You may say that bad publicity is still publicity but if executed in the wrong way, everything that you worked hard for can crumble in seconds. It is very important that you build your reputation with the utmost importance because it is a factor of what a good brand can be.
Ways to protect your online reputation
Now that you know how important your online business reputation is, you must be wondering how you will be able to protect your brand and its image from potential threats. So here are some of the ways on how you can do it.
1. Search your brand
This is probably the easiest but effective way of protecting your image online. Just simply search your brand. You can do it monthly, weekly, or every day. Now, if after you search your brand on the internet and something pops out that can actually damage your reputation you can settle it with the website or the person who created it.
You can actually email or message google to simply remove the said content. If it is valid then it will be removed. But if it is on a secured website, you can message the web owner to have it removed.
If for some instance that the content damaging your brand is not removed just create an article or blog that will rank higher than the said content. That way, it will be buried until it will not appear on the search engines if you search your brand.
2. Set up your google alert
Have you ever heard of google alerts? If you are using digital marketing, then this tool will be a great help in protecting your brand image. So what are google alerts? It is a tool that will notify you if an article or post that tackles your brand name has been published online.
This way you will be aware and updated on the things that are happening on the internet or social media platforms in regards to your name, or company name.
3. Be cautious of your personal information
If you are a company owner, make sure that your personal information such as phone number, address, or birthday. You must have a company number and address where people can contact you in regards to your business.
If you give out your personal information relentlessly, it can be a tool for your competitors or other people to attack you. You will be very vulnerable to blackmails and other stuff that could ruin your brand online.
One way to protect such information is through apps and websites like pipl.com or whitepages.com. They will do research in regards to certain information that will protect your name or company name.
4. Be careful of people tagging you in photos
Your image on the internet is a crucial thing in your business. Imagine you are a known personality and someone accidentally tagged you with photos that should have been kept private.
So, don’t let anyone tag you or make sure that if people tag you on Facebook, for example, set the settings where you will have to review tagged photos first before it appears on your timeline. This way if the photo is a bit off you can tell the person to turn it down.
5. Think before you click
Your posts online are like a time bomb. You’ll never know if it’s going to kill you or build you up. Even if you are a famous person or not, what you post is an image of who you are. One mistake and you could end up a social media trend that will last for years.
So every time that you are going to post something up on the internet, Think twice before hitting that post or share button.
Be prepared
In business, you have to be aware that whether you like it or not, things that will destroy your image will eventually come. If you don’t know how to deal with it then you’re trouble. Aside from protecting your image, you should know how to deal with it too.
Your actions when it comes to this kind of situation are crucial to the survival of your company or personal image. Make sure that when it does happen you are prepared.