With the every increasing size of the online universe, Online Reputation Management (ORM) is more easily handled proactively than reactively. It can literally take 140 characters or less in mere seconds to destroy your reputation. Your ORM process should never kick in after the damage have been done.
Sometimes it is unavoidable and the more competitive your industry is, the more likely this can happen to you. How are you going to manage your online reputation proactively? In my experience, it is the best if you have a thorough ORM strategy in place to help you if anyone tries to attack your brand or personal name online. Here’s a couple of tips you can use to repair your online reputation.
Repairing the online damage
Never ignore the problem: Information on the web is public. Once a problem exist online, take action and try to solve the problem immediately.
Address the problem: If you were falsely accused of something online, or if you or your company has made a mistake, it is very important that you address the problem immediately before it spreads further. If the negative comment was posted on someone’s else’s blog, the truth is that you have lost control of the dialogue, and you should now defend your name. Create an honest statement describing your side of the story in detail and get it out as quickly as possible. You can even publish this on your own website or blog so that you can control the dialogue on your statement.
Rally your army: Gather your customers, friends, family to help you support your statement. Public opinion is contagious and good news spreads. If people online hears that you are getting great support for yourself or your business, they will be more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. If all the information about you is about negative comments and complaints, they will not believe your positive statement.
Create a solution: Actions speaks louder than words and most people likes a happy ending. If others see that you have taken action on your problems, they will much more likely to see the problem as being fixed, and also what you did to solve the problem.
Not everyone will like you
The reality is that not everyone will like you online, but it is simple, ignore them. With this being said, I’m not saying you should ignore negative comments, but you must understand that with so many people online, it is impossible to please every single person. The golden rule with this is that you should not give your competition more power by trying to change their opinion. Always keep a sense of humor, and then focus on your business and your mission.
I completely agree. Covering high school football as I do, players today are actually being suspended from games, thrown off teams or actually losing scholarships to play college ball because of poor online reputations.
Thanks Tim. Your high school football will make an excellent case study.