Social Media Optimization For Dummies

Chapter 14

Managing Reputation

In This Chapter

• Building an online reputation
• Dealing with review sites
• Encouraging positive comments
• Managing your online critics
• Tracking reputation

Reputation management used to be considered a public relations discipline, but the rise of the Internet in general and social media in particular has changed all that. Today, reputation is largely a byproduct of what people see about you online. This means that search results and social media have become significant factors in reputation management.

You can use social media to project a personality for a company or a brand. You can also use it to set expectations and build an online reputation. At some point, you may even find it necessary to defend your reputation; when that happens, social media can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Building and Preserving Reputation with Social Media

There's an old saying: You are your reputation. On the Internet, that saying is largely true. Unfortunately, a lot of firms don't think about reputation management until something bad happens. Waiting for bad things to happen isn't the way to protect your firm's reputation; rather, you should be actively striving to build a positive perception from day one. If something negative occurs at some point (and it almost certainly will!), you'll have built some credibility that will serve you well in dealing with the crisis.

The best way to protect yourself from negative publicity is to cultivate a positive reputation ...