Have you Googled yourself lately? With over 90% of consumers looking online to find their next business to support*, it’s crucial that your company shows up online in the best light. Negative reviews, bad hires or no web presence at all could damage your reputation and limit access to potential customers. In this article, read my top recommendations on managing your online reputation.
If you own a business, having a good online reputation is important. In the age of social media, there is good news and news that could go from good to bad quickly. The good news: You’re able to expand your reach and customer base exponentially. The good news that could swiftly turn bad: Information about you and your brand is going further all the time.
Remember: a social media post may be temporary, but screenshots are forever.
The need for monitoring and managing your online presence is constant and essential. You don’t want a client to pass you over because of a photo you posted online or a compromising status update that was made public. Here are a few ways to manage the you that people find online.
Have a professional email address, ideally one with your name.
Make sure the email you give to potential clients is not something like lovesliquor@emailservice.com or hotmama74@emailservice.com. Showing that you’re ready to do business starts with the first contact. Is the address you’re using one that you want potential clients to see on your contact page?
Make sure all pictures and videos you post are professional
No, every photo doesn’t have to be a headshot, but avoid posting pictures and videos of you drinking, engaging in illegal behavior or using foul language. There will be a few exceptions, depending on your personal brand or the company you represent, a wine company, for example.
Do not bash your current employer or previous clients on social media
The company or individual who might hire you may be deterred from doing so because they don’t want to be on the receiving end of your next social media rant.
Monitor what you friends post about you on social media
You may be careful not to post any questionable status updates, photos or videos; your friends may not. Be careful that you don’t get tagged in updates that don’t show in the best light.
Monitor what your friends post about themselves on social media
There’s a popular saying, “Birds of a feature flock together.” This means that those in certain social crowds will have similar traits, or “like attracts like.” Even if you’ve cleaned your profiles up, it may not look good if the majority of your friends list features people who have a barrage compromising posts. You can’t control what other people do, but be aware of what your friends list communicates about you.
Always address negative reviews
Even the most diligent business owner can’t please everyone. If you find a negative review of your company online, address it swiftly, invite the disgruntled customer to message you privately and then follow up. If the issue is resolved, encourage him or her to post the resolution under the original complaint to show that you followed up. Potential customers are more forgiving of a company that makes a mistake and deals with it than a company that ignores customer complaints entirely.
Put out your own content
Already have negative items that come up when someone searches for you or your company? There are things you can do. First, ask the owner of the website to remove the negative content. This may work if it is a personal website or blog. However, if it is an online review site or news source and you can’t prove that the negative items are false, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. What you CAN do is put out your own positive content in the form of blog posts, social media profiles, guest posts, videos and press releases. Give the search engines new content to index on a regular basis, and soon those old negative items will be pushed down and possibly even pushed off the first page of search engines. This is one way to give your online reputation a boost.
Staying on top of your online reputation isn’t always easy, but having the right tools helps. Take some time and get up to speed on what is available for you to improve yours.
By the way, if you did that Google search earlier and didn’t like what you found, I can help. Book a complimentary consult with me, and we’ll talk about developing a content marketing strategy that boosts your online reputation – https://bit.ly/ChatWithDQ
*BrightLocal 2019 Consumer Study
Dequiana Jackson, Founder of Inspired Marketing, Inc., www.inspiredmarketinginc.com, helps high-achieving women entrepreneurs conquer limiting beliefs and create marketing plans that win. This includes one-on-one marketing plan development, digital product creation, web design and content marketing.