We always like the make the following analogy: taking care of your online reputation in today’s internet scene is like attending to a garden. It’s difficult and calls for a lot of TLC, but ultimately it can be very rewarding in the long run. Even though it is a very gentle and tedious process to defend your reputation, it is not impossible and organizations and businesses alike must recognize that maintaining one’s reputation is the key to the survival of your organization.
Social media is the major culprit on the one hand and on the other hand it is also the key weapon with which you defend your reputation. There are many social media outlets that you should be an active member of. Join blogs, forums and social bookmarking sites in order to attain the maximum amount of exposure.
You can’t control what other people say about you. Fortunately for people living in the West, freedom of speech exists and people can express their opinions. We wouldn’t have it any other way. This obviously though can pose a problem as almost everyone has access to the internet, social media, and blogging platforms and can say whatever they want pretty much without much repercussion. While you can’t (and shouldn’t) control what people say, you can definitely control your image and reputation by your presence on the internet. Therefore you are not defending your reputation but you are literally making your own image and selling yourself with positive criticisms thus letting the reader judge for themselves.
A knee jerk response to a negative review about yourself, organization or business often results in a petty online war which obviously looks bad and should be avoided. All responses to criticisms should be well thought out and carefully planned. Remember, once it is out there it is out there, so think carefully of what you want to say.
There are various methods to defend your online reputation. There are some reputation defender companies who apply the first method of petty fights and there are others who apply the positive approach of a real reputation defender service. They do it quietly without letting the sources know about it and it is also effective for the same very reason.
If you’re not interested in hiring a reputation defender company to help brand your image and promote your name (mistake in our opinion…let the pros do the work is our philosophy), then here are a few ways to make a mark on the internet to defend your reputation.
- Make ample presence on the web
Are you concerned with one bad review? Don’t panic. Remember, you have other satisfied customers! Ask them to write positive reviews about yourself and services. Ask them to respond and negate a negative review. In our opinion it always looks great if another customer or client is happy as a clam with your services. If you are flooding the internet with positive information about yourself then the negative comments die out. The majority counts always leaves a greater impact.
- Clarify and be quick
One always needs to clarify wrong facts or slanderous material. That doesn’t mean an outright online war – remember this looks petty. However, what can be done, and there are a few ways to approach this, but the most effective approach is to respond with information and facts in such a way that you are perceived by the reader as being better informed about the issue at hand. While this should be calculated and analyzed carefully, you should always be on top of these negative comments and you need to act as quickly as possible.
- Apologize
It may not work all the time, but a very effective way to restore and enhance your reputation is to apologize and correct yourself.
Reputation is not about being flawless. It’s more about living and standing up to a clear goal. It is about being consistent in standing up to that goal. Most people are particularly generous to someone willing to take risks. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and then correct yourself. But remember the flip side – don’t mess up too badly as negative history is also not forgotten easily.
