How Social Media can damage your Online Reputation - If not Managed Well

Social media has grown as an integral part of online reputation in recent years. With increased use of smartphones & tablets, users have got hold of easy, instant & real time sharing on web. A negative thought can become talk of the town as soon as it occurs in your customer's mind and get shared on his Facebook wall.

Not just Facebook, but all major sites for that matter like Twitter, Instagram, reddit etc. act as evil spirit when negative topics get attention of users. In no time a business name is clubbed with few weird sounding words making it a trend only to hog more limelight. That's how most brands dash to ground these days.

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To save this kind of loss and keep your business name unstained from the hazards of social media sharing, focus on online reputation monitoring.

1. Set up Google alerts. That's the first and basic step of systematic monitoring of online reputation.
2. Keep track of particular queries/keywords in conversations that relate to your company name, website, directories etc.
3. Monitor comments that you get in return of blog postings, general social media sharing, small updates, images, videos etc. Compare the level of engagement for all.
4. Keep an eye on all social networks. Observe user sentiments towards your brand.
5. Check what users talk about you, which of your content gets more attention and more sharing.
6. Don't rely just on just manual checks. Opt for right tools to keep a constant & real-time check on your social media presence. Put a dedicated member to work for this tool based analysis.
7. Remember that monitoring is not all about searching for negative mentions. Make sure you know about the positive discussions too about your business.

Your Business Reputation is unsafe without Effective Social Media Control

Best reviews sites like yelp give social media sharing options for feedbacks. So, not just the conversations on your social profile but bad links from other trusted websites too can get popular on web. The more it gets clicked the tougher it gets to it push down in search results.

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So, the bottom-line is - save your negative mentions from getting more popular. Your online reputation is synonymous to your social media image. In order to protect your business you have to closely monitor all activities taking place on these networks. Follow our three steps strategy to manage it well:

• Monitor constantly
• React Moderately
• Act Instantly

Also read: Bring Down Negative Reviews - Defend your Online Reputation

Regular Monitoring

Monitoring has great role in Online reputation management since it is crucial for damage control. Handling a public spat on social network gets trickier when it comes out of the blues. On the other hand, it's manageable if you have been keeping a record of past user sentiments as the positive ones help in combat. Promoting them helps nullifying the harms of negative reputation.

Monitoring does not mean that no negative links or comments will ever trouble you but it assures that you will be able to save your brand image from being tarnished online.

Reasonable Reaction

The second important thing in ORM (after monitoring) is to subdue a reaction. How you react to a negative comment decides the fate of your trouble. Respond quickly but follow a low profiled strategy to deal with a harsh remark coming from an enraged & anguished user.

Try pacifying the matter at first by contacting the poster. If it serves the purpose then apologize giving a substantial justification (better if you can put it under the negative statement) or request to delete the comment but don't ever do it yourself. It will add fuel to fire just like the reactions of Amy's Baking Company owners did. The two owners of a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona received nastier comments on social networks after trying to respond every bad comment & eventually invited more defame to their business.

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Clik here to view.

Immediate Action

Start your damage control activities straight away to stop negative links from reaching top search engine slots. The more they appear higher the tougher it gets to restore brand & sales damage. To avoid any loss appearing from a bad link control negative reputation in advance-

• Get your accounts made on high authority sites like Technorati, wiki, etc.
• Make the most of your social media presence; expand it by adding new profiles on new networks. Keep them active and increase user engagement by sharing regular content.
• Promote the positive links (gathered during monitoring)
• Add high quality content to your social profiles that have the potential to get more attention.

In this tech savvy age, the power is with your target consumers, whether it's an online or offline business. You cannot predict a situation where a person joins other on social network and emerge as a group within minutes resulting in more defaming conversations. So, the better idea is to strengthen your control management by getting into proactive online reputation management.

You cannot disown social media completely because it is a great source of traffic in present world. So, the best way to handle a negative condition is to employ techniques that work in your favor.

Talk to FATbit, if you seek any help regarding your online business reputation and don't forget to drop your comments on this post. We'd like to hear your opinion on this matter & welcome the thought that you share it with more readers.