Building Your Professional Reputation On and Off The Web

Building Your Professional Reputation On and Off The Web

Before you can begin to build your professional reputation on and off the web, it helps to think about where and when your reputation actually begins. According to leading online reputation management expert, and CEO of Trackur.com, Andy Beal:

“Reputation actually begins- that experience begins before they leave your premises, before the transaction is finished. A lot of people will go online and complain because they either felt like you didn’t care during the transaction, or they couldn’t find a means to bring up their concerns during that transaction comfortably.” [source]

Building your professional reputation on and off the web is important to the success of your business. Not only does a solid reputation instill a sense of trust; it can also lend credibility to what you do, and it can help create brand awareness.

So, what are some steps to managing your online reputation? Below is a list to help you identify where to begin.

Steps to Managing Your Online Reputation

Step #1 – Act with integrity.

In his interview with Martin Brossman, Andy Beal mentions character as being an important part of reputation – particularly as it relates to generating content and making other necessary changes to how you do business.

Step #2 - Identify keywords, topics, questions & hashtags related to your brand.

When conducting online reputation monitoring, have a list of hashtags related to your brand, business, employees, etc., and use this to track what is being said, and who is saying it on the Internet. Hashtags are great for reputation monitoring across all social media platforms. Also become aware of the main topic and questions people are asking online about your brand.

Step #3 - Respond quickly.

Thanks to social media, negative comments can spread like wildfire. One of the best things you can do for your business is respond as soon as the comment is posted (or within a short time frame). This lets the offended party know that you care, and it also sends a positive message to others who may be watching the online conversation unfold.

Step #4 - Don’t delete comments unless necessary.

Contrary to what some may believe, deleting negative comments from others can be wrongly perceived as you trying to cover up an issue.  Instead, use this as an opportunity to take the conversation offline.

Step #5 - Clear communication & documentation is key.

Always be completely clear in your communication with others. More importantly, make sure that you keep clear documentation of any interaction that you have, including the steps that you took to resolve whatever issue the client/customer had. This will help you if you are faced with issues related to defamation of character.

Offline Reputation Management: Meeting People in Person

When it comes to reputation management, choosing to go either “All web” or “All in person” does not necessarily yield the highest payoff. For example, younger people may like to conduct most business online. However, they may fail to realize that many older people like to meet face-to-face. Additionally, some older people may be reluctant to learn new technology (like social media) to communicate with a younger audience.

Regardless of what demographic you fit into, it helps to have a balance of both online and offline reputation monitoring.

One example of taking offline and online problem may be as simple as looking up the “whois” information for the website where the negative comment was made about your business. Then, once you have this information, reach out with an email or a phone call to see how you may go about resolving the issue with the offended person(s).

Sometimes, you can’t have the dialogue you want to have in an online setting. To that, Beal recommends the following course of action for offline reputation management:

Manage Your Offline Reputation:

1. Reach out directly.
2. Find out what to give to the person (ex: a written apology, gift card, refund, etc.).

What it Does:

1. It shows that you care.
2. It lets them know that you’re going to fix it.
3. It leaves something for other people to see.

Beal also cautions against “digital shrinkage,” where some people may simply complain about your business or service in order to gain something in return (usually a freebie of some sort).

Being Accessible both Online and Offline

If a customer/client is unhappy with your services, he/she won’t wait for you to log in to respond to their grievance. Instead, focus your efforts on being accessible. Anticipate potential problems and provide solutions in order to avoid further damage.

Own a brick and mortar business? Online marketing is crucial because, as Beal mentions, the Internet is the first stop for most people. It gives them the chance to research and review your business before they even decide to venture out to the actual location.

There is no substitution for creating quality content that is of high use to your current and prospective clients, as well as seeking to add value to the life of each person that you meet.  

Helpful Tools for Online Reputation Monitoring/Tracking

The following are some helpful online tools to help you track your online reputation.

Trackur | www.trackur.com
-is a social media monitoring tool designed to assist you in tracking what is said about you on the Internet. Trackur scans hundreds of millions of web pages--including news, blogs, video, images, and forums--and lets you know if it discovers anything that matches the keywords that interest you.

IceRocket | http://www.icerocket.com
-allows you to instantly search blogs, Twitter and Facebook for specific terms. Simply type your term(s) in the search box and choose the channel you want to search.

Topsy | http://topsy.com/
-powerful Twitter search tool that allows users to find key influencers related to their industry/company, as well as sentiment scores over a period of time.

Tagboard | http://www.tagboard.com/
-each tagboard is a collection of social media posts (from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others) that share a common hashtag. Tagboards can be embedded on websites, integrated in to mobile apps, and shown on large displays.

Hashtagify.me | http://www.hashtagify.me/
-helps you accelerate your business growth, brand awareness and marketing effectiveness through intelligent Hashtag Marketing statistics, and analysis.

Rankur | http://rankur.com
-is a tool for monitoring, measurement and management of your reputation online. Rankur helps you identify leads and opinion leaders, lets you engage with online communities and tracks your success.

SocialMention | http://www.socialmention.com/

-returns results based on the sentiment of social media buzz around your company. You can monitor multiple websites in one place and even find out which keywords people use when talking about your company.

Google Alerts | https://www.google.com/alerts
-allows you to set and receive email notifications any time that Google finds new results on a topic you’re interested in. For example, you could get updates about a product you like, find out when people post content about you on the web, or keep up with news stories.

Google’s Me on the Web | https://www.google.com/settings/me
-tool notifies you when personal data appears on the web. It’s handy if you want to monitor mentions about certain company employees or senior staff.

BrandYourself.com  | http://brandyourself.com 
- allows you to manage and optimize your Google results with a  Free DIY tool or managed programs that offer strategy, personal branding and content creation. 

Mention | https://en.mention.net/
- creates alerts of your name, brand and competitors and informs when they are mentioned on the web; includes social media sites.

Klout |  http://klout.com/
- gives a score of your influence from 1 to 100 based on Klout’s algorithms studying your levels of activity and other factors,  Some employers are using this to assess prospective employees related to marketing.

A few more resources

Book I recommend:
Repped: 30 Days to a Better Online Reputation by Andy Beal http://www.andybeal.com/repped 

Video I recommend:
The latest interview with Martin Brossman and Andy Beal: https://youtu.be/hmOY2ZquKWM

References:
Brossman, Martin. Enhancing your reputation online for individuals and businesses. (July 2014). LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140725214757-548650-enhancing-your-reputation-online-for-individuals-and-businesses

DeMers, Jayson. Your guide to online reputation management. Forbes. (September 2014)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/09/08/your-guide-to-online-reputation-management/

Thanks to Janelle Vadnais for research.