Most clients and business people I talk to about reputation management are looking for a remedy — for an unfavorable review on a blog, social media rants by a disgruntled employee, the list goes on. And there are a number of remedies that we explore.
Before you have a problem, or before you have another one, put some effort into prevention and risk management. Have a presence, and have a policy.
Presence:
Get out there and build up your own or your company’s name in social media, with a blog, guest-posting on other’s blogs, through online press releases, or however you can. Building your own online presence will allow you to own the real estate and control the message associated with your name. When a potential client, partner, or employee searches for your company’s name, a strong online presence will deliver the right impression, and any negative commentary will be less prominent in the search results. Social media profiles rank well in search engine results, as do active blogs.
Policy:
Reputational harm can also be an inside job. Disgruntled or simply careless employees can alienate clients, co-workers, or managers in no time flat. If your organization does not have a social media policy, put one together. And don’t just file it, or add it to the employee handbook and forget about it. Make sure employees and management know about it, and conduct training sessions on it. Increased awareness of risks and expectations will prevent a lot of careless tweets. For the comments that are intentionally disruptive, a previously established and introduced set of policies and expectations is a better foundation for any corrective action that is necessary in the employer/employee relationship.
NEXT: Step 2 – Monitoring