As we know, the web is pretty much the first place people do their research about products, services, people, and even companies.  Your customers are out there looking for you but are you in control of what they are finding?  Effectively managing your online reputation is one of the most important initiatives for any online marketing strategy.  Think about it…there is content out there about your brand being consumed by your potential customers.  But is the content designed and delivered by you or are other people out there creating content that is inconsistent with your messaging and potentially damaging to your brand?

The web is a very transparent place and if there is damaging information out there, chances are some of your customers are going to find it.  Let’s say for example someone is interested in hiring your company so they Google your brand name.  They find your website at the top of the page but then right underneath the listing in the second position is an article on RipOffReport.com with brutal information about the company and key executives written by a disgruntled former employee or customer.  Not good!!  This could derail MANY potential customers and cost you tons of money.  Other examples might include postings on rating and review sites or articles written by influential bloggers in your industry. 

So how does a large company with potentially much to lose combat negative content while also giving customers and employees a voice?

The key is to be transparent and get involved in actively managing your online content.  I will break this into three main components:

STEP ONE

If there is negative content out there on the web, first address the issue.  If there is validity to the comments maybe there is a legitimate concern and something that company executives need to look into.  If a problem is discovered, the company should develop a messaging strategy for dealing with it and of course FIX THE PROBLEM.  Once this is done, respond to the negative content with the company’s solutions and post new content on your website that addresses the issues in detail.  We will get more into that later in this article.

STEP TWO

Take inventory of both positive and negative material out there on the web and then create a strategy for managing your company’s online reputation.  This could involve some or all of the following:

• Creating new content (this could be in  the form of blogs, videos, press releases, white papers, etc.
• Create new pages on your website designed to address potential issues (rebuttal pages, FAQs, etc)
• Get involved in social media to communicate with customers and distribute good content
• Promote existing positive content more aggressively
• Create a messaging strategy for dealing with negative press
• Remove negative content
• Push negative results off the first page of Google through aggressive SEO and link building efforts

STEP THREE

Be consistent.  Effective online reputation management is an ongoing effort and can even be executed in a preventive manner as well.  Whatever appoarch is taken it needs to be done thoughtfully and inline with the compay’s messaging strategy.  If there is negative content appearing in the SERPs you need to consult and Internet marketing agency that knows SEO and ORM.  Pushing content down in the search engines is a function of SEO and therefore a crucial component to managing online reputation.

From Britney Spears, to Oprah; from Sarah Palin, to Ashton, celebs and politicians alike are employing social media as a means of online reputation management.  Whether they want to promote their books or shows, refute paparazzi and journalists or simply stay in the spotlight doesn’t matter- it’s all different means to the same end.

Social media has become a great way for people to get out their message with a large reach and a low cost.  Recently, Sarah Palin has been making waves on Facebook to promote the launch of her new book “Going Rogue: An American Life.”  She used to be an avid tweeter but decided to cash in the 140 character microblogs for Facebook notes.  Now, she regularly writes back to readers and journalists making false accusations about her memoir and suggests that AP writers engage themselves in something more newsworthy than ripping apart a book.  See a recent Facebook note of her’s below:

Sarah Palin's Facebook Note

This is only one of many and the others were definitely more aggressive but I think this gets across the same message in a brief manner.  Clearly, Palin isn’t afraid to be frank and candid, which was shown to the world on her recent Oprah appearance as well.  Oprah, who is also heavily engaged in social media, made the interview a trending topic on Twitter and posted a podcast of of some of the clips.  While the video claims, “There’s nothing we didn’t talk about!,” much of the interview has not been released to the public.  But, Oprah does occasionally give her Twitter following some proprietary information:  On November 20th, when she announced the end of her show in September 2011, she first informed her fellow tweeters.  Before the episode, she tweeted, “Big day…. tune in my tweet friends.”

Rach and Tey prior to break up

Oprah isn’t the only public figure using Twitter to relay big news.  Rachel Zoe and lead employee, Taylor Jacobson, publicly broke up on Twitter only weeks ago.  They had been working side by side for the last four years styling celebrities all over the world on the show the Rachel Zoe Project.  On November 6th, Taylor tweeted: “Today is an end of an era and the beginning of a new professional chapter.  Looking forward to what the future brings…!!”  The media picked up on this immediately and their split soon became common public news. But, sources are still not sure who broke up with who….  What do you think?  Let us know what gossip you’ve been hearing around the globe.