SEO Blog - UK Search Engine Marketing

One of the major issues at the social media panel I was a speaker of has been online reputation management. While I prefer the more proactive ways of reputation building instead of the emergency like reputation crisis management nonetheless most of the businesses not familiar with blogging and social media need basic advice on how to deal with bad press online.

So I decided to collect 8 very simple steps of emergency reputation management. These measures should help in cases where a forum or blog post shows up in the Google top 10 for your product or brand.

Most importantly before we start thinking about fending off a reputation issue we have to agree that we do not want to sweep things under the rug. Many people mistake reputation management for just that. Reputation management is about dealing with negative issues, facing not ignoring them.

1. Discover negative publicity early via simple tools like Google Alerts or Technorati Watchlist.
2. Reply as a representative of your company. Example: “I work at x and we have lots of clients using y with good results.” Do not make these clients up of course.
3. Show that you care. Example: “We have contacted our local dealer to deal with your problems, he should call you shortly.” Contact your local retailer to just do that.
4. Be matter of fact. Example: “This seems to be a serious issue you have. We will do everything to ensure your and other clients satisfaction. Please give us some time to deal with it internally.” Then be quick to deal with it.
5. Offer a refund if the client is too disgruntled already.
6. Offer the publisher a way to test the product or a new version of it if he hasn’t before or the last version failed.
7. Link to other clients or positive cases studies, even within your reply.
8. Contact the publisher directly to research and sort out the issue, do not rely solely on the published part.

While employing these simple measures always remember that you need to address the real underlying issue. Inherently flawed products or services will make others vent their frustration too so make sure you tackle larger issues not one by one but systematically even by discontinuing a product.

Also do not call your lawyers unless this is a evident case of slander. Silencing legitimate bloggers and consumer advocates will backfire manifold. You might end up with lots of negative publicity.

An interesting article in the Times about online reputation management today made me ponder an aspect of search engines which I had never previously had cause to consider – how a person could rid the searchable web of all traces of themselves.

Freelancer Bernhard Warner explained that an acquaintance of his had requested he expunge her from his blog, asserting that she wanted to be unGoogleable (I should mention that while that is an excellent word, Mr Warner has not coined it. As an interesting aside, though, the Urban Dictionary defines unGoogleable as meaning “effectively anonymous” online – marketers take note!).

He explained that although the majority of people and organisations are keen to maximise their visibility and online presence, there are a number of firms and individuals which – for the sake of their reputation – want to obliterate all mentions of themselves online.

“Monitoring your personal reputation in this Web 2.0 age is a real chore,” Mr Warner explained, adding that for big corporations it can be even harder.

“The majority of us all will show up on Google (or worse, a wanton namesake will) at some point in our lives. If you don’t like the look of it, then fill your life with good online deeds and hope they float to the top of the rankings,” he glibly advised – much easier said than done for the average graduate!

I do find it interesting though that despite the recent focus on individuals’ online footprints, the long-term effect on a business is not so often discussed. People are constantly warned that the picture of them vomiting onto a sheep during a hilarious Duke of Edinburgh expedition may not be so funny three years on when they are trying to get a job as an accountant.

Yet, businesses are even more at risk online as there can be organisations deliberately smearing their reputation – from irate bloggers to the competition - or even protest groups, particularly among the larger businesses.

In the long term, just as search engine optimisation became a necessary marketing tool for firms, online reputation management is likely to develop into a standard requirement.