No matter who you are or what your business is, when you start getting attention, the question isn't if someone will post something negative about you online, but when it will happen.
Critical customers and/or reviews are hardly a new business challenge. And today, the rapid development of social technology is empowering people to share their thoughts and opinions faster than ever before. Yet when it comes to protecting our reputations, social media is doing much to help. Social medial is allowing people to make meaningful connections that are in fact "taking us back to old market principles," says Rachel Bostman, co-author of What's Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. The only difference is, they are more "relevant in a Facebook age." In her most recent Ted Talk, Bostman illustrates the real world value of reputation for individuals and businesses. And, if we monitor it and keep a reputation inventory, we can control it and leverage it far beyond our wildest imaginations.
Reputation is how we measure trust. In the online world, comments made, friends and fans collected and badges earned build a portion of our larger reputations. In many respects, they represent a type of currency, and should be seen as an investment.
Here are several steps that can help protect this investment:
Make it personal. Treat attacks on your professional/business reputation as you would an attack on your personal reputation. Never delegate responses or make light of the situation. In a communication landscape that moves faster than the speed of light, engaging people quickly is both easier and less costly than the alternative.
Think proactively. Create an inventory of both positive and negative posts and testimonials, maintain it and spread it across the Internet. Online search results like, "never use again," "do not recommend" and "horrible service" can do serious damage, and should always be addressed accordingly. If someone is searching for your services and can not find a positive testimonial, there is a chance that well over half of potential clients who are actively searching for your business will move on to someone else. Ensuring that positive experiences are documented and shared can offset negative reviews and portray a more accurate image. Your inventory will make it easy for you to share quality information with key stakeholders as needed.
Create a shared reputation. As a business, build a team to monitor your reputation. Train employees to be watchful of information they come across, and create a process of reporting to ensure information makes its way to the right stakeholders in your organization.
Pick your battles. Not all negative comments necessitate a response or even your time. Misguided efforts can consume time, money and energy. Let noise-makers be noise-makers and filter out the quality of feedback and its source.
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