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How to manage your Online Reputation

Online reputation is not just a simple buzz word, it’s something that either makes you or breaks you

What is an online reputation?

Online reputation is a multi-faceted concept aimed at achieving a positive public perception of the brand, business, or person. More or less it’s about monitoring and managing you or your brand reputation and ensuring that you/your business is properly represented online.

Online reputation influences what information people will find. Online reputation is very important for every person, company/business, especially e-commerce because it affects their visibility and credibility.

The main purpose of online reputation is to create balance so that you can counteract misleading information or trends. This allows you to put your best foot forward.

Why is it important to maintain your online reputation?

Online reputation is important for you, in the long run. The importance of online reputation is irrefutable. The reasons are stated below

  • Higher audience or individual trust -

    • Being transparent makes you gain more trust in people, therefore your online reputation says a lot about you.

    The benefits of online reputation management can help you with some extra income for growth because of the goodwill. People with a good reputation attract better employers.

  • Valuable and honest feedbacks -

    • You get some useful insights. Feedbacks help you to monitor your business and good feedback motivates you and negative feedbacks make you do better.

    You can simply pay attention to what your audience has to say about you and then learn from your mistakes.

  • Shows your best side -

    • People do not know anything about you and therefore they will believe whatever information is available to them.

    All the companies will search you online before investing in you, therefore it helps you to portray your best self.

  • Analyzing the needs and wants of the audience-

    • The online reviews not only help the bottom line but also shows that you are innovative. Looking at the reviews gives you a rough idea as to what is right and wrong with you as an individual.

    This helps build a good personal rapport as people will appreciate that their views are being taken care of.

Ways to manage your online reputation -

  • Google yourself-

    • Take a moment and google yourself and search for everything related to you. Search for your name and set up a google alert to keep track of any new content. Your search results should always turn out to be professional.

    Constant google searches are good as they allow you to keep a regular check as to what the outside world sees and thinks about you.

  • Be transparent-

    • Audience trust must be the priority for any individual and transparency builds trust. You should always admit what's wrong with yourself or the mistakes because covering the mistakes would be a huge mistake in the long run.

    Be open to negative comments or criticism because practicing honest communication is the key and they will further help you to do better. Always learn from your mistakes and feel no shame in admitting it, remember millions of eyes are always watching.

    Various ways to he transparent online are-

    • Don't try to hide criticism
    • Value feedback
    • Establishing a one to one communication channel is very helpful in the long run.
    • Allow people to talk about you and your image publicly.

    If you don't have accounts on social media handles like LinkedIn, Facebook, twitter, google, etc, make one as soon as possible and fill out the profiles.

    Social media monitoring allows individuals to gather online public content and keep a check on all the positive and negative things affecting their reputation. Perform regular searches of your name.

Things you must take care of -

  • Use perch to track your social media reviews.
  • Use google alerts to track notifications whenever your name appears online.
  • Set expectations -

    • Keep boundaries as to the type of content you want to share, what is off-limits to the readers, and what will be the frequency in which you'll respond. Set expectations by acknowledging the comments, encouraging interactions, saying thank you often, and asking questions.

    You must develop policies and guidelines so that how you engage is consistent and respectful.

  • Optimize your presence on social media and respond to people promptly -

    • People around you are always sociable therefore when they reach out to you on social media, they expect a quicker reply. Individuals hold a lot of power and they use it to shape the online perceptions of you.

    Always respond to negative comments with a solution. Don't try to cover up your mistakes, it will make things worse, instead, take a proactive approach.

    Most of the websites will give you an option to link with other social media sites, you should not miss this opportunity as this will make your online presence look stronger.

    Try and cultivate a long-lasting relationship with people. Don’t be shy to ask for reviews.

  • Plan for the worse and have a crisis management strategy -

    • You can't anticipate a crisis but what you can do is prepare for one. The more time you spend planning for the worst-case scenarios, the less damage it will do to you during the time of an actual crisis.

Things that can be done are -

  • React quickly and gently to all the negative comments or reviews, at the time of crisis, your comment should have value and should look concerned.
  • Make sure where your audience focus is, if it's on Facebook, be more active on Facebook than other social handles.
  • Be proactive and keep an eye on industry trends. Be dynamic and change yourself according to the demands of the market.
  • Choose the people you connect to and follow wisely -

You have to choose the right person to indulge with as he or she can either make your reputation or break it within seconds.

Take care of the followings things while choosing the people you want to follow or connect -

  • Make connections by spotting a mention from that person through your online reputation audit. This will help you start a conversation.
  • Don't get involved with any person who is into scandals or has a history or criminal record or possesses any negative approach.
  • Try and connect with people who have a lot of followers online and offline. A person with a lot of fan following will increase your reputation as you will now reach many of his fans that were unaware.
  • Pick a person from the same field. For example, if you are a sports person, pick people who are into sports, if you are into beauty products, pick a person who is more into fashion shows and blogging.
  • Keep things private-

You must keep private things private because it's very unwise to post your private pictures on your public accounts. If you feel like you have to share your content and pictures, it's a suggestion to make a different account where you can add all your close people who you trust instead of sharing it with a huge audience that can rather misuse it. Make a different account where you can post all the formal and business-related stuff and another one for your family and friends

It might be difficult to manage two accounts but it’s always better to be safe than to regret later.

Conclusion

Choose for a better root and opt for online reputation management. If you don't actively monitor and improve your online reputation, you can't last in the long run because you'll miss on a huge opportunity to grow and establish yourself.


Jahnvi Kaushik
Career Expert at CV Owl