Reputation Management

What does your reputation, your brand, mean to your success? Are you worried that something in your company's past could come back to damage its future? If so, you need to consider reputation management. This is a field that has become more important as the Internet becomes more and more a part of everyday life, and everyone needs to be aware of it. This week's articles focus on preventing and controlling reputation damage... take a look.

Consider this article a primer to reputation management in the online era. (Item #1)   If you don't control your brand online, someone else will. (Item #2)   These free tools can help you begin to track your online reputation. (Item #3)  

If you can prevent reputation damage, that's a good thing. (Item #4)   You probably can't sue, so what can you do to deal with online nastiness? (Item #5)   Reputation management is actually two jobs: trying to be more loved and trying to be less hated. (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. Reputation Management

"Online reputation management" has become a corporate catchphrase for 2011. While reputation management might sound intimidating, it refers to a marketing approach that can easily become the best friend of an individual, a product, or a business. Simply put, online reputation management boosts the prominence of "good" information on the web while burying the "bad."
http://reputationmanagementx.com/

2. The Online Reputation Management Guide

The following Online Reputation Management Guide will show small businesses how to assess, build, track and monitor their online reputation. In most cases, you can follow these simple steps to easily grow your personal brand and/or small business.
http://outspokenmedia.com/guides/orm-guide/

3. Online Reputation Management: 16 Free Tools

If you're already convinced reputation management is important to the life of your organization, but have no idea how to handle it, these free tools may give you the start you need. Usually a mix of a few of these free services will cover your bases, but you will need time to do the manual work necessary for the tools that are not automated.
http://www.sitepoint.com/tools-manage-online-reputation/

4. Ten tactics that could save your online reputation

Don't wait until your reputation is threatened online; start now to do everything you can to avoid such a threat. The author provides 10 ideas on how to do this; take his advice.
http://mashable.com/2008/03/11/online-reputation/

5. Business ethics: reputation management

The Internet is a bit like the old wild west, and sadly, people often post material about an individual, product, company, or service that is inaccurate or simply nasty. Businesses and individuals alike are struggling with how to best deal with online inaccuracy and defamation. The normal steps for dealing with defamation typically involve litigation, but this is not always realistic for Internet-based situations since the Internet is global, and not managed or governed by any single set of laws.
http://business-ethics.bestmanagementarticles.com/a-12900-reputation-management.aspx

6. Two Kinds of Reputation Management

Anything you do to improve your reputation - put out a terrific new product, support local philanthropies, sign onto a human rights charter - moves you a notch or two in the positive direction. Anything that hurts your reputation - an industrial accident, a controversy with stakeholders, a nasty rumor on somebody's blog - moves you in the negative direction.
http://www.psandman.com/col/reputation.htm#fiverule