I would like to thank One Degree for publishing this article. Their site offers in-depth analysis, best practices and insight on digital and social media trends. Check out their Branding section for more information on how to improve your company’s presence.
Consumers have access to more information than ever before thanks to social media and Google. You’ve probably heard people complain about major brands having tone-deaf social posts or poor customer service. Unfortunately, you can never erase what you post on the internet, so it is critical your brand has a strong, reputable online presence.
Whether you’ve made the mistakes or someone has hacked your brand’s site or social profiles, you can regain your credibility and protect yourself with these five tips.
Keep your site up-to-date
Your site is the first place people will find when researching your business. Make sure all of the information such as phone number, contact email and address are recent. You’ll also want to ensure all of your links work and don’t lead to 404 pages.
Monitor online mentions of your name
You also want to track mentions on blogs, news sites and social media sites. You can set up alerts to notify you whenever someone mentions your brand’s name. This way you know exactly where and why people mention you and can respond accordingly.
Utilize social media daily
While you cannot remove negative search results for your brand, you can reduce their impact by posting positive information on social media sites. This requires daily effort to maintain your position as a thought leader in your field. While it might take some time, ultimately you are building a rapport directly with your audience when you join in these social communities.
Protect yourself against hackers
Although nothing can 100 percent prevent hackers, there are a few steps you can take to make it harder for them:
- Use different passwords and emails for your site and social media profiles. This makes it harder for people to access all of your profiles.
- When using unsecure public WiFi, use a VPN such as IPVanish to encrypt the communication between your computer and ISP so even if someone were to intercept it, they would need to expend a significant amount of effort to decode it.
- Keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware software up-to-date and avoid dubious sites.
Keeping track of your brand’s online reputation should your top priority as it can make or break your business. It might take some time, but a good impression can go a long way to converting visitors into customers. Do you have other tips on how to protect and improve your online reputation? Let us know in the comments below.
About the Author: Cassie is a freelance writer who finds the intersection between marketing and technology a fascinating topic. She hopes her articles helps businesses improve their brand images by properly utilizing digital service.