Proactive Online Reputation Management Tips for Companies When Building an Online Brand
With the speed and ease that information spreads on the Internet, companies wishing to protect their brand(s) need to stay on top of their reputation management at all times. The popularity of blogs and forums allow ample opportunities for cranks and corporate saboteurs to sully a brand's integrity overnight. Making matters worse, negative publicity, whether it's factual or spurious, can appear in search results, whether someone is looking for it or not. This presents a challenge for any company, and proactive reputation management should be part of every marketing strategy.
Here are some proactive reputation management tips for any company to consider when building their online brand:
Use social networking to your advantage-Social networking sites are immensely popular and a great way to reach your target audience. Build pages on sites, such as MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, and others, and update them regularly with good content.
Issue regular press releases-Press releases are a very effective way to generate interest and announce new product features, innovative uses for your products, and promotions. Just make sure that they are well written and newsworthy.
Produce videos-Just over three years after launch, YouTube is a household name around the world. Harness the power of that top-of-mind awareness by producing videos about your brand(s), uploading them to YouTube, and embedding them on your site. They can be how-to videos, demonstrations, or new uses for the product-but make sure they're not amateurish, or the brand's credibility will suffer.
Host a blog on the company website-Then update it regularly with topical content that engages your visitors. Use the blog to announce new products, promote exclusive sales and coupons, and gain invaluable feedback from your customers. People love to share their opinions. Blogs make it easy for them to do so and also lets them feel like they're part of the decision-making process. Blog posts also rank very well in search results!
Include social bookmarking tools-Place them at the bottom of each blog post. The salient point here is: Make it as easy as possible for your viewers to share your content. This will increase targeted traffic to your site and build brand recognition for little or no investment.
Issue articles for syndication-These can be about anything directly or indirectly related to your products. Make them funny, interesting, topical, informative, or whatever you'd like; however, make sure they're written well so that other Web masters will want to snag this content for their sites. This is a fantastic way to proactively build a brand by creating high-quality back links to your site to enhance ranking opportunities.
All of these tips are practical, inexpensive, and definitely worth your company's time to implement. This is because they get your name out there, build brand recognition, and proactively protect your online reputation. Negative publicity can happen to any company, whether it's warranted or not, but if you take steps like these and continue on a regular basis, the potential impact of bad publicity will be significantly reduced.
Related Tags: marketing strategy, brand management, reputation management
Nick Stamoulis is an Internet Marketing and SEO expert with over 12 years of web marketing industry experience.
Nick Stamoulis is currently the President of the full service Internet Marketing Firm, Brick Marketing.
You may also find articles by Nick at the TalentZoo.com website under SEM Skinny.
Recent articles in this category:
- Promotional Umbrellas are a Useful Tool in Branding Campaigns
With thousands of promotional products out there, it can be difficult to figure out which are useful - Promotional Tote Bags: an Effective an Useful Marketing Tool
Of all of the promotional items a business has to choose from, promotional tote bags are probably th - Avoid Stressful Deadlines
I've mentioned many times in the past the stress involved in an upcoming deadline for some piece of - Custom Signs Buying Tips
Every business and organization wants to look their best at all times so when it comes to public di - 5 Tips on Flyer Printing
If you are not familiar with flying printing, you could be wasting a lot of time and money on your - How to Print Great Flyers Cheaply
Contrary to popular belief, flyer printing is no longer an expensive advertising medium. The downwa - Three Important Auto Locksmith Services for Carefree Driving
Stuck in the middle of the road with your keys locked inside the car? What do you do now? Call your - Tips to Have a Trade Show Booth That Draws Potential Customers
The key to great trade show exhibiting is marketing. Having a strategic exhibit marketing and tacti - Banner Stands Make Your Trade Show a Success
Banner stands are one of the tools that can be effectively used for advertising. In fact, it has be - Discover the Ideal Promotional Products for Your Company
Companies today have a plethora of option through which they can reach out to the masses. From the
Most viewed articles in this category:
- Protecting A Logo: One Key to Branding Success
Logos play an important part in marketing and brand recognition. Take, for example, Nike's "Swoosh," - Brand Awareness Basics
Statistics tell us that in the U.S. alone, the average person is exposed to 3,500 ad impressions per - Corporate Logo Design
A Corporate logo design is a name, illustration or trademark which gives a company its unique visual - Brand your business
Branding is more than just product recognition inherent in the printed materials that they may be us - Small Business Success
Since the inception my business, I have had a lot of small business owners talk to me about business - Types in Logo Design
Text-Based Logo DesignThe mainly extensively used of all logo types; the Text-Based design focuses o - How to Use Ad Specialties To Brand Or Market Your Company
As business owners, how many times have you been "sold" something?This is especially prevalent in th - Save Time Writing Branded Materials With A Content Blocks Document
Recently we helped a small business owner re-write his marketing and business plans. The owner was g - A Push Culture Or A Push & Pull Culture - For B2b Companies
There are broadly two kinds of businesses. B2C, businesses that sell to individual customers, and B - From Lemons to Loans - The Changing Face of Supermarkets
Thirty years ago we would shop in local Town Centres. We'd visit the local butchers, greengrocers, w