Managing Your Reputation in a Social Space
In the old days, unless someone sent a letter to the editor or started an all out advertisement war, most big companies had little difficulty keeping a tight hold on their reputations. Unfortunately for some, the information age has turned the world of reputation management upside down. Anyone with a computer and a dial-up connection (or just an iPhone in their pocket), can post whatever slanderous thoughts they have or take out their frustrations on anyone in a very public way, and because search engines appreciate the authenticity of blogs and other user generated content, these comments, rants, and raves often find their way into extremely visible positions. Agreed, some companies probably deserve it, but the really sad thing is that many great businesses hurt by one person’s statements, suddenly lose an incredible amount of online credibility.
Social media websites have amplified the situation incredibly. These user-generated meccas are permeating search indexes and grabbing ranking results in virtually every possible market. Decide you don’t like the company you work for? Just give them a thumbs down in Stumbleupon and leave a nasty comment. It is so easy for a single voice to be heard that companies are walking on pens and needles, afraid of their social networking savvy employees or customers. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in a freedom of speech, but some of these negative claims have no foundation in truth, and in some circumstances, the company is just an innocent bystander.
Luckily, it is still possible to control online reputations using a very similar principle as in the old days.
Own the space.
By taking over the entire space for particular search terms, companies don’t have to worry about those one off bloggers or that one disgruntled customer (who was being unreasonable anyway). Consider a search for the phrase “hillary clinton.” I am quite certain that this senator as a large amount of slanderous material written about her online, but somehow a Google search does not reveal any of that material for at least the first two pages. Now does this mean there are not hundreds of blogs devoted to running her name through the mud? of course not. Because Hillary has a large amount of valuable and heavily linked online material associated with her name, she owns the search ranking space for her name.
Yes, this is an extreme example, but any company can take control of their name space by producing great content, building the strength of that content in the search engines, and using that content to build the strength of other websites in that space, are things that reputable SEO firms should have no problem accomplishing. Sometimes negative comments can stay in the rankings for years, and there is no reason why any organization or individual has to stand by helplessly as their reputation suffers. Online reputation management is a great way to protect your brand.
About the Author: Peter Hamilton is the Project Manager in charge of the Seattle office of ArteWorks SEO. His interest and experience in Internet marketing is largely focused on the social media optimization and multi-media facets of exposure. To learn more about reputation management and this search engine optimization firm, visit www.arteworks.biz.
Social media websites have amplified the situation incredibly. These user-generated meccas are permeating search indexes and grabbing ranking results in virtually every possible market. Decide you don’t like the company you work for? Just give them a thumbs down in Stumbleupon and leave a nasty comment. It is so easy for a single voice to be heard that companies are walking on pens and needles, afraid of their social networking savvy employees or customers. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in a freedom of speech, but some of these negative claims have no foundation in truth, and in some circumstances, the company is just an innocent bystander.
Luckily, it is still possible to control online reputations using a very similar principle as in the old days.
Own the space.
By taking over the entire space for particular search terms, companies don’t have to worry about those one off bloggers or that one disgruntled customer (who was being unreasonable anyway). Consider a search for the phrase “hillary clinton.” I am quite certain that this senator as a large amount of slanderous material written about her online, but somehow a Google search does not reveal any of that material for at least the first two pages. Now does this mean there are not hundreds of blogs devoted to running her name through the mud? of course not. Because Hillary has a large amount of valuable and heavily linked online material associated with her name, she owns the search ranking space for her name.
Yes, this is an extreme example, but any company can take control of their name space by producing great content, building the strength of that content in the search engines, and using that content to build the strength of other websites in that space, are things that reputable SEO firms should have no problem accomplishing. Sometimes negative comments can stay in the rankings for years, and there is no reason why any organization or individual has to stand by helplessly as their reputation suffers. Online reputation management is a great way to protect your brand.
About the Author: Peter Hamilton is the Project Manager in charge of the Seattle office of ArteWorks SEO. His interest and experience in Internet marketing is largely focused on the social media optimization and multi-media facets of exposure. To learn more about reputation management and this search engine optimization firm, visit www.arteworks.biz.
Labels: internet marketing, reputation management, search engine optimization, social media
posted by Peter Hamilton - Arteworks SEO at
5:09 PM
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