So you’re ready to shake off the unwarranted online negative press that’s been clinging to your company name for quite a while, and you’ve been told that launching an online reputation repair campaign is the way to go to completely rehabilitate your brand.
Unfortunately, however, you don’t know your way around the uncanny landscape that is online reputation management. Fear not – this article outlines two mistakes to avoid when implementing an action plan to salvage your business name online.
Not cultivating an online presence
Failing to claim your business name on the main social media networks and on a personalized domain and using these platforms to build your brand and image on the Web definitely leaves your company defenseless against heavy-handed cyber-attacks, baseless malicious rumors, unresolved customer complaints, and even identity theft and hacking.
In a front yard left untended, weeds grow uncontrolled, sucking the life out of all other plants, and rendering your lawn barren. If you want lush green on your side of the fence, do your part. Take time to develop a distinct online brand identity, and write clear, comprehensive guidelines for representing and marketing this persona online.
Crafting and managing a solid online presence based on your product or service and your target customers, and using this persona to establish your business as a thought leader in your industry dispels any disparaging reviews, reassures your target customers of your credibility, and restores their faith in your brand.
Not having a content strategy
A surefire way to run your business to the ground is to assume a passive stance on your online presence. A huge part of managing a strong online presence effectively is to design, enforce, and constantly optimize a proactive content strategy to drive your business name and standing on the Internet as a vehicle towards maximum profits.
Do your due diligence on your target customers: study their demographics, psychographics, and how their online behavior relates to their online patterns as consumer. This is the audience you want to please.
Provide them with nothing but a meaningful, satisfactory experience with your brand by generating original content that is informative, valuable, interesting, or entertaining to them. When you get the formula right, your target customers will help do your digital marketing for you via liking and sharing your content over their social own networks.