As much time and effort that marketers put into improving visibility within search results, not all search engine ranking pages (SERPs) are good. An increasing number of companies are experiencing the sharp edge of the sword from disgruntled employees or customers taking advantage of the amazingly simplistic process of publishing content to the web. Negative commentary can have a significant impact on brands that companies have spent years and immense resources to build. Reputation management is more than just responding to a crisis, it’s an ongoing acknowledgment that an active and progressive policy of monitoring and controlling the flow of content to the web will mitigate potential pitfalls as they happen rather than just AFTER they happen.
Types of content to monitor include: news searches, standard searches, social tags, blogs & forums. Optimizing is most effective as a preventive measure rather than a reactive measure. However, reactive optimization for displacing negative search results is what most online reputation management services focus on. It leaves the company chasing after the various dissenters and does not put the brand in a controlling position. You need to already active in the social web in order to monitor and influence it.
Companies that want to protect their visibility on the web optimize their branded content as a best practice and closely monitor the social buzz around their brands. Optimizing all digital communications includes: press releases, marketing collateral, optimized text, investor relations and related electronic content that is publicly available on the web. While some of this is as easy as setting up a generic alert, other portions are much more involved yet crucial to the well being of any brand online. Good online intelligence provides any brand the ability to stop issues before they become problems and can even turn negatives into positives if handled correctly.
Following reputation management best practices means being proactive rather than reactive in nature at all times.