Reputation Management – Cast Studies in Failures

It’s one thing to hear people say that you need quality reputation management, it’s another thing to see how reputation management can serious affect one’s business or even personal life. Here are some examples: Blendtec, the marketing arm of a blender company, is famous for its countless “will it blend” videos that they post on Youtube. Those Youtube videos are shared by millions of people across the Internet, which of course helps to sell blenders. Adobe, the company that makes graphic design programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop, maintains a list of interesting company related Websites and conversations on the social bookmarking site “Delicious.” Best Western, the global hotel chain, sponsors a blog “On the Go with Amy” where the author travels the country writing about her experiences. This gives the reader a one-on-one interaction with a person, rather than with a large corporation. Cadence, a high technology company which describes itself as the world’s leading electronic design automation corporation, launched its Website that now prominently promotes the company’s community. Cisco, one of the world’s leading hardware and software makers, hosts 12 blogs addressing a variety of audiences for their global business. In fact, there are countless examples of companies such as Dell, Ford, HSBC bank, GM, H&R Block and other Fortune 500 companies using blogs and other social networking tools (Twitter, Youtube, Stumbleupon, Digg) to enhance their reputation on the Internet. Reputation management is always better when you’re offense than when you’re on the defensive. For example, Microsoft is constantly running into headaches because if its software (namely Windows) and has to respond to numerous negative reviews. Reputation management in that instance is difficult because it’s easier to create positive messaging than it is to try and erase negative comments. Tools If you’re trying to repair or simply enhance your online reputation, here are some reputation management tools you can use. Findmeon.com – This links all your networks together and verifies your identity so people know it’s your profile.rnWordpress.com – Sign up for a free account and use as OpenID, this is a great blog tool numerous people are using. Naymz.com – If you sign-up, you can invite your customers to write reviews about you, your work and your company. Monitor This – This tool allows you to monitor and track keywords over multiple search engines so you can see what people are tracking and searching. Monitor Yourself There are also various monitoring tools for you to see what’s in the news about you, including: Google News Alerts, Yahoo News RSS Feed, BackTweets, Google Blog Search and more that are all free. With so many reputation management tools at your fingers, there’s no reason you shouldn’t know exactly what’s being said about you on the Web. They’re free, easy to use and provide excellent reputation management with minimal investment. Search out reputation management tools which work for you, or hire a company that can provide excellent reputation management services. Improving your image is key, especially in a day and age where we know the ring size of celebrities.