What I’m about to post is undoubtedly aimed for business, but there is no reason you shouldn’t monitor your own online reputation. But I’m sure I’ll get to that at some point. But here we go: (Want the original? find it here)
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Identify your reputations – monitor names brand names, company names, product names and variations.
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Quantify your audience – who has a stake in your online reputation?
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Understand your goals – how are you going to measure the whether your reputation is improving?
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Specify your needs – what tools do you require and what sources do you need to monitor?
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How will you monitor? – what processes are in place to be alerted and respond to issues?
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Who will monitor the conversations? – who are you entrusting with managing and responding to online reputation issues?
Here’s why you want to figure out what kind of reputation you have:
Because nearly half of social media users like to vent about your company. And nothing flies faster around the internet than word of a business that’s bad to use. Think about it, we’ve all fumed about how badly things are handled and when people tell…they tell all. Here’s a bit of truth, and we’ve all done this. Before I buy any kind of product I look at reviews! Good ones prod me into buying or using the service bad ones? Oh, I’m heading for the hills. That’s not even an after thought. If what people have to say about your company isn’t something you want to hear…look at it this way, at least you know what to adjust to make your company even more appealing.
From a customer standpoint… I don’t care how you respond when there is a problem as long as you do respond. (QUICKLY) And I don’t mean one of those automated responses. I read it and feel that my compliant was never really read, and was thrown into a massive pile in the corner. Nothing pisses me off more than that. <— Big deal breaker. The customer is frustrated enough, all those copy and paste responses do is irritate people further.
Confession time! My job (I really love my job) is to manage the online presence of a newspaper. It’s a small college paper, but when it’s your job, you want to take it seriously. So before you reach the bottom of the graphic that deals with what kind of individual this goes to… don’t be so quick to cut out the interns. Yes, they do tend to be social media savvy. And no, they might not know what your goals are. (Hold on! Hold on!) But! This is where it’s important to make sure all employees know what your goals are! Not to discredit any community managers… but Interns work for cheap. And they tend to be your best resource when it comes what new social media avenues are out there. You can do what you want, I just thought I would throw that out there 🙂
If you don’t watch your online reputation… your competitors certainly will. You don’t want to give them an upper hand now do you? Think about it.
The Nerd Girl Project 