Reputation management should be a basic part of every online campaign. Although not every business is going to have to deal with reputation issues every week, or even every month, most businesses will have to deal with some issues at some time. If reputation management is not a part of your schedule when this happens, you can have a lot of trouble regaining the ground you’ve lost.

The sort of plans companies develop for their reputation management range from the very simple to the incredibly complex. A simple plan might involve a weekly search on company keywords. A complex plan will be more proactive, trying to nurture positive reviews so that negative feedback is automatically swamped by positive press. Some companies, however, take their reputation management a little too far.

The level of your reputation management plan will determine how easy it is to overcome a problem when it arises. The desire to make reputation management easy, however, leads some companies to the dark side. Many companies hire experts to help them with their online reputation management. Companies that take it too far hire people to leave 100% positive reviews all around the net to boost their reputation. This plan can misfire, as internet users tend to be suspicious of overly positive reviews.

Most plans should make use of a site’s search engine optimisation strategies to take advantage of search engine positioning. You can discuss reputation management with us at SEO Consult Australia. When formulating an ethical reputation management plan, these are the sorts of things you need to ask yourself:

• If I was a customer, would I benefit from this? A lot of the work done in relation to search engine optimisation takes internet users into account. Failing to think about your site’s users can get you into trouble in many ways, and this applies just as much to reputation management as it does anywhere else. If the information you distribute isn’t pleasing to your target users, it may not have the effect you’re after.
• Is it actually going to be helpful? A lot of businesses make mistakes with reputation management because they go for excess positivity. Usually, a realistic review, with some criticism as well as praise, is more effective than outright marketing.
• Will this come back to haunt us? It never pays to assume that things can be kept secret on the net. Files are all too easy for a determined researcher to uncover. If you’re thinking about doing something for your SEO or reputation management that you’re scared for others to know about, it’s probably best not to do it.

It’s a little naive to assume that companies will be happy with organic reviews when manipulating online reviews is so easy. At the same time, it’s important to remember that entirely positive press is not necessarily the best way to go. Fostering a positive attitude in your target user group could prove far more effective in the long run, and won’t come back to bite you.