Merriam-Webster defines “reputation” as:
“overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general”
Nowadays that reputation is increasingly informed by what people see online. Use of the yellow pages is going down. Google is way up. People ask for opinions on Twitter before they would pick up the phone to get their best friend’s opinion.
So while you used to invest resources to make sure your business cards, stationery and signage reflected your image and good reputation, now you must use turn your attention to your online reputation as well. Little things online speak loud and clear about the quality and character of your business.
Below are 5 little-known factors that affect your online reputation:
1. Company Website
If your company doesn’t have a website, it’s as good as non-existent. But it takes more than slapping on a website to form a good online reputation. Your website must look nice, of course, and be readable and all that. But it also needs to have updated content. The contact information should be clearly visible. Visitors should see the people and faces behind the company. Anonymous websites give off a fly-by-night aura.
And forget the static company website that’s the online version of your brochure. Nowadays, people expect companies to provide useful information. This enhances your reputation as an authority in your field. And makes prospects know you care about them. This is what a blog is good for.
2. Social Networking Profiles
Aside from your website, your social networking profiles also reflect on your online reputation. First off, look at the user name you’ve chosen. If it’s not your company name or your personal name, make sure it’s not something silly or nonsensical. And then there’s the issue of your avatar. In some cases you don’t have a choice but to use your company logo. Otherwise, avoid anything confusing or vulgar.
Lastly, pick your friends. The people you follow on Twitter, your LinkedIn connections, your Facebook friends, and the Facebook pages you follow all reflect on you. Choose them wisely.
3. Social Networking Updates
This may be obvious, but it’s too important to leave out of this list. What you tweet about or post on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+ all affect your reputation. You have to be especially mindful if you’ve synchronized your different social networks together. For example, you may forget that your Twitter tweets are automatically published on your LinkedIn profile. Then you absentmindedly tweet, “Beer starts flowing in an hour!” That would be a huge turn off to your professional network on Twitter.
You may have also linked your Twitter account with your YouTube account. If this is the case, you’ll automatically tweet every time you upload and favorite a YouTube video. Make sure your YouTube activities are relevant to your Twitter followers. Or unlink your accounts.
Be purposeful about your social network presence, and make sure each of your updates are aligned with your goals.
4. Search Engine Ranking
How you rank for your top keywords also affects your online reputation. If you’re not in the top 10 of the search engine results page (SERP), you’re pretty much not in the big leagues.
Another important SERP to look at is the type of web pages that come up when you search for your company name and/or the names of your executives. If one of them is a blog post with the title, “Acme’s Blue Widget Sucks – Don’t Buy!” then that will affect your online reputation.
5. Comments in Blogs and Forums
Online comments made by your company executives and employees on blogs and forums also affect your reputation. I’ve seen people leave snarky comments, or even pick a fight online. This doesn’t look good, even when there’s a good reason for it. These comments never read in a good way. And, remember, these are web properties you have no control over. So you couldn’t go back and delete them afterwards. They may even rank well in SERPs.
This doesn’t mean you should restrict employees from participating in online communities. But do remind them to think twice, three times, or more, before publishing anything when they’re angry or upset.
How’s your online reputation?
Looking at the factors above, how’s your online reputation doing? Are there areas where you can do better? How can yo use social networks to improve your reputation?
Tell me about your Aha’s and action points below. Or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook.
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Elena is founder of a technology PR agency that works with startups to billion-dollar companies. She is passionate about helping marketers and small business owners with practical publicity strategies.
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great 5 factors that affect on-line reputation, totally agree with you that little things online speak loud and clear about the quality and character of your business.Good quality content each time is a must and remembering to reply to your readers comments is another one in my opinion
Couldnt agree more with this point: “f your company doesn’t have a website, it’s as good as non-existent.” our website has been in the coming soon phase for the last few months, and i wont feel like we actuallu exist until the day we launch it. Great post!
Thanks for stopping by JC and good luck on your new site Alyssa!
I couldn’t agree more with you statement that a company might as well not exist if they do not have a website. I have seen a lot of poorly done websites from companies that I would have otherwise thought highly of, but the neglect to their website really made me change my mind. I have a bit of experience with web design and I appreciate a website that is clean and easy to navigate because I know that some time has been taken to give it an appealing appearance.
It is amazing how such simple advise can really make a huge difference to your online and in-person reputation. I whole-heartedly agree that all it takes is a little time and effort. What social media and online reputations really take is effort and smart decision making. Posting that picture of you chugging a beer may be fun, but it is not something that customers want to see out of an executive or other important person in the company. I do have to say that making a quality Web site with up-to-date and valuable content may be one of the easiest, yet most forgotten ways to really boost your online reputation. If you take time to just post something even once every day, it will keep people coming back!
I recently read an article that spoke about social network profiles – specifically Facebook – and it said that you’re friends are actually more likely to jeopardize your reputation with the comments they leave on your wall, photos etc., than the posts you release yourself. Choose wisely indeed!
Laura, it can be an issue mixing personal and business Facebook profiles! I always suggest having both!
Agreed James! I find that being helpful goes a long, long way! Thanks for sharing a comment and stopping by.
Totally agree Carly. We revamped our other PR agency website last year and it’s done wonders for new business. Kicking myself for not doing it sooner
Although most of these five factors seem obvious, they are all very important when it comes to posting things online. Your reputation is gained by what people see that you are posting online. Keep it classy and business-like at all times. Also the phrase“if your company doesn’t have a website it’s pretty much non-existent” is 100% true. Nowadays people depend on the internet for any and everything, you must keep your reputation great online as well as in person.
“Another important SERP to look at is the type of web pages that come up when you search for your company name and/or the names of your executives” couldnt agree more. A blog post that is bashing your company can do so much harm, since this is perceived as a neutral party who has taken a stand rather than someone who’s bias to your company. It is therefore very important to see what people are writing about your company, and, when possible, always answer in a polite but straight forward way to set the record straight.
to be honest i just bought my fans and followers for the social media aspect. certain sites sell followers and fans for us lazy folk because i hold down a full-time job and do not have time to build a following. i used trafficangels.org and they have the cheapest rates i’ve seen.
i envy those patient enough to build social presence via email lists!
Hi My name is Lisa and I’m a business owner of SquareFish, a BPO Outsourcing and SEO Company in the Philippines. All I can say is Two thumbs up with your 5 factors. Cheers! – Lisa
Cheers Lisa, I was just there in December escaping winter! Love the beaches
Absolutely Elizabeth. You don’t want the first impression of someone searching for your company to be a negative one!
Online reputation has become something of an essential aspect of a persons professional figure. As a current college student, we are consistently coached on maintaining a positive digital imprint on the Web throughout all of our interactions and online outlets. I have spent a lot of time developing an online presence that represents my personal brand in a positive light. As the Web becomes increasingly important to professionalism, our online reputation should follow suit.
Reputation is something that will come and go very fast. People forget real easy so I don’t think it is to hard to restore a reputation.
Great article though!
Please be wary of purchasing followers from Twitter – and don’t make the same foolish mistake that I did. If you are going to buy Twitter follows always do thorough research on the company before parting with money.
It is perfectly understandable why many SMEs resort to this action, as nowadays unless you’re a celebrity or a big, well-known brand it is difficult to drum up thousands of followers. In a sense it is a bit of a vicious cycle – the less followers you have, the less you will attract.
But buying followers is a complete no-no – which I learned the hard way – and there are very few legitimate sites out there which can increase your following without breaking Twitter’s terms of service.
Take TrafficAngels.org for example. Often they advertise themselves by saying: Buy Twitter Followers | TrafficAngels – Website & Social Media
This site promises you 3,000 in 7 days, or 1,000 targeted followers. It also comes with a 30-day no quibble money back guarantee. Or so they say…
Well, being the naive sucker that I was, after having email correspondence with them, I decided to purchase 1,000 targeted followers for $80 or approx £52 in UK currency. They then got back to me saying that they can add 500-1,000 followers weekly. (Bearing in mind this was in June)
To do this they needed login details. (That really ought to have raised a red flag from the start. Bear in mind though – any site that does not require login details for targeted followers basically uses inactive/fake users to boost the numbers on your account, and any site that does – you risk opening yourself up to spam and malicious activity. A real catch 22 situation)
Here is what I got. They use the follow-first method and follow as many people as possible. My following went up to 706 and I gained 13 new followers – some of which dropped off after a while. That’s it. That’s what I got.
When I emailed they said they can’t add 500-1,000 followers afterall, as Twitter had introduced terms against adding this many followers weekly in May. A bit of a contradiction to what they told me earlier.
Well, I emailed them back asking for a refund, only to get a very snooty email saying that “It appears patience isn’t endemic in society nowadays..” and they will “process” and “review” my refund after 2-3 weeks. In otherwords, it’s a scam, and no I didn’t get the refund.
Given that I paid through PayPal (Please note their buyer protection does not extend to services, it only applies to products which can be physically posted, NOT digital services, and getting the money back through your bank is unlikely) this was basically a delaying tactic they were using to deny refunding the money.
Basically, if a site takes more than 24 hours to return your money, particularly if you paid via PayPal – it is not going to.
I couldn’t see any reviews about them online or forums dedicated to the topic, so I am posting this as a warning to prevent other gullible people making the same mistake.
Now we can argue the toss about the morality of paying for Twitter followers, or the naivety in falling for the scam (or any scam for that matter) but the fact remains these companies are flourishing on the internet – because businesses and individuals alike are falling for them and there appears to be little in the way of online warnings about these companies.
Put it this way. I am usually quite savvy when it comes to spotting fraud, and believe me I’ve dodged a few bullets in the past. I’ve had people attemtping the Nigerian shipping scam, psychic scams, email scams, money-transfer scams on me – you name it, but with all the warnings out there, I’ve thankfully recognised them a mile off. But when it comes to sites that look legitimate, and the only reviews you see, later turn out to be written by an employee of that company, then it is not always as obvious as you may think, particularly as I’d looked into a few other sites which offered the same thing, and rejected most of them because they looked fishy. It is a great pity I did not reject TrafficAngels.org as well.
I think in terms of Social Networking updates, it’s not just about what you update, but also about how frequently you update and if you ever update at all. Did you set up social media sites just because it was the “cool thing” to do, but then you never pay much attention to them? Do you interact with people on there? Do you respond to posts and messages? I know I struggle with this because it can be hard to find time in the day for everything, but telling everyone to join you on Facebook, Twitter, etc, but then not keeping those sites fresh and updated gives off a bad vibe. I know I need to get much better at this.
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