Online Reputation Management: Faqs From Curious Business Owners

With so much of life being entwined with the internet, more and more of your reputation is perceived online instead of in person. In the old days, a perceived reputation was all about how an interaction went face to face, how the media portrayed an individual or entity, or how someone experienced you as a business owner. Those days are gone, and more and more business owners find themselves wishing they could take a giant eraser to things like old pictures, derogatory website remarks, and other negative reputation builders that can be littered across the World Wide Web. Thankfully, online reputation management can be a saving grace for business people who have a few too many ill-reflecting things floating around on the internet. 

What exactly is online reputation management?

Online reputation management is defined as the act of managing an individual's or entity's reputation through various tactics meant to combat existing negative portrayals. On the same note, online reputation management can be about making sure your best traits and ideas are highlighted and boasted online so they are more accessible than anything that could be perceived as negative. In the end, online reputation management can be one of the defining things you do for yourself in business or as a business owner because so many consumers turn to the internet for information.

Who does online reputation management?

Online reputation management services employ a full repertoire of different individuals with specific skill sets. Some team members may be skilled at combatting bad information by using SEO to create positive news articles, blogs, and informational texts online. Other team members may approach issues from a technical standpoint. For example, if there are old images that could be reconfigured but not removed, the tech team would handle this type of matter. These services also often employ public relations analysts and specialists who work as leaders of the team to achieve the best possible reputational outcome. 

What are the most common things online reputation management services tackle?

For business owners, there are all kinds of things that may need to be negated or counteracted so a reputation is not permanently tarnished. A few examples would be severely poor business reviews from real customers or personal information that has been leaked that paints the business owner in a bad light. However, online reputation management teams tackle everything from small pictures to large chunks of information that have been passed around.