What is the Value of your Online Reputation?

For years, companies have wrestled with how to manage the company brand. For marketing and communications departments, the brand was a way of communicating to the general public the goals, mission and values of the company. Along with the corporate brand, many companies have developed the employer brand, which basically defines how well the employees of the company lived the brand on their job. Human Resources departments leveraged the company brand into the employer brand to recruit and retain the best employees to the company.

Then came social media and suddenly companies realized they have an opportunity to better manage their online reputation. The basics involve monitoring what’s being said about the company (or the brand), the products and key executives; optimizing corporate websites to minimize negative search results and, when the negative comments do arise, engaging customers to address it. Online reputation management has become a big priority for public relations agencies.  PR agencies are developing strategies to help companies manage their online footprint through various forms of social networking sites. Some companies are developing their own strategies and policies.  

What we have seen with companies in this area is now spreading more predominantly to individuals, particularly online. The reputation you once had offline can now be spread to hundreds of people with status updates, tweets and a list of books you’re reading. Face it, our personal brand is now accessible online, which begs the question: How well are we managing our personal brand?

That question came up during a recent conversation with colleagues about how much information we make public about ourselves, not realizing that we are creating a permanent record that cannot be erased or deleted no matter how hard we try. Somewhere someone will find out about the stuff we say about ourselves and others. And sometimes it’s not what we say but what our friends say in social networking environments that can have negative implications on our personal brand and how we are perceived by others.  As I shared with one colleague, I am not opposed to “defriending” people from my social networking connections, even family (which I have done) when necessary. The old adage ‘you are known by the company you keep’ applies even more to managing your online reputation. 

Blogger Lee Odden from the Online Marketing Blog recently published tips which include creating a business profile, starting a blog and finding out what information about you may already exist on the Web. You never know what’s being said but you can find out and begin to influence what people are saying about you.

What is the value of your online reputation?