Social Media Monitoring

Online Reputation Management is an emerging business discipline of growing importance. Take it as a given that most people turn to the internet as their first port of call when they want information, and that search engines such as Google are an integral part of that discovery process.

So what will potential customers, partners, investors or employees find on page one of Google when they search on your business name, your brand name, the name of the CEO or Chairman, or even your own name? Will they find a post from a disgruntled ex-employee's blog, a poor review from an unhappy customer, a negative rating from an analyst, an inflammatory tabloid article... or will they find nothing but good cheer?

Search results are not random events outside of your control

Search engines can only return results from the content which they're able find on the web; up until recently the content sources about your organisation or yourself were quite limited - usually it was the information sitting on your own website or the website of another organisation making a neutral or positive reference to you. But today the search engines have a rich new source of content to trawl through: user generated media (UGM) - everything from blog posts to forums, review sites, social networking platforms, and even video platforms such as YouTube. Worst of all - or best of all depending on what's out there - it's not ephemeral content: it sticks around on the net forever.

The rate at which this user generated content is being created is phenomenal; every person with a computer connected to the internet can now assume the role of ‘citizen journalist'; their views, opinions and musings are effortlessly uploaded onto the web for the search engines to index, and by extension for the whole online world to see. And there's nothing you can do to stop this from happening - but you can monitor and manage the process.

Proact or React?

You have two broad options: you can wait around for a negative search result about yourself or your organisation to appear on page one of Google and then react; or you can be proactive and get a slew of benign communications out there now. By proacting you're afforded an opportunity to create a large pool of positive information which will dilute the impact of any negative mention should it come along (read when it comes along).

Blogs, forums and review sites are by their very nature inclusive ‘conversations' which you have every right to ‘listen' in on or participate in. Respond to an unjustified or misinformed post by joining in on the conversation thread and putting your side of the story across for all to see (including the search engines). Answer a justified negative comment by acknowledging the issue and, if appropriate, offering an apology. View positive comments as an opportunity to personally connect with a truly valuable stakeholder group - your online evangelists. But whenever and whatever you post, be open about whom you are and who you represent. Honesty and transparency are the currencies of credibility in the online environment.

3 Tips for Monitoring your Online Reputation

1. Use a free service such as Google Alerts to automatically email you new occurrences of any mention of your organisation's name, your brands or your own name.

2. Review the first few pages of Google on a frequent basis for search queries around the names and brands you wish to protect.

3.'Tweating' (micro-blogging through Twitter) has gone mainstream - periodically undertake searches for keywords related to yourself or your business at Twitter Search.

3 Tips for Managing your Online Reputation

1. Find a blog from your own industry sector and start participating in conversation threads. Be sure to mention the name of your organisation in your posts, but resist the temptation to spruik.

2. Get your website Search Engine Optimised - all the good news stories and angles on your website will count for little if the search engines can't find and index them.

3. Get content about your organisation out onto the web as widely as you can: post a YouTube video, get your staff blogging, submit an online article, set up a LinkedIn profile...