There is much confusion regarding online brand and reputation management. Some think it's only for brands who get themselves in trouble and need to cover up the bad. Some think it's public relations, while others think it's just social media monitoring or some ninja SEO tricks.
The truth is every brand has a reputation regardless if they think they do or not. Your brand is the sum of what people think, say and tell other people about you. You can spend all the money in the world to create a beautiful brand inclusive of digital elements and visuals, fancy logo, website, blog and social media channels and profiles. However, if you don't deliver on your brand promise it's all for nothing.
Your brand is the foundation of your business. It doesn't matter if you are a small business, corporation or something in between you impact your brand with every action you take. Every tweet, call, post on Facebook, Instagram photo, Google+ update is a representation of your brand. Every employee that works for you is leaving hundreds of brand impressions every day online and offline.
They are talking about you! Yes, people are talking about your brand, your executives, your service and your employees. They are talking about what you do right and what you have screwed up on. The question is do you know what they are saying? Are you part of the conversation? Or are you choosing to ignore it? The truth is, the conversations are not going to go away. You might as well be proactive and understand how you can leverage the same social technologies and strategies that may scare you half to death to your advantage. It's all about perspective and how you choose to look at it and manage it.
Take a listen to the 159th episode of the Social Zoom Factor podcast where I share 10 solid tips to help you protect your online brand reputation.
Trust me, this is something every business leader, digital and social marketer should care about. If it's not keeping you up at night you should ask yourself why. Is it because you are proactively managing it or is it because you are ignoring it? Ignoring the need to manage your online brand and reputation is simply not an option if you want to be in business tomorrow.
Take a listen and be sure to subscribe to the entire series on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!
In this 30 minute podcast you will learn:
- 10 Ways to protect your online brand reputation
- Importance of trademark and copyright
- Using social listening and social media monitoring to protect your brand and know your audience
- Securing your domains
- Securing your social channels with consistent naming
- Importance of being proactive in managing your brand
- Keeping the hackers out
- How to manage plagiarism and copy cats
- Importance of being human and engaging real time with your audience online
- Why you need a brand strategy with plans and goals
- Importance of online brand experience including mobile responsive websites and blogs
- Hugging your haters
- Differentiating from competition via branding
Supporting Resources:
- 15 Tips to Zoom Your Brand (white paper)
- Twitter Persona Worksheet
- Personal Branding tips for Speakers, Consultants and Business Leaders (Google Hangout Video)
- Brand Strategy in a Nutshell
- Zoom Your Brand Keynote Presentation (slideshare)
- 15 Tips to Build a Mobile Marketing Plan and Strategy
- 8 Tips to Zoom Your Brand on Twitter (episode 79)
- Audience Analysis Worksheet
- Band Humanization in a Nutshell (episode 5)
- Brand Humanization: Social Media Authenticity vs Transparency (episode 16)
- Digital Body Language: 105 Factors Impacting Your Personal and Business Brand (white paper)
- Personal Branding in a Nutshell (episode 11)
- 15 Characteristics of Human Brands (episode 55)
- 8 Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)
