Types of Content That Can Appear on the Internet and Damage your Online Reputation
A lot of businesses keep online reputation management relatively low on their priorities list. However, it is an important side of business that can have either positive or negative implications depending on your management approach. News is spreading very quickly now and the internet harbours a lot of influencing personalities. Further, negative news spreads much more quickly than positive news. Proactive management of your online reputation becomes an essential factor in the success of your business.
There are three major types of negative content your business should be aware of. These are considered particularly bad because they can surface at the top of the search engine results. This means that any potential customer looking for your business online will be met by negative press before anything else.
Negative reviews: Review platforms allow users to express their opinion about any brand or product. Unfortunately the platforms cannot discern between authentic negative feedback and someone just venting. All feedback is published and is publicly available. Negative content can affect your sales and addressing the criticism on the site may sometimes not be enough.
Negative media coverage: Even though most of media sites seem legitimate, there are plenty of news sites that will publish any scrap of negative information they can find about your company. This can happen because they themselves need some publicity or maybe someone gave a false hint to the editorial team. One or two bad stories about your company are enough to impact your online reputation.
Targeted sites: Some people might be so determined to damage the reputation of a company that they create websites which specifically target a particular company and then fill it with negative information. These “hate sites” target companies and their top officials often by providing false information only to tarnish the reputation. When these websites are highly optimized for search engines, they might land on the first pages of search results.
How do you deal with this? This needs a proactive approach in online reputation management. Perform searches of your company name and analyse mentions on search results pages and social media. When you stumble on negative press or feedback it is advisable to address it immediately, if possible. By using online reputation management strategies you can mitigate damage to your reputation from such negative content and keep a positive online presence.
