What Methods Protect a Company's Online Reputation?
Public Relations Advice
What Methods Protect a Company's Online Reputation?
Navigating the complexities of online reputation management can be daunting, so we've gathered insights from top professionals in the field. From conducting a comprehensive SEO audit to engaging and securing an online presence, discover the four methods shared by our Social Media Manager and Public Relations Manager on effectively managing and protecting a company's reputation online.
- Conduct a Comprehensive SEO Audit
- Employ Social Listening for Brand Monitoring
- Anticipate Moves with Proactive PR
- Engage and Secure Online Presence
Conduct a Comprehensive SEO Audit
I’d like to answer this question with a look at an interesting rebranding case: We had a nonprofit client that wanted to transition from their existing status quo—one national site and 26 chapter sites—to one national website that would serve as an umbrella for the national association and all local chapters.
Any rebranding carries a risk of negatively affecting search rankings and online reputation and should only be undertaken after serious consideration. In this instance, the existing 27 sites had different messaging and branding; there was a lack of access to resources and expertise to manage website SEO; and all sites were competing for the same keywords, which was degrading SEO efforts and therefore harming the nonprofit’s online reputation. This lack of visibility and clarity needed to be reversed.
We executed an SEO audit analysis of the existing national site, of the new site while it was in staging, and of the best-performing chapter site. After the new site was live, we executed a second SEO audit analysis, presented our findings along with suggestions on how to best manage SEO moving forward, and created and provided a training series on SEO and site migration for every chapter with webinars, presentations, and communication materials.
Our efforts boosted the nonprofit’s online reputation by increasing overall domain authority for and organic traffic to the new site, which helped drive an increase in donations from the previous year.
Our advice: For a strong, well-recognized online reputation that supports your brand growth, you must make sure you are represented in only one way across the internet; this includes URLs, metadata, social media profiles, any analytics platforms and SEO tools, paid media links, and even websites like Wikipedia.
Employ Social Listening for Brand Monitoring
Utilize social listening to quickly identify new and trending conversations that involve your brand. This will help locate public-facing commentary that your company wasn't tagged in, shortening the timeline for your company to intervene and address the concerns. If your company is facing a PR crisis, social listening is a great way to gauge and monitor overall sentiment and volume, and can help you with formulating any talking points and corrective actions to include in a public statement.
Anticipate Moves with Proactive PR
Before my present position, I was a marketing and PR consultant for a professional hockey team. Through my work there, I learned something interesting that I've applied to my work in the world of PR: A good defense is a good offense. In PR, this means you need to anticipate your opponent's moves and make your moves before they do. In terms of earned media, this action helps shrink the bandwidth for stories about your product or organization and minimizes opportunities for opposing views. Seriously, who is going to publish a negative story about you when they just finished publishing a wonderful article about you?
Engage and Secure Online Presence
I believe that maintaining a strong online reputation requires a proactive approach, including regular monitoring of social media channels and online reviews. Engaging with customers and promptly addressing any negative feedback can help mitigate potential damage. Implementing robust security measures to safeguard against cyber threats and being transparent and authentic in communication are also crucial elements in safeguarding a company's online reputation.
