How’s your on-line reputation?
Truth telling and transparency are the new norms on the Internet. Even Google is having a hard time in China stomaching the country’s censorship laws.
The Internet has become a place of information, both good and bad. The truth is being exposed. Hiding a bad company on the Internet is tough. People write, comment, take pictures and video. Increasingly one of the first things people do when checking out a company on the Internet is to read any available reviews and comments. Sometimes there are a couple unfavourable comments. The funny thing is that most people expect to find a few. But if the vast majority of the comments are good, people we’ll still deal with the company.
Ensure you monitor the comments about your company using Google Alerts (google.com/alerts). Google sends you an email each time someone writes about your company. Learn from the bad comments; improve processes; become better.
Continuously review your reputation and build it. You won’t have much control over the few times negative comments crop up, so ensure the majority are good ones.