We previously analyzed the importance of effectively managing your personal social media profiles to better secure your individual reputation online. However, when it comes to securing your company’s brand from attacks, online reputation management becomes even more critical, especially in the realm of social media. Below are some tips to keep in mind to protect your brand when managing ORM campaigns through social media channels.

Consistently monitor your internal social media profiles

Whether it’s providing an ancillary customer service function or removing negative posts regarding your brand, it’s imperative to ensure that you are consistently monitoring all of your company’s social media profiles. In particular, Twitter has become a popular platform for unsatisfied clients to air grievances, which is why having an active account manager or two responding to inquiries/complaints can help your brand better communicate with your audience.

Employ a company wide social media policy

All the hard work going into building your brand online through social media channels can be for nought if one employee recklessly makes disparaging comments and/or posts lewd photos online. A quick social media training of what to post and what not to post will help educate your staff on the proper online etiquette required to keep the company brand safe from negative press.

Periodically scan the blogs, forums, and other social media networks

A key component of any online reputation management program involves employing a watchdog to monitor the external environment for any negative posts/reviews regarding your brand. As with monitoring internal social media activity, having a dedicated social media account manager scanning review sites, forums, blogs, and other social networking sites can help identify any potential threats to your brand’s reputation.

Create the right social media profiles for your brand

Creating as many online company profiles as possible can help your brand secure a lot of real estate on search engines. However, online reputation management programs are strategic in nature, which is why it’s important to carefully choose which profiles are best aligned with your overall marketing strategy. Creating numerous profiles may also prove to be too difficult to manage and inactive profiles can turn out to be detrimental to your brand’s reputation online.

Social media’s role in online reputation management

Leveraging social media can help you create a powerful online reputation management program to secure and defend your brand from negative attacks. However, there are some rules of etiquette to follow, especially when one questionable post can hurt your brand’s image online. Fortunately, taking control of how people perceive your brand can easily be accomplished through a strategic social media and blogging strategy.