Manage and Monitor Your Online Reputation

Last week I attended a social media panel here in Kansas City. Most of the interest and questions surrounded the topic of brand and how to protect it. How do you protect your brand when it comes to social media? That's a great question and one that Starbucks and Dominos wish they would have asked months ago.

Recently Starbucks and Dominos were both victims of brand sabotage and quickly learned hard lessons about the rate of speed with which a message can spread through social media. Just this last week, Starbucks was notified by a well-known blogger that their Miami location was posting inappropriate photos of their customers on Flickr. Months before that, Dominos had the most popular video on YouTube, but what was in that video was a detriment to a brand they've been creating for the last 50 years. Dominos had the video removed and I'm sure Starbucks is in the process of having the photos removed, but what damage was done in the interim?

If you only get one thing out of this article it should be this - whether you are participating in social media as a part of your marketing strategy or not - you are playing. Your brand in some way or another, is being represented, either by you as a company, by your customers or by your employees. Wouldn't you like to be aware of what's being said? If not, let me caution you - sticking your head in the sand will only hurt you, not help you.

After the panel last week, I put together a list of steps on managing your brand online, as well as tools you can use to monitor what is being said about you, your products or services and your company. Take some time today to learn how to manage and monitor your online reputation. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to social media, just ask Starbucks and Dominos.