In today’s day and age, it is impossible to hide anything. Even if you delete something, one or more copies may still linger on the web. One wrong choice is all it takes. It does not matter when you make it. You may have rectified it or paid the price or you may be making it in the present. It does not matter. One miss-step on a social network platform is enough to cost you your job. That is the impact of Social Media and Technology in our lives today.
A few years back, no one would have thought about using any search engine other than Google. This changed in 2018 when Google was put to scrutiny. Its CEO Sundar Pichai had to appear before the USA Congress. The charges were a breach of privacy and unlawful tracking.
In the wake of that incident, many other search engines have risen. Yahoo which had sunk lower depths than all other search engines again became relevant. Duck Duck Go- a search engine which does not track its users, began to gain prominence.
What’s the lesson here? Google made a mistake. It was well recorded. All it did was to hamper Google’s image. This can happen to anyone — not just an entity like Google.
Online Reputation Management refers to the process of managing your “image”. It is making sure that whenever someone searches you, nothing derogatory comes up. The only things that they find are details about you that project a good “image” of yourself.
To learn how to manage your online reputation, one does not need to take a $10 Udemy Course. Most of it is common sense that we often tend to overlook. There are many ways in which you can maintain a pristine online presence for free. ORM is the term used for online reputation Management. This is what we are here to discuss.
Build a good online reputation
1. Search Yourself on the Net.
How do you know before a test that you are ready? By attempting mock test papers. In short, by testing yourself. In a similar manner, try to search yourself on the internet. You can use Google for this. Since most people searching you would most likely use Google, there’s no need to going about scouring every other search engine result.
2. Me on the Web.
If you have a Google account, it presents you with an interesting opportunity. You can use the “Me on the Web” feature of Google to know about your online reputation. This section shows you what other people see when they search for you.
3. Uber Suggest.
No, this has nothing to do with the car service brand. Uber Suggest is a free service provided by Neil Patel. What does it do? It returns a list of what people will get as suggestions when they are typing your name or other personal information. It is completely free.
Another method is to set up Google Alerts on your name or business name. There is still an even more efficient way to do it. But it requires money. If you are willing to spend some buck, you may visit https://mention.com/en/.
4. Damage Assessment.
When you search yourself on the web, if all you get are good things, then your online reputation is clean. Worry begins when your search shows negative things about yourself or your business. The easy way to know this is “go fish complaint”. This would bring up all the negative articles about you (if any).
This is a good method of analyzing where you stand in the so-called reputation ladder.
Damage Minimization
The next logical step is to “heal” your image on the internet.
1. Removing Negative Results.
If the reason for the negative search result is some mistake in the past, it is time to correct it in this step. Moreover, you could try to delete any objectionable content from Social Media platforms. Apart from this, it will help in cleaning up the results.
2. Making Data Private.
In case that you cannot delete the information from the platform, consider making them private. If those posts are made private then they will not show up on search results. Indeed, this way you can treat the damage caused to your online reputation.
3. Addressing the Issues.
Sometimes the negative search results may be due to someone else’s impression of you. if so, you have two ways. Either you can try and bury the search result under other positive reviews and results. You can confront the reason and resolve it.
Preservation of Online Reputation
1. Think Before You Act.
This is arguably the most important thing you need to do. You need to think twice about your actions. You need to consider the repercussions. Any rash actions will come back to haunt you. However, any posts or comments you make on the Social Media platform can become permanent, which is why you need to think hard before doing something online.
2. Increase your Social Presence.
Online Reputation Management does not just refer to the preservation of one’s “image” on the internet. Most importantly, it also means enhancing yourself. You can do these positive writing posts, associating yourself with the right people on various Social Media platform.
3. Start Building Your Brand.
For increasing your presence on the internet and to make sure that your face shows up when people casually search your name, you need to start to build your brand. You can do this by:
a. Buying your own Domain.
Buy a domain of your name. This would be a starting point for your journey. Try to give unique content on the website. This would make sure your website shows up at the top of the search results.
b. Associating Yourself with Communities.
By associating yourself with the right people and communities, you gain to learn something new. This can also help in online identity management.
c. Increasing Outreach.
LinkedIn has a concept of “connections”. Connections, as the name suggests, are people you are connected to. You can communicate with these people and get to know about more people out there who might be of use. This can greatly help you in managing your online reputation.
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