Businesses can use the internet to promote, engage and interact with a huge variety of people and customers. Such is the open nature of the internet, businesses can see great success in a short amount of time through this digital community. With that being said, there are times when this level of openness and freedom can lead to your business’ reputation being completely tarnished.

More often than not, the destruction of an online reputation will come as the result of a competitor or a disgruntled ex-employee speaking out in a slanderous manner to hit you where it hurts. Another impact which contributes to a defamed reputation online can come about as the result of a partnership which has gone sour or an affiliation with a rogue company or individual. So what should you do if you find that your online reputation has been tarnished? Let’s take a look.

Call in the Pros

The first step in fixing a damaged online reputation is to call in some reputation management consultants to advise and assist you with this problem. The professionals are specialist in online reputations, what damages them, how to fix them and how to ensure that the same thing does not happen again. The damage which a negative online reputation can have on your business can be gargantuan and it is vital that you fix it before it goes too far, it is for this reason that the money you spend on a rep management team should be considered as an investment rather than a cost. The money which your positive reputation will make you in sales will more than pay for your outlay.

 

Go On The Charm Offensive

They say that offense is the best form of defense and that is certainly true when it comes to overcoming a negative reputation. You should begin to dedicate much of your resources in sharing high quality content and plenty of social media content too. You should also be looking to reach out to key influencers in your field, and work with them to post positive information about you and your company. If the reputation has come about in an unjust manner then you will need as much positivity out there as possible to show off the true reputation which your company should have.

Go Heavy On Reviews

Many review systems work on an average score mark out of 5 or 10 and the fewer reviews which you have, the more powerful the negative reviews will be. It is for this reason that you should be actively encouraging your customers and clients to leave reviews based on how they found your company to work with. If you are confident in the products and services which you provide then you will have a whole host of positive reviews in no time, and the negative comments will be swallowed up.