Reputation is an extremely important part of your business. Unlike a few decades ago, you no longer rely on word of mouth and advertisements – everyone can have an opinion about you and your practices are likely to be publicly scrutinized and examined. Everyone can express their opinion online and if they are clever, articulate their terrible review in an extremely public way. Reputation management allows you to take charge of the way that you look online and it also gives you the tools to learn more about your company so that you can make it better.

Perhaps the most obvious advantage of monitoring your online reputation is that you will immediately improve the satisfaction of your customers. Having an easy way to get in touch and a prompt reply satisfies customers and you can learn to pinpoint anything in particular that may be giving your brand negative publicity. You can also do a little bit of market research while you attempt to improve the perception of the brand through online reputation management.

Other less obvious benefits of online reputation management may be reducing your marketing costs. Once you have learned how to interact online you may be able to take over the entire operation if your company is quite small. You may also be able to identify gaps in the knowledge of your customers regarding a particular product or campaign and take the steps that you need to address it. A well run online reputation management campaign can make the difference between a customer wanting to purchase from you or not.

Online reputation management is not only important for your company’s image. There are many rewards that you may be able to reap from it when you do it right and they may have a positive impact on your company that you had not expected.

An offhand comment made by a powerful executive in a private party. A mislabeled package that ended up arriving five months late in the hands of a powerful blogger. A heated personal exchange between a prominent member of a community and an intern handling e-mails. Can you guess what all of the above things have in common? They are all things that could end up going viral. This means that all the work you have done to build a reputation of a trusted company may simply go out the window straight away and in a matter of days. Ignoring things like these does not make them go away, it makes them worse. Fortunately if you take action quickly enough, you may be able to start building your reputation back up and you may be able to recover from a difficult faux pas altogether.

If the mistake is too big, you may consider bringing in an online reputation management specialist that can guide you through the process. Before you take action, you may also need to consult your lawyer, particularly if you feel like whatever has gone viral may become a legal matter down the road. Otherwise, you should use the tools available at your disposal to communicate with the public about your company. Use your social media profiles to let people know about the news and tell them that you are working to find a solution. Their anger may be somewhat appeased if they know that you are trying to do something about them and acknowledging the problem at least means that you will attempt to resolve it. Keeping it quiet may make people feel like you are trying to shove it under the carpet or that you agree with statements that were made. Update frequently and try to ensure that it does not happen again by training at least some key employees in social media so that any complaints can be quickly responded to and addressed.