A recent front-page story in the Washington Post brought to light a fast-growing trend in today’s digital world: Online Identity Management. So what exactly is your “Online Identity”, and how can you “Manage” it?
According to the Washington Post, Sue Scheff, a consultant to parents of troubled teens, was getting slandered online after one of her clients turned on her, calling her “a con and a fraud,” and accusing her of taking kickbacks and destroying people’s lives. Negative comments were being posted on online bulletin boards, forums, and threatening videos were posted up on YouTube for the world to see.
Her business was suffering from all the negative messages being pumped through the interwebs, so Scheff sued for defamation. She won an $11.3 million verdict, but never collected a dime from the penniless defendant. She ended up paying tens of thousands of dollars out of her own pocket to a PR firm to try and minimize the damage to her reputation.
What should you do if you are an average Joe small business with limited resources? Fortunately, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and you can easily monitor your image online for free with a few simple steps.
- See What’s Out There: Google search your name and the name of your company and see what appears. Then set up a Google Alert on your name and your company name. You’ll be alerted by e-mail whenever you or your organization has been mentioned on a page indexed by Google
- SEO, SEO, SEO: Make sure your web site is coming up first in search engine results. If you own the top position online, the negative media gets fewer clicks. It’s very difficult to get other people’s content removed online, and even if you’re successful, the damage to your image is already done. Your only hope in the war of words is to limit the negative exposure.
- Blog About Stuff: Start a free blog (Blogger.com) and link it to your main web site. Post frequently and make sure your posts are key-word relevant and relevant to your website. These pages will then fill the search results page and help push any negative messages out of sight.
- Social Media: Another way to fill the search results page and put a positive spin on your online identity is to create pages on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Google+.
- Be Careful! Finally, never post or email anything that could be construed as sexist, racist, or offensive. You should always assume anything that passes through your Ethernet cable will be seen by the entire world.
The last bullet is by far the most important. You never know when a once trusted friend could turn around and use your words against you and your company. The best way to fight this war is to never give your enemies ammunition.
In summary, the 3 main ways to take control of your online identity are:
1. Be aware of what is being said about you online.
2. Make sure plenty of positive messages are flowing through Google’s search results.
3. Teach your entire team the importance of your online identity and how their actions affect it.
