Proactive Reputation Management Strategies

Of course, managing your online reputation is not only about listening to what others are saying about you. It's also about making an effort to connect to customers and potential customers in order to establish and maintain a positive reputation.

For many companies, blogging has been an essential aspect of that strategy, as it can be a way for a company to establish a public voice, proactively answer questions, keep people informed of internal developments, and contribute to their authority by adding more content to their website that deals with their area of expertise. Our September newsletter, Is it Time to Start a Blog?, covers this subject in depth.

Companies that offer software solutions should also consider setting up a support forum. The last thing a software company should want is for the majority of conversations about their product to occur offsite. If this is happening, it's likely that the overall effect will be negative. However, having a support forum allows you to offer online application support as well as provide a venue for existing customers to support one another in a moderated environment. Something like this would go a long way toward building equity with customers and potential customers, much more so than an F.A.Q. We offer a powerful but easy-to-use forum component that can be easily integrated with the NewfangledCMS.