13 Reputation Wellness Tips in the Digital Age

By Gina F. Rubel

Wellness, for many, is simply equated to physical health and wellbeing. For others, it is a deep care for the whole self: physical, emotional, mental, financial, spiritual and vocational. For businesses, it is financial and reputational given that perception (i.e., reputation) is nine-tenths of the truth.

What is your company doing proactively to manage its reputational wellness in the digital age? Here are 13 tips for you to take control of your business reputation.

1. Take ownership of your social media profiles. Share valuable content and regularly engage with your audiences.
2. Monitor reviews and online commentary. Be responsive when appropriate. Apologize to disgruntled reviewers and let them know what you’ve done to rectify the situation.
3. Set up free Google Alerts with the name of your business and leaders. Also, consider creating a profile on Mention.com or another social media monitoring website.
4. Request happy customers consider posting positive Google Reviews, LinkedIn Recommendations, etc. Consider creating an account on Birdeye.com which helps you to standardize your directory listings across all channels and is a useful online review management tool.
5. Update directories. If you don’t use a tool like Birdeye, schedule time quarterly to update online directory listings and correct misinformation.
6. Start a YouTube channel from which you can host and share videos that describe the type of products or services you offer. Interview happy customers. Give tips to your audience. Be mindful, however, of your industry regulations as there may be compliance and privacy rules that affect your business.
7. Create an incident response plan, no matter the size of your business. The best defense against a crisis is a good offense. Emergencies do happen – you should be prepared.
8. Take action by identifying who is in charge when a crisis strikes, even if you don’t have an incident response plan. Determine who can speak on behalf of your company and what they can and cannot say.
9. Look at the warning signs and plan for the crisis before the crisis hits. Vulnerabilities need to be addressed. Think about situations that your community has faced such as devastating natural disasters, power outages, violence in the workplace, and a myriad of other incidents.
10. Evaluate your insurance policies. If you don’t have a cyber policy, you should. Cybercrime is rampant. Small businesses must be proactive to safeguard information.
11. Add multi-factor authentication to your email. It’s well worth it.
12. Always have a few evergreen stories in your pocket to balance negative news.
13. Be prepared with a well-thought-out holding statement If something negative does happen and the media reaches out to you. Never say, “No comment.”

Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

I say, “Today, it takes 20 years to build a reputation and only 20 seconds to ruin it.”

Take steps to manage your positive reputation.

Author: Gina Rubel is the CEO of Furia Rubel Communications, Inc., a Doylestown-based agency supporting corporate growth and reputation management through integrated marketing, public relations, strategic planning, and crisis communications. Gina can be contacted at 215-340-0480, gina@furiarubel.com, or on Twitter @GinaRubel.