Your on-line reputation is important to be aware of for both businesses and individuals.  If someone post something positive about you or your business you want to know so  you can thank them. If someone post something negative you want to know as well so you can choose the right response. Almost always rash reactions to a vegetative comment will do more to damage your reputation than help it. A negative comment on line can be a opportunity for you to show your real character. if you are a hot head then people be warned and know to say away form you. If you treat it just like you would a real customer upset with your most important customers watching then you can gain a lot of credibility in how you respond.

A few key points to keep in mind for managing your reputation:

• Sometimes negative comment on-line mean you need to improve something in your business.
• Not knowing is far worse then knowing.
• Building intentional positive content on-line first over time is one of the best defenses for when something negative hits.
• Respond as though your best customer or mother was watching and do not try to resolve a dispute on-line. Take it off line.
• When mad stop typing on the keyboard!
• If your customers come to your rescue first that is best.
• Make it easy for happy customers to give you review on line.
• Use the basic alert programs to keep up with problems and issues.

The two free tools to let you know about what is being said about you and your business are:
Google.com/Alerts and SocialMention.com . Make sure to put your name and your business name in quotes so when you get alerts it will not include each term separately. If you business is called “SCUBA Diving Training of Raleigh” and you leave the quotes off you will get updates on SCUBA, Diving, Training, and Raleigh.

Also see Martin Brossman’s training classes on Reputation Management:
http://www.ncsmallbusinesstraining.com/category/reputation-management-training/