5 Ways to Manage Your Online Reputation Yourself

Don't have the budget to hire a reputation management firm? Don't worry, there's a lot you can do yourself.

Andy Milligan, a business consultant and co-author of "BOLD: How to be Brave in Business and Win" (Kogan Page, 2011), gives BusinessNewsDaily readers tips on how they can handle reputation management on their own.

 [Best Foot Forward: Online Reputation Management 101]

• Focus on a simple, clear and compelling narrative that will stick in the mind. It's the main thing about your business. This is what you always want people to know about you.

• Be authentic. Talk in a language that is real for you and your brand. Avoid the jargon of corporate speak and marketing theory. The more genuine and human you are in the way you talk, the more you will engage people. Don't be afraid to use humor where possible.

• Talk about the "dramatically different'' things you do. People want good stories, so find the things that are exciting to talk about and amplify them.

• Encourage conversations with your customers and even your investors, employees and the press. Social media allows you to do this via Twitter, YouTube, FaceBook , blogs and LinkedIn. You need to have people monitoring and actively encouraging conversations.

• Make it as easy as possible for consumers to talk about you. Empower your people to talk directly with consumers and build rapport, recruit consumers to be fans and when anything goes wrong, deal with it with lightning speed.

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