7 Deadly Sins Businesses Make With Their Reputation

BY Andy Beal 

Think just hatching a Twitter account will catapult your company to the top of everyone's mind? Or your sporadic Facebook posts will bring your brand's reputation to the next level?

Try again.

The web is littered with good companies that failed to take charge of their brand and wound up as reputation road kill.

To not end up as the next travesty, avoid these seven deadly sins.

Not understanding your audience. Who is the prime audience for your company? While you may instantly be able to verbalize the traits of a perfect customer, they only make up a small portion of your online audience. Bloggers, journalists, business partners, employees -- even jilted lovers -- all have a say in your reputation.

As a business owner, you should know where your customers hang out on the web, what social networks and blogs they frequent, and make it part of your business plan to get to know them.

Not building a presence. Once you understand where your audience likes to hang out, you should make sure you put your “open for business” sign in the same locations. If your customers tend to migrate to Facebook, then you should make sure you have an active Facebook page. If they favor LinkedIn, then that’s where you should invest your time.

You don’t need a huge budget either. Mya-Moe Ukuleles is a small, custom ukulele builder, yet has built a vibrant Facebook community with stunning photos, informational videos and product demos. Take note.

Failing to be congruent. It’s likely you’ll find yourself engaging with your audience in more than one location. When that happens, be sure to provide a congruent experience so that you don’t send mixed messages about your reputation.

Coca Cola and McDonalds both do a great job of this. Whether you visit their Facebook page, Twitter profile or YouTube channel, you’ll see the same look, tone and discussions going on. 

Not being there 24/7. For small businesses it’s impossible to watch the internet all day, every day for conversations about your reputation. That doesn’t mean you can’t have some automated eyes and ears to help you out. Automated social media monitoring tools such as Google Alerts, my company Trackur or Radian6 will listen for any mentions of your brand, allowing you to join conversations you might otherwise have missed.

Taking too long to apologize. When you make a mistake, you should apologize quickly. Think of it as a band-aid on your reputation boo-boo. Rip it off quickly and get the pain over with.

When an Austin, Texas Minibar employee chalked up a beer promotion with the text ”I like my beer like I like my violence: domestic” it could have spelled doom for the drinking establishment. Fortunately, the owner quickly removed the sign, fired the employee and said, “I give my utmost apology and assure it won’t happen again.” He then promised $1 of every domestic beer sold in October would go to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the reputation crisis quickly diffused.

Not being transparent. Along with being quick to apologize, you should also offer some transparency. How did this happen and what are you doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Target has done an admirable job explaining what happened with its data breach.

Outsourcing your reputation. The companies that have the best reputations are the ones that don’t hand the reins of their brand to an outsider. When your business is the one connecting with your audience, you learn more about them, which leads to better communication and improved service. When you outsource that to a PR firm, you not only lose that connection with your customers, but you also risk them pulling a horrible stunt. 

Andy Beal

Andy Beal is the CEO of Trackur.com, a social media monitoring tool. The co-author of Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online, Beal has spent more than a decade advising individuals and businesses on how to manage their online reputation. His new book, Repped: 30 Days to a Better Online Reputation, provides a practical plan for improving personal and corporate reputations.

10 Ways To Help Others That Will Lead You To Success

John Hall,

Helping others should be a natural extension of every business leader’s responsibilities. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come as easy as you would think. As leaders, we often get too caught up in operations or our own problems to give people the help they need. However, in the last year, I’ve realized that most of my best clients, partners and relationships have come from me helping someone. Here are 10 thoughts that can remind you to help others.

1. Sharing knowledge
   One of the easiest ways to help others is to simply share your knowledge. You don’t have to be in front of a classroom to teach. Every day there is an opportunity to educate someone about your area of expertise. The key is to keep educating yourself so you can stay ahead of the curve.
2. Finding out what’s valuable to them
   The number one rule of helping people should be to find out what’s actually valuable to someone. You may spend time and effort helping someone with something that they didn’t even want help with. Make an effort to ask them where they need help, and keep that in mind when you see an opportunity.
3. Sharing your resources
   Think about the resources you’ve invested in and be mindful of whether they can help someone else. Maybe a developer on your team has some extra time and one of your contacts needed some help on a quick job. Or, maybe you have Cardinals season tickets and there’s a game that you won’t be able to attend. Keep those under- or unused resources in the back of your mind and try to connect them to people who can use them.
4. Making them aware of an opportunity
   It’s important to keep an eye out for opportunities. It could be good press, a potential partner, or a general business opportunity. Once you see an opportunity, think about who could benefit from knowing about it. One of the ways I like to help my employees is to help their friends, relatives or significant others if they’re looking for a job. A lot of times I can use my business connections to find a potential good fit.
5. Giving them transparent feedback
   Transparent feedback can be tough because some people don’t take constructive criticism well.  There is a difference between telling someone that they suck and giving them good examples of how they can improve.  Some people won’t take it well but, in the long run, you will help the people that you want to work with and improve the efficiency and success of your company as well.
6. Being a brand advocate
   I was at a conference the other day and an American Airlines employee was going on and on about how she loved her Modify watch. She truly wanted to help the company because she loved the product and wanted to see them succeed. Think about the products and services that you love, and don’t be shy about letting people know about them.
7. Giving introductions
   There’s a lot of big talk out there. Someone knows somebody who is a great contact or client, but they never actually make the introduction. Rather than making and breaking promises, make an effort to actually send out several intros each week. However, don’t let your credibility take a hit: make sure the people you’re advocating are legit.
8. Volunteering your time
   Time is valuable and most people understand that.  When you take time out of your day to help a friend, they remember it. I try and do a guest webinar every couple of weeks for contacts so they know I’m willing to take time out of my day to share my experience with the community. Even if it’s not something as public as a webinar or podcast, set aside some time to help a contact. It could be as simple as helping them move to a new home.
9. Recognizing them
   There are a variety of ways to give someone recognition. You can include them in an article that you’ve written or mention them in a speech or presentation. An easy way to recognize someone is to nominate them for an award. There are countless awards out there that could really help out your network. It will mean a lot to the nominee that you thought of them and wanted to recognize them. On a smaller scale, you can have internal recognition within your company. We have an award called “the belt” that looks like a WWF belt. Each week the current winner chooses the next winner. It’s an easy way to make an employee feel good about the solid work they’ve done for your company.
10. Giving gifts
    Gifts can be tricky because you don’t want to “buy” peoples’ favor. You want to get them a gift that makes sense and will help them.  When Hurricane Sandy hit, we sent care packages with items that survivors could use as they recovered from the devastation. People tend to remember who helped them when they were in need, so it’s important to make an extra effort during these times.

Helping others isn’t always easy. It can sometimes derail your schedule and cost you time, money and other resources. It can even be interpreted the wrong way. However, keep these tips in mind for some easy ways to show your connections that they truly matter to you.

John Hall is the CEO of Influence & Co., a company that assists individuals and brands in growing their influence through products and services ranging from creating and publishing bylined articles to facilitating in residence programs for brands and much more. Influence & Co. is one of the leading providers of high quality expert content to the world’s top publications.