Have you ever seen something written about yourself that wasn’t true and not very positive? Remember how that feels? You then have the choice to sit and mope about it, or you can be proactive and change it. This isn’t about hoping things will be forgotten after a while, it is about actually changing perception so that people don’t even believe what was originally posted anymore anyway. Doing that online is known as online reputation repair.
Online Reputations
There are two different types of bodies that have an online reputation, being people and organizations. Both can easily see their reputation damaged. For businesses and organizations, it is vital that they check the online world to make sure their brand is not damaged. But individuals should be equally careful, as more and more companies now use social media to look into someone before they hire them. Remember that as soon as something is online, it becomes impossible to ever really remove.
Online Reputation Repair
There are a number of things you can do to repair your online reputation. The first one is to keep track of it, so that you know what your current online reputation actually is. If you spot an issue, you must take immediate action. Perhaps you even put the content out there yourself by accident, in which case you should take it down straight away. If it is someone else’s content, send them a message and ask them to take it down.
If this isn’t possible, however, you need to do something known as ‘personal SEO’. Essentially, this means that you make sure the content with bad publicity becomes harder to find, because there is more authority content out there with good publicity. This can only be achieved by having a strong social media and online presence, thereby driving yourself to the top.
Remember that privacy does not really exist online. Any content that is placed online, from a short comment on a blog to a massive 2,000 word article and from a long online review to a simple Tweet, can easily not just become public, but actually go viral. This is why you must build up a certain circle of trust of people that can and cannot access you online. It is for good reason that recruiters look into the personal social media pages of anyone registering with them, as it gives them a good idea of who these people truly are. As a result, people are also taking more care to create a positive image of themselves.
If nothing else is possible, you could choose to look for professional help. There are now many companies out there that offer online reputation management services, for instance. If the negative comments placed against you constitute libel, you can even hire the services of an internet offense attorney. They help to make sure the content is taken down and some can even help with bringing your overall reputation back up.