Online Reputation Management and Andy Beal, part 1

In a recent interview with Andy Beal, the topic of conversation was online reputation management for your business and personal name. This is a two-part interview where I will share my questions and his responses to me.

Before I get to the interview questions and answers, I thought it would be good to explain the definition of online reputation management. It is the process of monitoring the internet for usage of your business name or personal name through different media such as social media, website or even forums. Now on to the interview.

Question 1: Please introduce yourself and tell us about your business. How long have you been in this industry and what is your area of expertise?

Hi, I’m Andy Beal and I’m an internet marketing consultant with a focus on helping companies and individuals with their online reputation management. I moved from England to the US about 9 years ago and during that time I’ve been involved with many facets of marketing, including SEO, blogging, and general online brand building. My current projects include my blog (Marketing Pilgrim), my book (Radically Transparent) and my social media monitoring service (Trackur).

Question 2: What are some specific things that a business owner would need to include in their internet marketing strategy plan?

The most important thing is to fully understand your goals. Don’t get caught up in the excitement of specific tactics and marketing channels, until you understand what it is you are trying to achieve with your business. OK, so it’s trendy to be on Twitter, but is being active on Twitter going to help you grow your business or just be another drain on your precious time? My advice would be to:

1. Understand your goals for your business.
2. Understand your target audience and where they are most likely to be found online.
3. Identify one or two channels that you know will reach your target audience and focus your initial efforts there. Spreading yourself too thin will result in limited success across all channels.
4. Spend time monitoring and analyzing your identified channels. If you plan to build a blog, watch other bloggers in the same space. Get a feel for what they are writing and how they are engaging their readers. If you’re focusing on search engine optimization, spend time researching what keywords people are searching for and how their intent matches up with your product or service.
5. Launch your campaign and give it the same focus and attention that you would the development of any product or service. Don’t just publish three blog posts then walk away–you have to be committed to the success of your efforts.
6. Only once you’ve exhausted your chosen channels should you move on to something new. Don’t be distracted by the shiney new toys until you’ve worn out the old toys you purchased!

Wow! Such great information has been shared by Andy. The rest of the interview will be posted tomorrow so look for part 2 on the Brand Curve column. I thought it would be good if I shared a video with you that demos Trackur online reputation management tool. Please feel free to share your comments.