When we hear “Oprah,” the few things that pop into our heads are philanthropy, inspiration, and the queen of daytime TV. Similarly, Richard Branson represents foresight, success, and positivity. These are all fruits of dedicated personal branding. Both Oprah and Branson have spent decades finely sculpting their public personas via online promotions, TV scripts, talk show presence, and paid advertisements.

While both of them are billionaires, the novice entrepreneur can craft an inspirational persona without pouring buckets of money into the endeavor. Developing a personal brand takes both patience and hard work. Without enough tenacity, you may end up with a half-baked personal presence like that of Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton. Even with millions of followers, controversies, and negative publicity stick to these celebs like bees to a pot of honey.

How much can you lose without reputation management?

More than 50% of regular customers out there don’t want to engage in business with corporations that do not have a strong and positive online presence. While an average brand in Fort Wayne cares about how its website looks and the frequency of posts on its Facebook page, it might fail to notice its mention on third-party sites like Yelp or GlassDoor.

Monitoring the reputation of a brand is especially challenging since the repute of global executives, CEOs, and marketing heads contribute to the total brand reputation significantly. The concept becomes easy to understand once you consider the relationship between Tesla and Elon Musk. The recent controversies involving the rescue operations in Thailand and brash comments on Twitter took a considerable toll on the Tesla stock prices.

What’s the trade secret of branding no one will tell you?

A company is not an inanimate entity. The founder, CEO, and every other employee comprise a brand. Each of their online presence, interactions with the media, and social media presence can shift the spotlight on the brand name. Now, the kind of interactions determines whether the brand will catapult into fame or simply face the wrath of the public. The stock prices, sales figures, and globalization of any corporation depend intrinsically on its reputation.

How to take baby-steps towards reputation management?

• If you have never given your relationship with your brand and its reputation among your Fort Wayne consumers a serious thought, you are not alone. Millions of budding entrepreneurs have not had the respite from thinking beyond sourcing funds and impressing investors. However, this is the perfect time to think about building your brand reputation, preferably from scratch –

• Beginning with the basics

When you start scrounging through every paper trail and social media presence to learn about your reputation, it is time to invest in a thorough audit.

• Begin by Googling yourself. See what results show up. If there are negative comments and reviews, don’t worry, Fort Wayne SEO Company will tell you what to do.
• When you chance upon editable content that does not fit your brand image, immediately delete it.
• Establish profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. If your business already has a presence on social media, claim the same.
• Consult your marketing team in Fort Wayne or hire professional marketers in your area to draft a personal branding strategy.

• Establish your credibility as a brand

The first sign of credibility for any company is a loyal consumer following. The presence of dedicated consumers brings in more consumers, who convert readily and contribute to brand reach.

• Place your brand name in third-party publications. Manage the comments. Respond to negative reviews with professionalism and offer to amend any mistakes made by brand employees even when the consumer is harsh.
• On social media, maintain regular posts and interactions with the real buyers. Over 92% of customers state that they purchase from enterprises that their friends, peers, or trusted reviewers mention online.
• Do not engage in controversies and altercations with consumers. When it comes to social media and third-party review sites, the consumer is always right, unless it’s a fake review from a competitor. To distinguish real consumers from fake ones, you might need dedicated monitoring, and that can require help from Fort Wayne SEO and reputation management companies.

• Seize personal branding opportunities

If you or your branding team know where to look, you will find hundreds of branding opportunities online.

• When you are trying to enrapt a target set of audiences, you need to reach out to non-competing companies for experiential marketing stints. Any professional marketing team in Fort Wayne is well-aware of such event-based marketing opportunities in your vicinity.
• Connect with real people on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Research shows that 74% of all consumers prefer doing business with brands that respond to their queries and comments on Facebook within a day. For that, you will require social media listening and monitoring tools.
• Most importantly, whether you are on LinkedIn or leveraging a platform like Medium, do not forget to post informative content. Set up a schedule for posting fresh content at least once a week. Respond to comments and queries on older posts too. Smaller startups don’t have the resources to maintain a dedicated content team. In such a situation, you can think about outsourcing your content requirement to groups in Fort Wayne, who know your brand and the audience.
• Invest both time and money to build inbound and outbound links. Google sees strong links as one of the top three ranking signals. Links can not only push your website rank higher, but it can drive more organic traffic to your site by reinforcing its credibility on the SERP.

The branding and reputation management processes are intertwined. It can take some amount of time for nouveau entrepreneurs to master the fine art of reputation management, especially when there are scores of social media platforms and third-party sites. However, it is not something you can self for later.

When you do not have the human resources to deal with the flood of comments, queries, and mentions on social media, it is a clear indicator that you need outside help. On-site teams need to focus on company operations and quality control, while another off-site team for hire in Fort Wayne can keep a keen eye on what people are saying about your brand and products when you are not looking!