Protect and Promote Your Good Name

Yesterday, I received a call from Craig McClelland of Simply Sold Real Estate. Craig was calling about the Feed for Thought post I wrote a few weeks ago.

In that post, I mentioned that it appeared that Damion was trying to build a national franchise around Simply Sold. Well, Craig is the V.P. of Simply Sold and he was calling to bring some clarity to a misunderstanding on my part.

It turns out that Viking Simply Sold is a franchisee and Damion is not part of the Simply Sold corporate structure. The misunderstanding came from a post or comment I read from a person coming to Damion’s defense around the dust-up mentioned in my earlier post. In support of Damion, she mentioned how helpful he was in helping her to get her franchised started. The way it was written, I interpreted it to mean he had sold her the franchise and was working with her to get it established. It appears he was just being helpful.

The conversation with Craig got me thinking about the necessity these days of monitoring your name or business reputation. There is much written about the how and why. In fact, an hour after talking to Craig, I was reading a magazine and there was another short article on the very subject.

Google Alerts is good place to start monitoring your name on the Internet.

Tansparency & Honesty

If and when you have a situation where you feel your name or reputation is taking a hit, the agreed upon best method of handling the situation is with honesty and transparency. Trying to spin the situation or attacking someone personally will usually result in two things: 1) escalating negativity and 2) exposure of how you handle such challenges.

In the situation mentioned above, Craig called to clear up an obvious misunderstanding on my part. His goal was simply to clarify the situation.

Appropriate Action

Clarifying the facts is the appropriate first step in addressing any situation where misunderstanding exists.

In a situation where there has been an error on your part or the company’s, the best course of action is to admit it and let people know what is being done to correct the situation.

Cutting Your Own Throat

The worst course of action to take is to be ignorant of the situation, ignore the situation, or attempt to spin the situation. Remember last year’s Jet Blue PR fiasco?

Google Paranoia

Googling is an established way of life for tens of millions and the number continues to grow. It’s a fact  – people are going to Google you. Paranoia around this reality will not serve any good purpose.

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

The best way to ensure that people read good things about you on the Internet is to make sure there is plenty of indexed favorable content that mentions you.

Own Yourself on the Web.