Written by Karen D. Swim
This morning my friend, Dwann Holmes Olsen had her Facebook page hacked. The hacker posted vile and ugly rantings on her wall alarming many of her followers. The hacking was disturbing, but even more disturbing were those that believed that Dwann had written the uncharacteristic words.
Misrepresentation and slander are nothing new. Corporations and high profile figures have long dealt with these issues. However in this new era of user generated content, where anyone can have a platform, the dark side has gone mainstream.
“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” –Wayne Gretzky
Gretzky’s quote paints the need to have both a good offense and defense. When it comes to your reputation you should fiercely guard it against attack but also be prepared to respond against negative attacks.
Whether you are a solo professional or a large corporation, there are steps that you can take to protect your good name.
Monitor your name/brand. In addition to Google Alerts there are a number of monitoring tools that will help you track how your name and/or company name is being used. The following tools will help you track name/brand mentions, comments, even social chatter.
- Tweetlater – Set up keyword alerts for your name, @name, company name and receive an email digest whenever your alert terms are tweeted. There is also a paid option offering additional features. Similar to tweetlater, is Tweetbeep (free and premium options).
- Backtype – track blog comments. You can track comments with your name and keep track of your own comments.
- Yacktrack – allows you to track social comments. You can serach for URL or use the chatter tab to search by term.
- Boardtracker – monitor forum threads with your name/company name.
- Addictomatic – monitor mentions on user generated content sites such as Digg, Flickr, Blogs. I always find mentions not delivered by Google alerts.
- Filtrbox – real time social media monitoring. Filtrbox offers the basic product and Twitter Influence for free. There is also a paid product. Fairly robust monitoring service with lots of intelligent features.
If you have a higher visibility or want to take your brand monitoring to the next level, consider using paid tools.
- Radian6 – offers near real time metrics, in depth analysis and reporting and a customizable dashboard.
- Trackur – online reputation and social media monitoring tools. Plans start at $18 per month.
- ReputationDefender – Four monitoring tools, MyChild (safety tool for parents), MyPrivacy (remove your personal information from the web), MyReputation (monitor and manage your online reputation), MyEdge (control how you look in search engines).
- Cision – Social media monitoring tools
- BrandsEye – monitor your online reputation, quantify brand perception. Blooger rates are $1 per month for 5 phrases.
These are only a few of the tools available to help you build a good offense. The next step is to ensure that you are prepared with a good defense.
Prepare a crisis communication plan. Are you ready with an answer when negative press hits the digital airwaves? Do you have a documented plan accessible to your staff? This is where working with PR professionals can really be beneficial. Professionals are not only masterful at obtaining you good press but defending against negative attacks.
Do you have a master non-digital list of profiles, sites and passwords? If you are hacked, it is essential to be able to change your passwords and access. Do you have employees or volunteers with access? Do you know who has access to what sites?
Protect your digital footprint. Use Virus protection software to alert you to potentially harmful sites. If you are a solo professional or small company without an in house IT department, contract with a company to protect your system. For small companies, local computer companies are a great, affordable option for quarterly check-up and cleaning. Be cautious about allowing applications access to your profile. Do not trust every application just because someone in your network tweets about it.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Please feel free to add tools and tips to in the comments. Have you ever had your reputation hijacked? How did you respond?
Karen Swim says
Eliza, it is a pleasure to share resources with friends. This online community truly functions like a business incubator where we can share ideas and resources and learn together as we seek to be better for ourselves and clients.
Eliza says
@Karen – this is an absolutely awesome post. I am bookmarking it, and first thing in the New Year, I will be working through each of your recommended Reputation Protectors.
.-= Eliza´s last blog ..The (Mis)Adventures of Mike: Mapping out business processes =-.
Karen Swim says
Hi Matt! Your comment erroneously went to spam so please forgive my tardy response. Your comment is a further wake up call. We have to be diligent about monitoring and take action to combat inaccuracies or malicious information that can harm our reputation. It also points out our responsibility as consumers – before you slander a company think if it is one bad experience or is it representative of the company’s performance and brand.
Matt Keegan says
This is excellent advice. There are times I will discover something posted about a company, particularly through Twitter, where that person is purporting to represent the company. Usually they are doing so in a negative light, impugning the business and casting a pall over the entire operation.
Everyone needs to be diligent to protect their online identity and visibility.
.-= Matt Keegan´s last blog ..How To Help Your Clients (When They Aren’t Even Asking) =-.
Karen Swim says
Randy, thanks for sharing from your personal experience. Congratulations too on your hard work and clients clearly seeing the value! I agree, it is amazing to compare how you want to be seen to how you are seen. The results can also yield clear distinctions that you miss and can better leverage. If you’re ever up for having an in depth discussion on radio or contributing a guest post, I’d welcome your insight!
Randy Garcia says
A year ago it was a bit uphill with clients, but now this issue seems to be one of the most relevant for ours. We just started using WebDig. Pretty powerful. The conversations we now have with the brand managers are like a 180. The days of clients knowing the answer will soon be over. To their credit, they are excited about this time of discovery. We recently did some pitch work, and were able to demonstrate how their goal was in complete opposition of how people viewed them, especially their loyal customers. A great success and great feeling to be able to provide such detailed information that supports rather than supposes.
Karen Swim says
Meryl, you’re right about teens. More than future employment, the greater concern is security. Teens have a high rate of identity theft because they are far too comfortable with technology. I have seen teens put their address and phone number on Facebook, expose their whereabouts in real time on their blogs without a thought that they could be inviting danger.
Meryl K Evans says
Teens are VERY tough. I’ve educated my daughter about the use of social networks and how it can impact her college and working future. You can only do so much.
But seriously, do colleges and hiring managers expect kids ages 12-17 to be completely conservative and straightlaced online? Kids make mistakes. That’s how they learn. If you protect them… they won’t survive on their own.
.-= Meryl K Evans´s last blog ..Watch What You Blog, Post and Tweet Online =-.
Karen Swim says
Meryl, we do seem to travel on the same frequency. 🙂 You raise such a great point – EVERYONE should be concerned about their online reputation not just business owners. And parents need to monitor what their children are posting online. In spite of popular culture, we don’t need to put all of our thoughts, feelings and lives on the line in real time. It can come back to bite you later.
Meryl K Evans says
Karen, we must’ve been ESPing each other as I just posted an entry in a similar vein driven by a recent Twitter chat where I debated whether to tweet something. Plus, the whole CEO of Whole Foods thing that happened last week.
Everyone needs to take care as it will affect future jobs and gigs. Vetting candidates online has become a regular part of a hiring person’s job.
.-= Meryl K Evans´s last blog ..Watch What You Blog, Post and Tweet Online =-.
Karen Swim says
Hi Michele and thank you! I would love to discuss this issue on your show. I am always happy to share information that will help someone else. I’ll DM you later today.
Michele Price says
Karen
Great post, that is a great topic and I will admit being a mac user I am not as hyper as I might could be. Would love to have you talk about this on radio show. Lots of Solopreneurs and biz owners would want to learn more. Let’s chat about that, thanks again for timely post.
thinking, thinking
.-= Michele Price´s last blog ..Internet Video Marketing or Hang Up Your GOING OUT of BUSINESS Sign NOW =-.
Karen Swim says
Hi Fred, I’m glad that I could share the info. I think it’s great that you are proactively taking steps to protect your password strength. Gone are the days when we could take that for granted. *sigh* But thank goodness we can help each other stay safe and support one another when something goes awry.
Fred H Schlegel says
Great thoughts here Karen. I’ve not seen most of the tools you’ve mentioned although I’ve tried Google Alerts. I’ve been surprised at how little it seems to actually pick up.
Reminds me of how important strong password protection is to actually preventing the hack in the first place. I’ve been using the mac Keychain to try and improve the strength of mine and actually remember things, but remain nervous nonetheless.
.-= Fred H Schlegel´s last blog ..When Thinking Out Of The Box, You Might Just Want To Think In The Box =-.
Karen Swim says
Roland, you are far too disciplined to become glued to the screen. LOL! 🙂 Yes, I too have been guilty of totally spinning into geeked out coma with tools, but shhhhhh… 😉
Karen Swim says
Andy, I have long had respect for your tech knowledge and am so appreciative of Trackur. Thank you for weighing in here!
Karen Swim says
Hi Warren,
Thanks for proving the value of monitoring tools! You have a great product and it’s nice to know you use it too! 🙂
Karen Swim says
Dwann, I’m sorry that it happened too but at least we’re able to use the bad for public service. 🙂
Roland Hesz says
I agree with you Karen, just was seeing myself, or some unnamed people glued to these monitoring sites :))
I know people. 🙂
But yes, we certainly should not ignore it, and try to be on top of it.
.-= Roland Hesz´s last blog ..Some thoughts on the UML Sequence Diagram =-.
Andy Beal says
Hacking is a nasty thing to happen to anyone!
You are absolutely right that you need to prepare a great defense–and do so now, before you face a crisis.
Thanks for listing Trackur among your recommended resources!
Andy Beal
Founder, Trackur
Warren Sukernek says
Hi Karen,
Great insights and comprehensive list on reputation management. Thanks for including Radian6.
Warren Sukernek
Director of Content Marketing
Radian6
.-= Warren Sukernek´s last blog ..March of Dimes® Selects Radian6 for Social Media Monitoring =-.
Dwann says
Karen,
This is indeed great information. Too bad my “drama-filled” morning sparked it. But, again I appreciate this information and will definitely share it.
You really do learn a lot about who you’re connected to and who really KNOWS you and don’t when something like this happens.
Peace,
Dwann
Karen Swim says
Roland, no one should spend all day monitoring but it is also well worth it not to ignore and “hope for the best.” If you work hard to build a brand, it’s worth it to protect that brand. The tools do the watching for you, leaving you to keep an eye on the results or delegating the activity to someone else.
Karen Swim says
Brad, thank you for reading and sharing on Twitter. I’m glad addictomatic has worked for you!
Roland Hesz says
I think we could spend 48 hours a day to monitor the net for such things, and still, there would be a lot that skips our attention.
We have a huge area to cover by now. Of course you should watch out for your name, but it’s easy to go overboard and spend the whole day checking the gazillion “reputation protecting” services, alarm feeds, alarm mails, etc.
Like the first month on Google Analytics 😉
.-= Roland Hesz´s last blog ..Running on a new WP theme =-.
Brad Shorr says
Karen, Thank you for the hard-to-find resources and commentary. You suggested Addictomatic to me months ago, and it’s proved to be a very useful site.
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..How Often Should You Publish on Your Business Blog? =-.