Online Reputation Management For Dummies

Building Your Stable Foundation

It would be nice if you could market your brand without giving up any of your privacy, but unfortunately this is just not possible. These days, in order to gain publicity online, you have to determine just where you’re willing to let go of your privacy and then maintain that standard consistently in all your online profiles, whether they are public or private. Always remember that there is no guarantee that anything you e-mail, tweet, post, update, or blog online won’t become accessible to somebody who really wants to know.

If you’re in a position where you need to e-mail sensitive information, I strongly suggest hiring a professional to install and test e-mail encryption software onto all your e-mail–related devices.

Securing your personal privacy

Not so long ago, you could share private information online in certain forums without fear of having it shared across multiple platforms. Times have changed! Thanks to social media, you really can’t be sure that your more personal status updates aren’t going to get leaked to search engines and spread around the web.

My advice is to only post things you wouldn’t mind seeing on a billboard later!

Why is this important to establish now, before you even get a team started? Without a plan, it’s easy to make mistakes. For instance, how safe do you feel about what you shared on the web five years ago? It’s okay ...