It’s simple:

Whether you started a food truck venture two months ago or have run a Mom and Pop diner for the past 40 years, Yelp reviews have an impact on all businesses.

Whether it’s a customer raving about how excellent the food is, or ranting about a 10 minute wait, online customer feedback can make or break your business.

As of 2014, every minute, Yelp users post 26,380 reviews. According to a 2013 Nielsen survey, a whopping 98% of Yelp users have made a purchase at a business they found on Yelp.

These stats showcase just how important Yelp reviews are in the research process for consumers. A negative review or an inactive business page can absolutely devastate the bottom line of a small business.

Because of this, we decided to create a guide specifically for small business owners trying to delete bad reviews from Yelp.

While every case is different, there are some methods that all business owners should try to win the fight against bad Yelp reviews. But first, you need to fully understand how the reviewing process works at Yelp.

We outline Yelp’s requirements for posting reviews below, but please see the site’s “Content Guidelines” for the most up-to-date policies.

What are the rules surrounding reviews?

According to Yelp’s guidelines, users are allowed to share all kinds of content from reviews to videos to tips and more through the platform. The hard and fast rules when it comes to user contributions revolve around the idea of “playing nice” while providing useful, relevant information with other users.

Yelp discourages lewdness, hate speech, threats and bigotry. They support unbiased reviews which means they don’t condone reviews from the business owner, friends or relatives.

Yelp generally “frowns upon” promotional content (unless you are a business owner adding it to your own page).

Yelp claims that users should make sure that their contributions with their reviews are “relevant” and that they respect the privacy of others when posting.

Yelp also discourages its user community from plagiarism (or stealing intellectual property) and leveraging bad reviews for payment from businesses.

What do these rules mean for your business?

When it comes to the intentions behind these user guidelines, the purpose is to create a space where people share their honest opinions and experiences with different businesses. This transparency helps other members in the community make informed decisions.

But let’s be honest, this doesn’t always happen. Some people use Yelp as an opportunity to write truly damaging reviews because they can, or because they have a bone to pick with a business owner. This is where the natural urge to delete phony reviews comes from in the first place.

Others write scathing reviews because they decide to publish their thoughts while operating at peak frustration levels. A nasty review written in the heat of the moment can have severe consequences for the targeted business.

So once a bad Yelp review is released online, what do you do?

Maintain Your Page

As a business owner, something that you should already be doing is maintaining your company’s page on Yelp. That means making sure that all of the information provided is correct, uploading beautiful pictures of your space, and linking directly to your website and/or social media accounts. By controlling your business page, you can:

• Reach customers directly
• Measure visitor activity on your page
• Create deals specifically for Yelp users

Build Your Foundation

As a growing small business, your focus is likely trained to the daily operations and overall health of your company. However, branding your organization and maintaining a strong foundation online is a cornerstone to maintaining an active business.

At BrandYourself, we help individuals and small businesses alike with developing their presence online. While our reputation management software is intended for individuals, our managed services teams work directly with a number of small businesses.

Right The Wrong and Review a Bad Review?

When it comes to responding or deleting a bad Yelp review, Yelp already has a built in tool for business owners. The free review response tool lets business owners respond privately or publicly to any reviews left on their page. So what does that mean for you? Both public and private responses have their pros and cons.

Let’s start with the pros of a public response:

By diplomatically addressing any complaints publicly, you show your users that you are apologetic for any sub-par experience, appreciate their feedback and can share steps you’re taking to correct this situation. This sort of public acknowledgement is important for your brand, however, there are a few cons to responding publicly to a bad review.

And the cons of responding publicly:

If you respond in a way that is less than professional and courteous, you lose respect from other users. If you respond publicly and this somehow incites the user who posted the poor review, that just means that you will be engaging with more negativity. Additionally, by responding directly to a negative review, you are actually helping that review rank higher in search results by keeping it active. That means that you are increasing the likelihood that someone will read this review.

Pros of responding privately:

If you choose to respond to someone privately, there’s also a lot to consider.

The advantage of responding directly to your attacker, is that you can appeal to them calmly and rationally and ask for more information concerning their experience and how to rectify it directly. AND you aren’t helping the bad review rank better by updating it with fresh content.

Cons of responding privately:

However, by responding privately, you run the risk of the user responding very publicly anyway, or users thinking that you are ignoring the complaints. Also, this means that if someone comes across this negative review, there will be no commentary from you addressing the concerns.

Another option?

If you’re aren’t certain on how to respond, remember that you can also address any common complaints on your page so that you aren’t updating the bad Yelp reviews. The most important thing to remember no matter how you respond, is that timeliness, courtesy and a course of action are most important in your response.

3 Key Factors in Response

While the way that you communicate is important, when it comes to dealing with bad yelp reviews, the key to turning this negative into a positive is what you choose to communicate. It’s up to you to use your discretion in which types of reviews you choose to respond to, but try to keep the three factors of timeliness, courtesy and follow-up in mind. Doing this will help you achieve the same result as deleting a Yelp review if that doesn’t end up being an option.

• Timeliness: By responding to users quickly, you show them and other potential customers how important their feedback is. If you don’t respond at all, it seems like you don’t care about their experiences, or aren’t engaging on this platform. This leaves you open to even more criticism.
• Courtesy: In addition to timeliness, courtesy is key. Instead of responding with a slew of insults, try to find something positive within the criticism. If there’s nothing there, simply apologize for their experience and thank them for their feedback. And if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. It all depends on your personal style. No matter what someone else is saying to you, it’s probably not worth it to quibble with this person online. Instead stay courteous, calm and cool-headed.
• Follow-up: In addition to timeliness and courtesy, a course of action or follow-up is also necessary when dealing with negative reviews on Yelp. It’s one thing to simply apologize, but by explaining actionable steps to your disappointed customer the actionable steps you plan to take, you show that you take their complaints seriously. By following up, you show your commitment to high-quality service, and that you truly care about the customer experience. Don’t just pay lip-service and make promises you can’t keep. Be specific about what you plan on doing, and set a timeframe for more follow-up.
• Ask for help: When it comes to soliciting for reviews, Yelp discourages any outright asks or offers of compensation for positive reviews. However, make it known to your customers that you’re on Yelp! While Yelp discourages any sort of coercion, definitely encourage customers to visit your page. Word of mouth is important – particularly for smaller businesses, and Yelp is just the digital version of this. Include links to your Yelp page in your email signature or on your business cards.

According to Yelp, business owners shouldn’t ask customers directly to review their experience. These sorts of reviews are often viewed as disingenuous, and Yelp’s software may filter them right out of the recommended reviews section on your page.

This is one of the most frustrating things for business owners that want to learn how to delete bad Yelp reviews. They see bogus reviews make it through the filter, but legitimate positive reviews get cut. Unfortunately this tends to lead to them trying shady tactics that don’t last.

Earlier this year, Brian Patterson of Marketing Land reached out to a contact at Yelp, and uncovered more information when it comes to asking clients and customers to review your business. According to this exchange, while asking for reviews is discouraged – it doesn’t violate any terms of service.

Incentivizing the customers is prohibited, but technically, asking for reviews is allowed. However, as mentioned before, if these reviews seem disingenuous or are published by users who don’t post very often, there’s a good chance that the reviews will be filtered out of recommended reviews, and no one will really see them.

So remember, use this information at your discretion, but don’t spend your energy trying to capture reviews that won’t help you much in the end.

Acknowledge constructive criticism

When it comes to harsh reviews, it’s easy to retreat or completely destroy unfounded accusations. However, neither of these reactions will help your business. As mentioned before, focus on the constructive aspect of any criticisms on Yelp. While it’s true, there is a lot of hot air floating around on that site, there are definitely people venting about their experiences at different establishments.

So take a deep breath and dig in. There is a good chance that some of these criticisms can not only help you improve your business, but give you the opportunity to show what your brand is all about in the way that you choose to respond!

Love your haters

Let’s face it, Yelp isn’t always fair when it comes to the rules and options for business owners. There’s no way to remove a bad review (even if it is false) unless it is truly lewd, hateful, or threatening. And, as a business owner, you do not have the option to be anonymous.

Additionally, Yelp has been accused of tampering with reviews and rankings of businesses that choose not to purchase ads on the platform.

All of this tends to skew the bias towards the consumer and those businesses spending more money on the platform.

Don’t let this get you down. Instead, focus on showcasing your brand and the heart of your business.

Be grateful that this platform lets you deal directly with people who are satisfied or dissatisfied with your product. Here you have the opportunity to improve your business in a practical way, and develop a strong method for responding to criticism.

How can you contest the review/correct it?

When it comes to dealing with harsh reviews that are also false, Yelp does not allow you to delete the post as a business owner. Instead, your options are those listed above. If someone leaves a message that includes hate speech, lewdness or truly threatening remarks, Yelp will remove it. However, lies are harder to prove, and Yelp does not mediate or research these types of comments.

How to remove bad reviews from Yelp

While removing most bad reviews from Yelp is nearly impossible, there is another effective method to dealing with these kinds of damaging search results while improving the overall presence of your business online.

At BrandYourself, we encourage that individuals and businesses alike focus on best practices when it comes to Search Engine Optimization and branding so that the properties that they control have the best chance at rising in search results.

While creating positive content that you control will not remove bad Yelp reviews, this approach gives you the best chance to control the results that rank well while suppressing the negative reviews.

To accomplish this, you must focus on building up your company’s Facebook page, Twitter account, Google Plus page and more. You have to actively engage and post original content on these platforms and more while also maintaining a professional website for your business.

Why building your foundation matters

In an age of cyber-bullying, revenge porn, hate sites and inadequate online privacy laws, everyone and every business needs to understand and protect their image on the web with online reputation management.

While a Yelp review isn’t the only information that people will depend on when deciding whether or not to visit your business, it is highly visible and will likely inform them in some way. With that in mind, it’s up to you to build the image that accurately reflects your business online.

Deleting or removing a bad Yelp review is tricky, but controlling how you look online isn’t. All you have to do is follow the steps, or have someone else do it for you.

To learn more about building your brand’s presence online, schedule a call with one of our reputation advisors about our services where our team does the work for you.

The post How To Delete Or Manage A Bad Yelp Review appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

The difference between those that succumb to disaster and those that overcome the setback lies within their level of proactiveness. Organizations and individuals alike are often able to act accordingly when a crisis occurs by having a crisis management plan in place. 

What is a Crisis?

Before we dive into the specifics of a crisis management plan, let’s take a look at what we mean by a crisis. A crisis is something that can pose a significant threat to a person or operation of an organization. If not handled appropriately, it can have negative consequences. For brand crisis management specifically, this often entails the usage of social media and other online platforms.

A crisis will differ from person to person and organization to organization. It can be a negative review or complaint about you or your business online, to a fire within your office building or living quarters. What you determine to be a crisis can vary depending on multiple factors and what you perceive as a threat.

A crisis is something that occurs outside of the day-to-day operations. It can be what is considered an “anomaly” or something that doesn’t seem likely to happen (but most certainly can). For instance, if you’re running a business with time-sensitive processes, knowing the benefits of planned preventive maintenance can save your business money.

Professional Crisis vs. Business Crisis

Individual crises can often look very different from business crises.  For the sake of this discussion, we will look at the two as separate entities in the online realm – professional crisis management and business crisis management. 

Professional crisis management in regards to your brand can fall under the umbrella of dealing with a negative or unwanted link about your reputation, deleting old tweets or posts on social media that are no longer reflective of who you are, and even finding and removing exposed personal information about you online. 

Business crisis management in its relation to branding can look like dealing with a negative review online about your business, a data hack exposing your client information, unintentionally publishing misinformation, and even employee online reputation (or lack thereof). 

How each of these crises is addressed will be determined in the creation of a crisis management plan. 

What is Crisis Management?

Crisis management is how a person or organization deals with an unforeseen or disruptive threat that brings harm to the entity. There are three facets when it comes to crisis management:

1. Pre-crisis
   
2. Crisis
   
3. Post-crisis
   

All of these sections require the individual or business to be proactive in defining what a crisis entails and how to address any perceived threat, long before it even occurs. There is a need to release the notion that “[insert crisis here] cannot happen to me.” 

The reality is, a crisis can, and often will occur whether you want it to or not. Once you come to terms with the idea that a crisis can occur, you can get into the nitty-gritty of creating a crisis management plan.  

Creating a Crisis Management Plan

As we mentioned above, there are three parts to crisis management. 

Pre-Crisis

The first part of a crisis management plan is the pre-crisis phase, which involves outlining any potential threats. This usually requires bringing in key players of an organization or any parties that could be affected by a crisis. For an individual, this could include a spouse or family member(s).

Once you, and your team if applicable, develop a plan, the next step involves sharing the information. Ensuring that all appropriate parties are trained and have received the information they need to perform their roles in the event of a crisis is key. This may include putting together a team specifically for crisis management and having a designated spokesperson to communicate with the public. 

It is vital to keep in mind that this plan is merely a reference tool and not a step-by-step guide. It is impossible to plan for every potential crisis. Planning for those that pose the highest threat and allowing room for flexibility will empower you and your team to handle any crisis in the most appropriate manner. 

Crisis 

So, you’re hit with a crisis and it’s time to put your plan into action. As with any situation, crisis or not, communication and transparency are your best assets. Your initial response to a crisis should not only be quick, but accurate and consistent for the duration of the communication. 

This is especially important when handling a brand crisis on social media. Often, this will require crisis management across all media channels, not just the one where the crisis is occurring. 

Post-Crisis

The post-crisis phase is when the crisis has mostly blown over and things are, for the most part, back to normal. There will usually still be some communication occurring, specifically with follow-up. This may look like communicating changes that have been implemented as a response to the crisis, updates on the recovery process, or investigation of the crisis. This will look very different for each individual and organization. 

The post-crisis phase is also an opportune time to assess the overall damage and make adjustments as needed. This could include updating your crisis management plan, completing a brand audit, and possibly even a rebrand if the crisis was exceptionally detrimental to your reputation. 

In some cases, seeking professional assistance with brand management repair may be beneficial. If you find yourself in this situation or are simply unsure of where to begin, our experts can help. Schedule a pressure-free consultation with one of our experts or give us a call today: 646-863-8282.

Why do I Need a Crisis Management Plan?

A crisis management plan is akin to having insurance. The benefit of having a crisis management plan in place allows you or your organization to efficiently combat a crisis and bounce back quickly after resolving the issue. Oftentimes, simply being on top of matters can do the trick. 

Most importantly, having a crisis management plan will protect your online reputation. For example, addressing a negative review online right away and taking accountability for any wrong-doings can prevent the situation from escalating into a full-blown crisis – and simultaneously keep your online reputation intact. 

Social media has dramatically increased the speed at which information travels, including anything perceived as negative. Having a plan in place to adequately manage professional and organizational social media can drastically reduce the evolution of a brand crisis. 

What if I Don’t Have a Crisis Management Plan?

Having a crisis management plan in place is going to be determined by the individual or organization in question. It is not a required component of a professional career or business structure.  However, not having a crisis management plan in place can leave you or your organization vulnerable. 

One study found that, while 76% of board members felt confident that their organization could effectively handle a crisis should one occur, only 49% of their companies had plans in place to be ready for any given crisis. Additionally, company reputation and employee morale made up 48% of areas most affected by a crisis – the highest of all factors taken into account. 

If you are unable to plan and react to a worst-case scenario, you may be viewed as incompetent or incapable of handling tough situations. Your business could lose loads of money if a crisis is not handled appropriately. Your credibility and reputation may even be called into question.

Crisis Management Examples 

If you’re not yet convinced of the necessity for a crisis management plan, let’s take a look at a few examples of brands that have experienced a crisis of some sort. 

KFC

In early 2018, KFC experienced a major crisis in the UK and Ireland when a breakdown in the supply chain prevented the delivery of crucial ingredients. A major road accident near the logistics partner’s warehouse had a trickle-down effect that resulted in two-thirds of KFC locations needing to shut down for an extended period of time. 

KFC was efficient with their response, acknowledging the blunder, posting a website for customers to easily check the status of locations, and responding quickly and transparently to social media posts and questions. 

Samsung 

In 2016, Samsung experienced a worst-case scenario when their Galaxy Note 7 phones spontaneously burst into flames. Ultimately, the brand needed to recall their phones and cease production. To get to the bottom of the issue, Samsung hired 700 researchers and created an advisory group to investigate the issue with the battery (the source of the fire starter). 

Thanks to Samsung’s quick response and their brand credibility before the incident, they were able to bounce back quickly post-crisis. 

Pepsi 

You may recall the ad campaign Pepsi launched in 2017 with celebrity Kendall Jenner, who walked into a protest and brought everyone together by handing a cop a can of their soda. In less than 48 hours, the video was viral with more than 1.6 million views – many furious about the “short story.” At first, Pepsi backed their campaign, releasing a statement that emphasized the ad depicting people from all walks of life coming together in harmony. 

Merely 24 hours after the statement was released, though, they ended up pulling the ad. Pepsi released another statement apologizing for having “missed the mark.” While they were quick and to the point in their responses, it would still take some time for the brand to recover from this internal mishap. 

Chipotle

From 2015 to 2016, Chipotle experienced a crisis no one in the food industry wishes to endure. An E. coli outbreak that began at locations in the Northwest spread across dozens of states, resulting in an 82% decline in profits and a 15% drop in stocks. 

Chipotle’s crisis communication was lackluster at best. Full of finger-pointing, vague answers and apologies, and the absence of representation at the 125 affected food safety cases left consumers feeling like the brand could have done a better job handling the situation. 

What’s the Difference?

The difference between KFC and Samsung’s crisis response in comparison to Pepsi and Chipotle was their crisis management plans. Everyone makes mistakes, even brands. The former brands here responded to their respective crisis quickly and efficiently. The latter two, on the other hand, fell short of addressing the crisis effectively. 

In Summary

All brands, personal or organizational, may experience a crisis at some point. Awareness of potential crises and having a plan in place can be the difference between effectively managing a crisis and having a full-blown brand meltdown. It’s happened to some big-name brands already, like the ones we mentioned above. 

If you would like guidance in getting your brand back on track, or simply a proactive strategy in place for your brand reputation, our experts can help. Schedule a consultation today or give us a call: 646-863-8282. 

The post Brand Crisis Management 101 (2022) appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

When it comes to your company’s negative reviews on Glassdoor, the phrase rings more than true, but it no longer leaves companies with a shiny and polished reputation as one might hope.

Negative Glassdoor reviews can hinder and sideline entrepreneurs and companies, debilitating their reputation, recruitment strategies, and opportunities for new business ventures — sometimes regardless of company size or seniority.

If Glassdoor reviews are hurting your company, here are the steps on how to remove negative Glassdoor reviews, and assess and manage your company’s reputation so that you can take advantage of future business goals with precision and a clean slate.

Glassdoor ratings can heavily influence the trajectory of your company

No longer can companies ignore negative or misleading reviews, thinking they have minimal to no impact on their company and leadership strategies. Many employers think of Glassdoor as merely a career community site for employees to review and detail their current and former companies of employment.

The site itself is a crucial way for companies to respond and connect with employees while positively building their reputation. In addition, Glassdoor also conducts information on workplace salaries, benefits along with other significant industry and workplace research.

According to a 2016 Glassdoor U.S. Site Survey, 70% of people now look up Glassdoor reviews for a prospective company as they search or apply for a job. The site garners over 57 million unique visitors each month on Glassdoor’s website and mobile site combined, highlighting the importance of the company as a sounding board for employees.

Candidates seek information that can help them determine what it’s like to work for a specific company, but also the potential for career development, flexibility in work/life balance, and workplace culture. While job sites may be especially important for Millennials, job seekers of all ages are using sites like Glassdoor to search your company and how they treat their employees.

At least 60% of people won’t apply to businesses with a 1-star review. Other research shows that at least half of consumers won’t conduct business with companies who have a Glassdoor review of less than 4.0/5.

Reports also show that at least 84% of people trust online customer reviews as much as a friend’s recommendation, showing the influence and credibility of online review systems.   In all, Glassdoor is a great way for companies to assess their brand, employee engagement, work culture, and how their company compares to competitors in the same niche and industry. In fact, 62% of respondents agree that their opinion of a company improves if they respond to negative or positive Glassdoor reviews.

This kind of impact illustrates why the desire to remove negative reviews from Glassdoor is so common (and understandable) for many business owners. Achieving a great company rating can impact a company in a number of ways.

A perfect company rating doesn’t exist

Earning a perfect Glassdoor score is nearly impossible. Even Google, an enviable place to work, doesn’t have a perfect Glassdoor score. In fact, an average company on Glassdoor holds a rating of 3.3 out of 5. When negative reviews roll in, that pristine glass door companies attempt to leave ajar for their employees can become muddied very quickly.

Glassdoor itself adheres to a strict policy of review management. Employees can only leave reviews that follow community guidelines for posting. To ensure legitimate reviews, those who post must certify their employee relationships and validate their email addresses. Glassdoor personnel and algorithms will then review submissions for the website’s rules.

Glassdoor itself encourages employees to write well-balanced, fair reviews that highlight both positive and negative aspects of the job. The guidelines state that users can’t post confidential knowledge, threatening language, defamatory remarks, or otherwise false information. However, that won’t stop negative or vengeful employees, past or present, from venting their frustrations online.

To determine whether your company remains on good terms with your current employee base, you’ll have to find your average Glassdoor score and the total number of reviews. Next, determine if the number of negative reviews is a small or large percentage of the total number of employees that work for you. If the amount is small, it’s not a significant representation of most employee experiences. In the other case, you may want to rethink your HR management and company culture initiatives.

Of course, employers may be shaken by their first negative Glassdoor review, especially if they think it’s unjustified. As a result, companies often want to learn how to remove negative Glassdoor reviews. Don’t worry, not matter your situation you have plenty of options.

How Can I Remove A Bad Glassdoor Review?

So you’ve gotten enough negative Glassdoor reviews to make an impact on your company’s reputation. Unfortunately, most companies don’t notice they have negative reviews until they start to pile up.

A negative review can dramatically debilitate a company’s ability to grow revenue, recruit impressionable, top-tier talent, and attract lucrative investors. So, how do you remove negative reviews on Glassdoor?

Unfortunately, Glassdoor does not remove negative reviews unless there are legal reasons to remove them. This means your options for directly removing a bad Glassdoor review are limited (we’ll explain other possibilities below).

As both human and robot analytics reviews all employee posts, its is likely to have met the standards and guidelines of an acceptable post. However, if you feel that the content of a review is out of line, you can contact Glassdoor to determine if they have the right to take it down. Glassdoor may have the ability to:

Flag Questionable Content: If an employee does post any false, misleading, or defamatory content, the company or subject of the harmful review may contact a Glassdoor representative to flag the content. If the terms are violated, Glassdoor will flag content as a violation. It will be reviewed by moderators who will then have it removed from the site if deemed inappropriate.

However, since Glassdoor does have strict and thorough vetting and guideline process for reviews, it is unlikely Glassdoor’s employees or natural language processing algorithms will flag and remove bad reviews already published on their site without good reason for community guideline violations or due to legitimate legal consequences.

This means you have to think outside the box

Although you may have negative reviews on your businesses’ Glassdoor profile, there are numerous ways to use the site as a promotional tool while helping to suppress bad reviews naturally. This will accomplish the same thing as removing a negative review from Glassdoor, since no one will notice it within a group of positive reviews.

Since getting them to flag and remove content is highly unlikely, as well as a tedious and slow process if it does pan out, these are other beneficial approaches to harness Glassdoors’ review tools and reinvent your company’s online reputation:

Step 1: Optimize Your Glassdoor Profile

Employees aren’t the only people able to create profiles on Glassdoor. A free employer account (verified when you sign up with your company’s email account) allows you to optimize your update public company information, view analytics and profile visits to your company’s page, and respond to both positive and negative reviews.

Pro tip: If you want to stay ahead of the game, a subscription also allows you to add more details to your company’s profile. For example, you can feature a positive review of your choice, along with your company’s details and jobs on competitors’ pages. The strategic step can help you become more engaged with your employees and a large pool of talented job seekers.

Step 2: Respond to Positive and Negative Reviews

Your next step to improve your company’s Glassdoor rating is to start responding to positive and negative reviews. Responding to the negative glassdoor reviews is one positive start to redeem a company or CEO’s reputation. Now, 62% of people report their perception of a company improves if they respond to negative Glassdoor reviews.

This little trick can help soften the blow and public perception, so if you can’t remove a bad Glassdoor review you should always make this a priority.

Pro tip: When a company takes the time out of their schedule to respond to a negative review, it highlights their willingness to find a solution to a problem, even if that problem could have been handled differently at the time. In fact, ignoring negative reviews only emphasizes an employee’s complaints and may also indicate the company doesn’t care about its employees. However, personalized responses with sincere apologies can provide the employee with the autonomy to get the help he or she needs. Potential job candidates may find this an attribute of the company.

Don’t forget to reply to the positive reviews, too! Happy employees often feel that a personal response from the company shows how they go above-and-beyond extends a sense of appreciation and value that can take a satisfied employee to a brand ambassador.

Step #3: Encourage Employees to Leave Reviews

People who want to complain are more likely to use Glassdoor to vent their frustrations and dissatisfaction with their role and relationships within the company. It’s harder to convince employees who are satisfied with their jobs to go online and leave a review. One way to promote positive employee engagement within your company is to send review requests. In fact, Glassdoor encourages employers to ask their employees to offer fair and constructive reviews online.

The best ways to motivate employees to leave reviews include:

• Offering guidance into the review process and guaranteed anonymity
• Letting them know how it helps the company
• Allowing them the choice to review
• Asking them at the right time and place
• Informing them on the review process

Many times, companies hire third-party agencies with expertise in review management to ask employees on their behalf, so the request seems more business-minded and less personal.

Instead of trying to remove negative Glassdoor reviews, they can be counteracted when you ask responsible, long-term employees for their support and insights into the companies review process. Ask marketing staff, managers, and tenured colleagues to write some of the first reviews on the site. Current employees who have stayed with the company for a long time are more likely to give positive reviews and offset the number of negative reviews.

Pro tip: Avoid asking all your employees to review at once. An inundation of positive reviews looks suspicious all at once. Besides, negative reviews tend to filter in at incremental paces so that the positive reviews will get buried underneath newer, negative ones.

Remember to be as helpful, authentic, and transparent during this process. Make sure you give exact directions to your employees and ensure that their privacy will remain protected throughout the review process.

Step #4: Motivate Review Requests with Positivity and Team-Building Moments

There are convenient times to ask your colleagues for help with Glassdoor reviews. Specific staff members may be more enthusiastic to provide reviews after they’ve had a professional success or after a team goal was met. In addition, creating a positive corporate culture can remind employees of the benefits of working at your company. If you offer promotions, recognize good work, or plan fun group activities, your employees feel more respected and appreciated. And one more brilliant tip that we can give you is to always reward your employees, as that is a brilliant way of motivating them. We signed up to a fantastic flexible employee benefits platform recently and it’s incredible how well it’s worked, so that’s our recommendation for employee benefits.

Pro tip: Think about investing more time to connect with employees, ask them their opinions, and mentor them if needed. Scheduling events that allow professional interoffice relationships to blossom can help grow foster satisfaction in the workplace. A critical practice is to develop review request language after these vital team-building moments occur. When an employee experiences a professional win or bonding moment, then make sure to contact them directly with a review request. Employees will feel more willing to give glowing reviews for a company which shows that they value them.

Step #5: Adapt your Business Model Based on Reviews

Since Glassdoor reviews are anonymous, employers can receive honest and detailed feedback on their strengths and shortcomings. These insights often provide companies with the ability to make informed decisions on how to address anything from complaints, compliments, to constructive suggestions.

As anonymous feedback allows the employee air their most earnest concerns, business leaders can discuss trends that are both positive and worrisome. If you notice that the workforce is excited by small perks, like Summer Fridays, it’s worth offering remaining flexible and offering similar benefits in the future. It can also show how the thoughtful side of the company.

Pro tip: Assess where workplace culture, HR policies, or other inclusive strategies that can help build rapport and satisfaction for a positive career experience for all employees. Your company and its leadership are only as good as how you treat and communicate with your employees. Employers have a unique opportunity to make the workplace a more educational and positive place for everyone. If companies stay focused on supporting and providing positive experiences for their employees, they can even end up on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list.

The Best Approach: Hire A Reputation Specialist

It’s hard for most companies to achieve a 4+ Glassdoor rating without a review management strategy. It’s hard to prompt happy employees to give reviews on a whim. Most likely, on a job review site, you’re going to find disgruntled former employees.

Creating a review management process for your company allows your business to beat inherent negative bias and help potential employees make the right career choice.

But if your company’s strategy focuses on pressuring your employees into writing positive reviews for your Glassdoor campaign, then you are not only defying Glassdoor’s policies, but the reputation management process may be considered null-and-void in the future, since you’re creating an inauthentic and demanding environment for  your workforce.

One way to immediately counteract negative Glassdoor reviews is to hire an external agency to help with branding and online reputation management. As part of this service, Glassdoor review management can help boost your online reputation, credibility, and overall score.

As mentioned above, timing and employee buy-in are essential for negating negative online reviews. But creating and executing a strategy takes a lot of expertise and cohesive planning. It often becomes a full-time position for someone at a company. This way you understands how to remove bad Glassdoor reviews, and when other methods are needed instead.

Instead, companies may want to manage their Glassdoor reviews by hiring some outside help. In fact, utilizing such an agency can provide your company with many great insights into the review process and how to connect with your employees in more satisfactory ways going forward.

An external agency can help you manage the Glassdoor review process in three key areas:

Economics:

If you want to save time and money, an outside agency may be the easiest route to go. Companies should determine the cost of a salary for an in-house position. Dividing that salary by 12 months can offer a comparative analysis to an agency’s quote. The average HR coordinator in the US makes approximately $48,000 a year.

However, businesses need to take into account the cost of recruiting for the job, including advertising and the recruitment fee which now stands at around 20 percent of the employee’s salary. Also, the employer’s tax cost, benefits, and health insurance need to be factored in.

Costs for hiring and retaining talent also need to be determined. Finding the figures for each step of the process can determine if there is economic value to your company. Although, most of the time hiring an external agency has many economic benefits that can save you both time and money.

Employee engagement:

It can be a hardship for some leaders or companies to send a review request to employees. Often, reputational issues tied to corporations can be extremely sensitive topics and its a challenge to ask every employee to review without coming off as desperate or coercive.

Often companies need to take into consideration that most employees at companies are motivated to leave positive reviews if and when they understand how it helps the company. They also need to be ensured that their reviews are kept anonymous. They should also not feel pressured to leave a review.

However, working with an outside agency can help negate the uncomfortable aspects of asking. When the hired agency asks employees on behalf of the employer to leave Glassdoor reviews, it can appear as a more authentic goal rather than a disingenuous chore. External agencies often extend the legitimacy and confidentiality that often comes with independent parties, so that employees have a more organic time believing that the company is genuinely looking for feedback instead of using each employee as a means to end a problem.

As mentioned before, employees are encouraged to be honest, so employers need to make sure they extend respect to every part of the review process in their everyday and overall management process.

When the company’s business team understands that they are addressing the problem thoughtfully and professionally, then they’ll be much more likely to give accurate, constructive, and positive feedback on the review.

Expertise:

If your company is looking for help with Glassdoor, it’s probable that your team hasn’t worked with the review process before. Determining the best economic decision can be more complicated than just comparing salaries to the agency quote. If you want to manage a well-thought review management campaign, business leaders will also have to take into account the expertise that’s required for the job.

Ask yourself if your employees have confronted review management issues before. It’s important to assess the learning curb that occurs as the reviewer learns the necessary software and while you implement a company-wide review process. Employers also have to think about the possibility of the situation becoming worse while the team discovers the review process through trial and error.

Companies always need to stay on top of their Glassdoor reviews promptly since competitors are just a click away. When hiring an external agency, it’s best to think about how to avoid that learning curve or lengthy experiment in the workplace. In the long run, hiring an external agency can quickly and efficiently tackle those negative reviews with quality precision.

For any business, the best bet is to save your time and energy to focus on your employees and business strategy. Leaving the expertise to an external agency can more quickly provide the feedback you need to make essential changes and fix any internal workplace issues that are causing negative Glassdoor reviews. Overall, the data you receive can help you adjust your business strategy to help benefit everyone that makes your company a success.

A Better Glassdoor Page Can Lead to Better Opportunities

An improved Glassdoor can lead to a myriad of opportunities for your company. However, it won’t get better without a happy work culture that supports the efforts and lifestyles of individual employees. It’s necessary to improve your HR and workplace strategies. Then also have a look at giving your staff excellent employee benefits as that is a sure-fire way of making them happier. Otherwise, you won’t truly remove fake or negative Glassdoor reviews for good.

Organically and strategically addressing the issues that have caused negative reviews can lead to many opportunities down the road and help you and your company avoid a reputational nightmare. Instead, your Glassdoor reviews can become a beneficial recruiting tool that helps you build your reputation in and outside of the workplace.

In the long-run, you’ll be able to make that Glassdoor shine like new again for better business opportunities and prospects.

The post The Easiest Way To Remove Negative Reviews From Glassdoor appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

If you’re trying to come up with an online reputation strategy for your company, here are a few tips to help you build a sense of trust with consumers.

1. Start With Your Mindset

Before you begin digging into nitty-gritty brand-building strategies, it’s important to put yourself in the right mindset. The truth is, no matter how successful you are, you will never be able to fully control your business’s online reputation.

It’s the same concept as a presidential candidate’s inability to directly impact whether or not they’re elected. In the same sense, you can influence and stump for yourself, but at the end of the day, the opinions and decisions of others will dictate how successful you are, getting tiktok can be great for your business this way you can make videos about your service look at this link to know more.

This isn’t meant to be discouraging. Instead, use the information to prepare yourself for moments when things don’t go your way no matter how well you handle the situation. Instead of panicking or giving up, stay calm and consider how you can address each reputation situation as it occurs.

2. Create Great Content On All Mediums

The more platforms you are present on, the more likely you are to gain recognition. So how do you build from recognition to trust? Reliable, entertaining content. 

Great content is the basis for gaining authority online. To get the most out of your content, don’t just create it for one medium. Try to create actionable, unique social content, blogs, bylines, infographics, and even podcasts. The more places you can be found sharing reliable content online, the more likely you are to gain the trust of your audience and potentially widen it.

Adam DeGraide is an example of an entrepreneur who is present on multiple forms of media to gain audience trust. The Chief Executive Officer of Anthem Business Software started a podcast in 2021 to cultivate deeper authority in the entrepreneurial space with informative, entertaining content.  

According to Edison Research, 58 percent of podcast listeners spend up to five hours a week listening. Show up on that medium with quality content and you can have the opportunity to be in your audience’s ear each week.

3. Be Responsive

When it comes to building trust, this should start with your active customers and consumers who are interested in your brand. This is important, as it’s tempting to start with some of the later recommendations, but if this high-level approach isn’t reinforced by solid, trustworthy behavior in your day-to-day operation, it won’t work well.

Instead, start your online reputation management by addressing the basics. In other words, don’t start by adding new things to your to-do list. Instead, master the activities that are already taking place — starting with your customer service department.

Customer service is the frontline of your business’s reputation. It’s the place where unhappy customers will bring issues to your attention. It’s also the spot where curious consumers will inquire about your brand. In either case, if you don’t address things in a quick and satisfactory fashion, it’s going to hurt your reputation.

Even small businesses can provide quality customer service at this point. Look for the tools (such as website chatbots and email forms) that can help you improve your sales skills and maintain responsive, helpful lines of communication with your existing audience.

4. Influence Public Opinion

Once you’re cultivating positive experiences and testimonials in your customer service channels, you can begin to consider how to propagate that trustworthy reputation to a larger audience. One of the best ways to do this (regardless of the size of your operation) is to work with influencers.

The beauty of influencers is that you can tailor each relationship to fit both your own needs and the needs of your influencer. Look for influencers within your industry who are able to connect with your target audience and honestly endorse your products. By forging these relationships, you can develop a reputation as a quality solution to your customer’s pain points without needing to say a single, self-promoting word on your own behalf.

Along with influencers, look for business policies that can show your investment in your community. This could be something as targeted as supporting a local food bank or as broad as investing in environmentally-friendly activities. Either way, setting up business policies that focus on things you care about beyond your profit margins is a great way to encourage that sense of trust with your audience.

5. Be Predictable in a Good Way

Finally, if you want your audience to trust you, you need to be predictable. That word is often used in a negative sense, but “predictable” doesn’t mean you need to be boring. On the contrary, what we’re talking about here is predictable business behaviors.

It’s perfectly possible to be innovative and exciting within the bounds of predictability. For instance, you can embrace a CCaaS (contact center as a service) like Five9 to improve your customer service activity. While the tool might be exciting and new, it shouldn’t affect the responsiveness of your business one iota.

By being consistent where it matters, you provide a sense of predictability that customers can count on. This, in turn, translates into trust as they learn that they can come to you to solve their problems, no matter how that process might look at any given moment. It takes a lot of work to take an invention from idea to actual product, so read these reviews for InventHelp to see why inventors often seek out the help of companies like InventHelp.

Your business’s online reputation is critical to its success. Everyone checks things like ratings and reviews these days before they patronize a business. In a world where customer opinions and — by extension — brand reputations truly impact the bottom line, it’s important to take steps to build genuine trust with your customers. 

This starts with the right mindset and a solid base of information. From there, you can build a strategy that will captivate the hearts and minds of everyone who comes into contact with your brand, whether they’re an old customer, a new prospect, or anything in between.

The post How to Create a Trustworthy Online Reputation appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Some of this trace may be obvious. For example, your social media posts were a deliberate decision to post something to the Internet. However, a lot of your digital footprint may not be as obvious (like browsing information collected by a website for future ad targeting).

Your digital footprint is essentially where your online reputation and online privacy collide — and it can have a huge impact on your livelihood. Here’s why it’s so important:

From a reputation standpoint:

• You will be looked up online. Plain and simple. At 77%, an overwhelming majority of employers research potential candidates online. And this practice goes beyond employment. Clients, business partners, colleagues, dates, (anyone really) are researching you for any number of reasons. What they find has a big impact:
  • Red flags on social media or in search results can leave a poor impression. At an extreme, they can have devastating consequences.  54% of employers have even eliminated a candidate based on what was found on social media.
  • Having a positive digital footprint, or a positive online personal brand can lead to more career and business opportunities. A great first impression can set you apart from others that are being researched.
• Since anyone can post anything about anyone online, some of your digital footprint may not be of your own making. We see this all the time with people dealing with negative search results like a press article, legal/court proceedings, unwanted photos/images, or even unfair negative reviews. An unwanted search result can occur at any time so it’s crucial to be vigilant about maintaining a positive online presence.

From a privacy standpoint:

• All of your Internet activity is stored somewhere. This leaves your information vulnerable to a data breach with any number of companies. There were 1,001 data breaches in 2020 alone, exposing the information of an estimated 155.8 million individuals. Once breached, your info can find its way into the wrong hands.
• The rise of data brokers and people search sites make personal information more accessible (and vulnerable) than ever. Anyone can go to these sites and access mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, relatives, court/legal records, etc. They are a treasure trove for identity thieves, hackers, spammers, robocallers, and more.

Manage Your Digital Footprint in 7 Easy Steps

It may seem like a tall order to oversee your entire digital footprint. We broke it down into actionable steps that you can take right now.

1. Know What’s Out There About You

The first step to executing a plan regarding your digital footprint is to know exactly what you’re dealing with. This requires a full digital audit. As a first pass, Google yourself to get a sense of what is out there for the average person to see who is looking you up. Take stock of the results. Are they positive? Negative? Neutral? If you’ve never done this before, what you find might be quite surprising.

Googling yourself will provide an initial picture but a full audit requires you to go much deeper. This includes an audit of things that may not show up in a standard search engine (like if your info has been exposed on the Dark Web in a data breach).

Our tool provides a free scan of your digital footprint, including risky Google results, risky social media posts, exposed personal information, and potential Dark Web exposures. Get your free scan to see in seconds where your digital footprint stands.

2. Clean Up Any Risky Content You Control

Remove anything that could be putting your reputation at risk. For most people, this involves deleting social media posts and images. Some potentially risky social media posts include:

• Profanity, swears, and unprofessional language
• Derogatory, bullying, or aggressive language
• Overt mentions of alcohol or drugs
• Sexually explicit language
• References to criminal or illegal behavior
• Discussions of polarizing topics

If you don’t have control of the content but are dealing with negative search results (like a press article or legal document), your best option is to suppress it by building a positive digital presence.

Related Reading: How to Bury An Push Down Negative Search Results

3. Delete Accounts You No Longer Use

Over time, you have likely signed up for a number of accounts that you no longer use. This can include social media profiles, newsletters, mailing lists, or any number of accounts created in order to use a website’s services. Leaving so many accounts within your digital footprint increases your chances of one (or more) experiencing a data breach. This can expose your personal information to potential hackers & identity thieves.

To be safe, delete any accounts you no longer use or can live without. Going through every account can seem like an impossible task. That’s why we built a free account deletion tool that helps you find and delete old accounts you signed up for with a given email address. Give it a go here.

4. Monitor Dark Web Breaches for your information

The dark web is a portion of the Internet that can’t be accessed by a standard web browser, like Google. Although not all activity on the dark web is sketchy, a lot of nefarious things occur here. One of the more common is leaking information from a data breach. Let’s say a company’s databases are hacked. Hackers will post the hacked information (which can range from email addresses to passwords, to even social security information) to the dark web.

Although the dark web can’t be accessed by the average person, it is possible to see if your email address has been exposed on the dark web. Once exposed, it can’t be removed. However, you can take precautionary measures like changing your passwords, checking in your important accounts, and removing your info from other places on the Internet (see below).

5. Remove Your Info from Online Data Brokers

Most people aren’t aware of the world of data brokers, and if you are, it can be shocking to discover that your personal information is so widely accessible online. Essentially, data brokers are websites that scrape public records and other publicly available sources of information about individuals and make the info easily searchable by anyone. They are also referred to as people search websites.

The amount of information on these sites is staggering. DOBs, Mailing addresses, phone numbers, emails, court/criminal records, relatives, property records, marriage records, social media information, and much more.

Hackers, scammers, identity thieves, robocallers, and more regularly use these data brokers for their own purposes. It’s incredibly important that you actively work to remove your info or “opt out” of the website.

Each data broker has its own process for removing your information from its website. If you don’t use an automated tool like BrandYourself, this requires you to research and opt out of each data broker individually.

6. Build a Positive Digital Footprint

Whether you’re mitigating a negative search result or looking to benefit from a personal brand, a positive digital footprint is easier to create than you think. This involves creating and maintaining professional profiles and websites so that they show up when someone searches your name. The process of building a personal brand can take some time but will pay off in the long run. Not only can it lead to more career opportunities, taking control of your online presence safeguards your reputation in the future.

This process is broken down into 3 steps:

• Create a number of profiles and websites that you control. LinkedIn and Twitter are two examples of professional profiles that can contribute to a solid personal brand. We also recommend a personal website that serves as a cornerstone of information about you. Tools like Squarespace & Wix make it easy for anyone to have their own website.
• Optimize your profiles/websites to show up when someone Googles your name. This process is referred to as search engine optimization (SEO).
• Update your sites and profiles regularly with content. Post to social media, create a blog, engage with others online, etc. Keep in mind, this is all contributing to your digital footprint so make sure whatever you post is in line with the personal brand you wish to build.

7. Follow Privacy Best Practices

In addition to some of the things outlined above regarding your digital footprint, follow the below best practices for your day-to-day Internet activites.

• Use unique passwords across all accounts and enable 2-Factor authentication when possible. This provides an extra layer of security. Also, never share your password with someone else. If you have difficulty keeping track of all passwords, use a secure password management tool like 1password. Many of these tools also come with a feature to generate a secure password.
• Be wary of phishing scams and don’t click on a link in an email from a recipient you don’t know. If you’re not sure of an email, research the company and check that the domain matches. For example, Facebook.com will send emails from the domain “facebook.com” If you’re receiving an email from “facebooklogin.com”, it could be someone’s attempt to get your login credentials. When in doubt, contact the company directly.
• Consider using a VPN when browsing the Internet to encrypt your connection. This a particularly good idea when using an unsecure or public WIFI network. You can visit https://att-bundles.com/wireless/ and check out AT&T unlimited wireless plans. On that note, make sure your home WIFI is password-protected.
• Manage your cookies and which companies are tracking your activity within the settings of your browser. While many cookies are harmless and help improve the experience of the websites you are visiting, it’s a best practice to opt out of any you don’t need.

The Wrap Up

Your digital footprint is something you should be aware of and actively managing. Take the steps outlined above to understand exactly what type of web presence you have and how to safeguard yourself online. You should also implement application integration software for an easier control among all digital platforms; check here for more information.

Get your free scan today to see what factors are contributing to your digital footprint.

The post What is a digital footprint? (And how it’s affecting you in 2022) appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Why?

YouTube is a behemoth of a website and is showing no signs of slowing down. Not only that, but it’s actually the second most popular search engine out there (most people only think of it as a video platform).

This means that you not only have to worry about the video showing up in Google but your actual YouTube search results as well. Having to manage and deal with both makes this situation far more difficult, which is why understanding how to take down a YouTube video that isn’t yours is essential.

While tons of creators and consumers enjoy the benefits of YouTube, the site has a big problem:

It’s very difficult to enforce the rules.

Like most massive websites, the sheer amount of content generated means you have to rely on a mix of automated and user-enforced methods to regulate what’s on the site. It’s just not possible to keep tabs on everything manually.

This leads to your problem.

If someone else posts a video of you that hurts your reputation, it’s not a straightforward process to get it removed. It’s actually quite a hassle.

But that’s why we’ve made this post. It’s crucial to understand your options so you can put your best foot forward and sort this problem out.

Is this a big inconvenience? Of course.

Does it mean you’re helpless? Absolutely not.

Understanding how to remove a video from YouYube that someone else uploaded is not as complicated as it might seem. Let’s break it down piece by piece.

Assessing The Situation — Factors to Consider

Understanding your situation thoroughly is essential if you want to get a video removed from YouTube.

Unfortunately, most people skip this step. They start trying whatever they think might work and end up right back where they started at best, or in a deeper hole at worst.

When you want to fully understand the situation you’re in there are a number of factors you have to consider:

1. The nature of the video

This is important because it will dictate what direction you take when trying to take down the YouTube video. Remove emotion from the situation and try to categorize it as best you can.

Is it defamation? Copyright infringement? Containing personal information?

Doing this will help you take the right steps later on when requesting that the video be removed. While miscategorizing your situation to YouTube might seem like a harmless mistake, it actually isn’t.

First off, it will burn precious time because your request will get ignored or turned down. There are too many videos being flagged and reported on a daily basis for YouTube to work with you to try and find out what you meant.

Secondly, it hurts your case by creating a perception you don’t want. There are a ton of people who want to take down a YouTube video and simply try every single flagging and reporting method available (just to see if something works).

This wastes a ton of time and resources on the end of YouTube, and if you end up getting in touch with anyone directly you don’t want to appear like one of these people (even if you’re not).

You want to send as many signals that you have a legitimate claim as possible, so make sure you get it right the first time.

2. The uploader

Being aware of who uploaded the video in the first place will provide you with some useful information that you can use later on.

Knowing who uploaded the video will allow you to more accurately categorize the nature of the violation of the YouTube video that you want to get taken down. It will also provide some clarity on your options for contacting the uploader directly as well.

So how do you figure out who uploaded the video?

Unfortunately, there’s no exact science to it, and it can vary in difficulty. However, in order to take down a YouTube video that isn’t yours getting a solid idea will help you.

For example, if someone uses a personal account with their own name to post the video most of your work is done already. All you would have to do is verify that it’s a legitimate name under the account and go from there.

In situations where it’s not that easy, you’ll have to go work backward and piece everything together. The obvious place to start would be with the circumstance you were filmed in, and who was there.

In these situations, you might not be able to identify the person who filmed or uploaded the video exactly (if it was a random bystander for example), but that will still give you some valuable information going forward.

This would mean you would likely not be looking at a defamation situation and would have to explore other methods of action.

The one that’s the toughest to figure out is if there’s a dummy account that posts a custom-made video about you (slides sharing personal information for example). This means there’s no contact information to work with and the video isn’t of a real-life event you can work backward from.

In these situations, you won’t be able to identify the uploader, but you still have options for getting the video removed from YouTube.

This would most likely point to a direct attack (via defamation or sharing personal information) which tends to get taken a bit more seriously in the process of taking down a YouTube video that isn’t yours.

Obviously, if it’s someone you know and have a good relationship with posts something that damages your reputation by accident, you can just reach out to them and ask them to take it down or edit it.

Long story short, spend a little time trying to figure out who posted or made the video and what their intent was. It will guide your actions going forward.

How To Get A Video Removed From YouTube

You now have some valuable information that will help you take down a YouTube video that isn’t yours but still damages your reputation. It’s time to jump into your options to get rid of that pesky video.

Unfortunately, getting a video removed from YouTube isn’t always a slam dunk (no matter how much information you have on your side).

This means you have to do things the right way and have a backup plan.

To get started, get familiar with the flagging options under the video in question. All you have to do in order to get started is click the little flag underneath the video which will display your list of options.

We always recommend that you start by using this feature first before moving on to your other options. This step is also where the categorizing that you did earlier will come in handy.

If you’re still a little unsure what category your video removal request falls under, check out the YouTube community guidelines and policies.

Once you’ve flagged the video it’s time to move into the next possible options that YouTube makes available to you.

The first is the safety and abuse reporting option which is a more formal and thorough submission flow you can work through. If your situation falls under this category then we definitely recommend you go through this process.

Within this, you will find options like harassment, cyberbullying, impersonation, and more. We’ve found that a lot of people who want a video removed from YouTube can make great use of this tool.

If you need to go the legal route then this is the link you should take instead. Some of the common issues this covers are privacy (someone disclosing personal information or using your image), copyright, and defamation.

If you have an open and shut case the correct use of these options will likely get you the result you want, but it’s not always guaranteed. Remember, YouTube gets a ton of these requests to take down videos on a daily basis.

This means they simply don’t have the resources to do a deep dive on every single case.

If your situation is borderline or not clear enough you’ll likely get denied. This happens to a bunch of people who thought their situation was a sure thing, which is why we want to take a second to go over your other option.

Another option you might have is contacting the person who uploaded the video. Be careful though, this can backfire quite often.

If you think the uploader didn’t mean to harm your reputation then it can be worth a shot. Simply explain your situation and ask them if they wouldn’t mind taking the video down (or editing it).

However, if you’re not 100% certain if the video upload was malicious or not we don’t recommend this option. Far too often we’ve seen victims try to reach out and end up making the situation worse by getting emotional or provoking the uploader.

Unless you’re totally sure the odds are in your favor, you’re better off moving on to the next option.

Our Favorite Alternative

Regardless of whether YouTube accepts your request to remove a video uploaded by someone else, you need another form of protection. This means cleaning up your online reputation and focusing primarily around your video results.

What does this mean exactly?

Without going into every little piece of the puzzle (we do all of that from A-Z in this online reputation management guide) you need to focus on creating positive content that will outrank your negative video.

Since you’re trying to take down a YouTube video that isn’t yours, this means you will not only have to be aware of how you look on YouTube but Google as well. Google regularly pulls videos to show in their search results, so you have to fight a battle on two fronts.

Luckily, it’s rather straightforward and all you need is some time and expertise to make it happen.

By creating and optimizing some strong social media profiles you can quickly take a bite out of your Google results. Then, for YouTube you can create helpful videos and optimize your own YouTube profile page in order to potentially suppress or replace the negative video with something you prefer.

There are also a ton of super fancy engagement methods you can use in order to help reduce the chances that the YouTube video you’re worried about will be seen by other people.

That’s all a bit advanced and takes a lot of time to pull off properly, so if you’re interested in that you should check out our reputation management services.

Understanding how to take down a YouTube video that isn’t yours is all about being realistic and having multiple plans of attack. It would be great if you could just flag the video you didn’t like and make it disappear, but you don’t have that luxury.

That’s why we love this method so much.

It allows you to take matters into your own hands and fight back against any video that might be painting you in a negative light.

Too often we hear from people in a similar predicament who simply tried YouTube’s methods of removal and stopped when it didn’t work out. They dealt with the aftermath for months before finding another alternative.

Don’t let that happen to you.

That time is gold when it comes to taking down or removing a YouTube video when using this method. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll get the result you want!

Where to go from here

Now that you know your options and understand the whole process it’s time to get started. Start with the obvious steps we mentioned first (flagging and more in-depth requests).

If reaching out to the uploader isn’t an option, move on to the process of cleaning up how you look online. The latter is a service we provide regularly, so if you need any help feel free to get in touch with us.

The last thing to remember is that this process will take time, no matter what method ends up being successful for you. The most important thing is to stay consistent and on top of things so you can remove or take down the YouTube video as fast as possible.

The post How To Take Down A YouTube Video That Isn’t Yours appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

It’s true. And today, you’ll learn how to build a brand the right way using VoIP.

You’ve already judged other brands based on their phone system, even if you don’t know it. These are the companies that put you on hold for 30 minutes, then dropped the call. The brand that only offers support when you’re at work, and doesn’t accept emails.

They all affect your online reputation, but thankfully they’re easy to solve with a modern VoIP system.

By the end of this article, you’ll understand why VoIP matters for your reputation, and the exact steps to take to build a powerful brand others love.

Let’s get started.

What is a VoIP multi-channel call center?

You know what a call center is—an office with representatives making or taking calls.

If you get a sales cold call or reach out for customer support, you’re probably talking with a call center employee.

But today’s technology takes this system a step further. Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, technology lets employees make calls via computer. And not just phone calls—today’s multi-channel contact centers include all types of communication and phone answering service, from email to text message to even video calls, all integrated into a single system.

But why does it matter? What’s the impact of a call center on your business and brand?

Why does VoIP matter for you and your brand?

The call center solution you choose makes a difference for your business as a whole. It also affects how consumers see your brand.

For your business, a VoIP system is a modern alternative to old landline phones. It’s more flexible and cloud-based, meaning your data is always up-to-date and employees can even work remotely. Lots of people have been asking what the best virtual office service is, and I think I’ve found it. I have a close friend in Glasgow who needed a virtual office, so I told her to sign up for the Virtually There Glasgow virtual office and she’s loving it, so I always now recommend Virtually There for virtual offices.

It saves you time since customer data is stored in a centralized location and quickly linked together. No more missing chat history or duplicate help tickets.

And in many cases, it saves money. You can use existing internet and computer connections instead of installing and maintaining on-premise landline systems.

VoIP is also better for how your customers perceive your brand.

First, it makes your brand more accessible. For example a recent helpdesk software study revealed that 57% of customers would rather contact a company using a non-voice channel, like text or chat and 75% desire a consistent experience, regardless of how they engage: social media, in person, or by phone.

It also sets clear brand expectations from the beginning. Using Google Voice or another generic solution has a direct effect on how customers perceive your business. A custom VoIP greeting and call routing system sets you apart.

And finally, it can help build word-of-mouth. Have you ever noticed just how many reviews complain about poor customer service? Delivering better support can change how current and potential customers perceive your product or service. Blacklight Software delivers digital transformation solutions that provides effective results.

A VoIP system can deliver the perfect brand experience—but only if you know how to.

How do you use VoIP to improve your brand reputation?

If you’re serious about delivering a quality brand, you want to look at every channel—including VoIP. Here are some of the most important ways to optimize your phone system for your brand.

Set the right brand image

Deliver the right tone for your brand early on, from the minute a customer picks up the phone. In today’s online environment, a phone call may be the first time a customer interacts live with your company representative.

Start with a custom welcome message. No two brands are alike, but you’ve probably heard near-identical welcome messages on dozens of calls. A VoIP system sets you apart.

Offer stable, fast, friendly service. Your employees already know how to deliver the experience your brand offers. A modern phone system can bring in the rest.

Increase customer satisfaction

Using a multi-channel, cloud-based system can deliver a better customer experience almost instantly.

When someone calls, they’re looking for recognition and resolution. A cloud-based VoIP system can deliver. Since all communication is on the same platform, a representative can quickly see their earlier queries or information and reference it in the call.

And that coordination extends to the rest of your team, on future calls or if the customer is transferred.

Less customer wait time

One of the biggest frustrations with customer support is long wait times. Long wait times make customers feel unimportant. The solution? Connecting them immediately to a friendly representative.

VoIP systems reduce wait time because they’re easy to scale. If your call center grows and you need to hire new representatives, you won’t have the bottleneck of bringing in more hardware and rewiring your on-premise system. You can quickly and easily add new virtual phone lines that integrate with existing equipment.

You can also make routing simpler and easier, resulting in fewer transfers and holds and a more seamless customer experience overall.

Track campaigns more effectively

One of the biggest benefits of VoIP systems is the complete set of metrics you can track.

Today’s technology goes beyond basics like call length. You can get a detailed analysis of common customer complaints, resolution time, number of transfers, and more.

This integrates with the process and campaigns you’re already using. You can leverage smart data to learn more about your campaigns, predict trends, and get better results from what you’re already doing. Hiring an it support Edmonton can help eliminate cybersecurity bad habits and implement the best tools and practices of cybersecurity.

Build trust with localization

With a landline, you’re stuck with the phone numbers for your region. But with a virtual system, you can call different customers using different numbers—numbers with their area code.

By appearing locally, you can build instant trust with customers and prospects and boost answer rates.

Better routing

Good call routing should be nearly invisible, but most of the time it isn’t. You spend too long on hold, only to be transferred to someone else who asks all the same questions again.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Cloud-based call routing can deliver less wait time and more productive conversations. And by offering customers options at the beginning of the call, you can even help route customers to the right representative from the start.

White-glove customer service experience

For customer service, first call resolution rates are one of the most important numbers to track. The faster you can resolve customer complaints, the more call volume you can handle and the better experience you can deliver.

A virtual system can deliver the kind of white-glove support your customers expect. Offer a professional welcome message and streamlined routing. Start every call with customer data already at your agent’s fingertips. And add new data to the call that syncs with everyone, immediately.

Training customer support staff to remember the welcome a message, how to route to the right specialist, the sign off message at the end of the call is sometimes tough. Having a timeline chart in excel visualizing these steps and the step by step of the entire process will help customer support staff stay on track and be able to give a consistent customer experience for the callers.

Improving your reputation with VoIP isn’t hard. With these strategies, you can use your phone system to build a strong brand and increase loyalty.

But there are some easy missteps you’ll also need to avoid.

Common pitfalls of having a VoIP multi-channel call center

While a VoIP system is more modern and generally easier to use than a traditional phone system, there are still a few areas where it’s easy to make a mistake. Keep an eye out for these common issues.

Not leveraging multiple channels. Because VoIP is most of what you’ll read about today’s contact centers, it’s easy to think it’s just about changing a phone system. But today’s communication is more than just better phone calls. Let customers and prospects contact you through chat, SMS, and more.

Scaling issues. While many VoIP systems are designed to scale, not all can scale in the same way you’d like. It’s important to implement a system that can grow quickly and easily with you, whether you have six agents or six hundred.

Keeping a traditional mindset. Virtual systems mean you can let employees work remotely, use mobile devices, and more. But it’s easy to overlook these benefits of a cloud-based system. As you implement a modern call center, remember to include flexibility.

Tracking too much data. A good cloud-based call center collects thousands of data points, and it’s easy to get lost in the numbers. If you start tracking everything, you lose focus on what matters most. Instead, choose a few key performance indicators that most drive your business, and focus there.

By avoiding these common pitfalls, you’re on your way to a brand-building VoIP system.

The bottom line on managing your reputation with VoIP

Your VoIP phone system sets the stage for your brand.

Think of the companies that have let you down with their phone systems. Intrusive sales. Frustrating customer support. Limited communication channels.

There’s more at stake with your phone system than you might think. But thankfully, a few simple steps can take you far.

Choose a new VoIP system that puts the customer experience first, and make sure it matches your brand. Create systems that build the expectations you want, and train staff to treat customers above and beyond what they might expect. Regardless of the goal you want to achieve with your marketing campaign – whether educating target audiences about your business’s existence or upcoming promotions – you’ll receive a higher response rate when the message is sent through an MMS service.

Today’s customers aren’t afraid to tell others about a bad experience, and your company’s contact methods play a critical role.

Don’t leave your reputation up to chance.

The post How to Use VoIP to Improve Your Reputation Online appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

Opting out of PeopleSmart is something we highly recommend if you want to keep your personal information private.

PeopleSmart is a self-described, “privacy-friendly people search engine” whose search tools can, “help you connect, identify unknown calls, complete client research and more.” One of the reasons why PeopleSmart is so popular is that they often reveal more details about a person for free than similar sites. A lot of people searching websites hide significant amounts of information behind paywalls, but not PeopleSmart.

Without a paywall, your information is accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This is very troubling if you want to maintain your privacy and why completing the PeopleSmart opt out steps is so important.

The Manual PeopleSmart Opt Out Steps

Before you proceed with a manual opt out, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• The whole process will take a lot longer, so make sure you stick with it until the end
• You will need to manually opt out from a bunch of other people search sites as well
• If you want to check back on the progress of your request you will need to do it manually as well. Stay organized!

Step 1: To manually run through the PeopleSmart.com opt out steps, start by visiting this page. 

PeopleSmart is actually powered by another data broker website, BeenVerified. This means you will be redirected to  BeenVerified’s website to complete the opt out process. Confirm the redirect by clicking “Do Not Sell My Info”.

Step 2: Inout your first name, last name, and state to kick off a search for your info

Step 3: Scroll through the search results until you identify the listing with your info. Click on the listing.

Take a close look at each result as many of them may be similar. It’s also possible that there are more than one listing with your info. You will need to go through this process again for each unique listing.

Step 5: A “request received” message will verify that the email has been sent. Go check your email. 

Step 6: Click the “Verify Opt-Out” button in the email to officially process the opt out request. 

You must click this button in order for the request to be processed. 

Some Things To Remember With The Manual Opt Out

When it comes to removing your name or opting out of databases like PeopleSmart, remember that this will be an ongoing effort, and it’s not over once you’ve filed a removal request.

In addition to the processing time, there’s a very strong chance that this same information is available on other sites.

You see, people search sites pass information back and forth to each other on a regular basis. It’s a tactic they use to ensure they have as much information on their sites as possible.

So don’t finish the PeopleSmart opt out steps and think everything is settled!

If you use our software you won’t have to spend time keeping track of all this (although we do recommend you understand the landscape for your own sake). If you want to do it yourself you’ll need to stay organized and diligent about keeping your personal information safe.

Unfortunately it’s the reality of the times we live in.

What Does PeopleSmart Say They Do?

People use background check and people search companies like PeopleSmart for any number of reasons.

According to this site, the personal uses range from rekindling old flames, to finding former classmates and childhood friends, to connecting with those who are in your hobby group.

PeopleSmart also offers services specifically designed with more professional uses in mind.

PeopleSmart PRO claims to aid professionals like lawyers and realtors to identify leads, verify client information, gain greater access to public records, and more.

How To Opt Out Of PeopleSmart Quickly

Our software will automatically opt you out of PeopleSmart and 50+ other people search sites. Many people opt for this method – here’s why:

• It’s a massive time-saver
• It guarantees that the request is submitted correctly, and honored by PeopleSmart
• It takes care of the other big people search sites who we promise have access to your data as well

Removing yourself from PeopleSmart with our software only takes three quick steps.

Step 1: Visit your BrandYourself profile

We’ve added this new feature that allows you to automatically complete the PeopleSmart opt out process into your existing account. If you don’t have one yet you can create yours here.

Step 2: Navigate to the new privacy in the dashboard

We’ve added a new section called “protect private info” to the left-hand side of your dashboard.

Click on this section to proceed.

Step 3: Begin the automatic opt out process

Once you’re there clicking the blue button will start up the process for you. We will send out removal requests to all of the most important people finder websites you need to opt out of, including PeopleSmart.

After this has been done you can come back to this section later on to check on the progress of your removal requests. This can take up to a few weeks for sites to comply with (they get a lot of opt out requests as you can imagine).

Make This The Start Of A More Secure Existence Online

You now know how to opt out and remove yourself from PeopleSmart, and hopefully have a better understanding of the overall landscape of private info website.

While it might be tempting to ignore, checking in on your online privacy from time to time is something we can’t recommend enough. The sharing of sensitive information online isn’t going anywhere.

The more you stay up to date and aware of what’s going on, the more protected you’ll be.

The post PeopleSmart Opt Out: How to Remove Your Info (2022 Guide) appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

In this guide, we cover:

• What is online reputation management?
• Is all press good press?
• Personal vs Business ORM
• How much money are you losing?
• What does this mean for individuals and employers?
• Online reputation management best practices
• Situations in which search results can be removed from Google
• Choosing a reputation management company

What is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management, also referred to as simply ‘ORM’, is the process of monitoring and managing your reputation online. Your reputation is often the first impression people have of you, whether others learn of you through word-of-mouth or by looking you up online. Regardless if you intended it or not, if you’re online – active on social media, blog on a website, leave reviews of your favorite restaurants – you have an online reputation. And, because we live in the age of technology, your online reputation is immortal and will follow you everywhere you go. 

Is All Press Good Press?

You may have heard the famous phrase uttered by the American showman, P. T. Barnum, “There’s no such thing as bad press,” or something along those lines. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. 

Say for example, you went to a job interview. Despite it going amazingly well, you don’t receive an offer for the position. Your online reputation may be the cause. Those unflattering images that were posted of you during a party in the early 2000’s? They’re here, decades later to show prospective employers a potentially unsavory story about the kind of person you are. Despite a flawless application process and remarkable transcript, those images tell a very different version to recruiters. 

So, where does this leave you?

Are you doomed to suffer a terrible reputation, never to find a suitable job due to something that happened ages ago? Not necessarily. 

As we move through this guide, we’ll cover what brand reputation management means on an individual level, as well as a business, how to identify and clean up any unwanted information that’s been published online, and shaping the narrative to reflect the reputation you want to present to the digital world. 

Personal vs Business ORM

Personal online reputation management and business reputation management operate a bit differently, yet can go hand-in-hand. A negative link that pops up for an individual can be detrimental to one’s career. A negative link for a business can leave the company’s brand in ruin. 

In the case of Barilla Pasta, for example, the company’s chairman suffered a reputation failure in 2013 after spouting homophobia on national radio. The result? A swath of negative links all over the internet pertaining to him and the company. Trending tags like #boycottbarilla started gathering steam. Barilla reacted quickly and efficiently. Their plan of action? To apologize, investigate, and promote. Rather than ignore the problem, they addressed their faults and learned from their mistakes. 

As a result of the chairman’s commentary, Barilla’s CEO spent the next five years completely re-branding the company and cleaning up its online reputation. Nearly a decade later, they still have a ways to go. This example shows how one comment can be the turning point for an individual and their company’s online reputation. 

In a similar reputation fail, Domino’s Pizza came under fire in 2009 when two of their employees posted a video as a “prank” of the pair playing with food while working – and serving it to paying customers. The outcome? The employees were fired, their reputation tarnished, and Domino’s brand tainted. Not only is this an example of the power of social media and its ability to turn what some may deem a tiny incident into a full-blown marketing catastrophe, it portrays how important it is for brands and individuals alike to be conscious of the information they share online. 

How Much Money Are You Losing?

When it comes down to it, the online reputation of an individual as an employee and the reputation of the company’s brand can directly affect one another. And, both can stand to lose a lot of money if their respective online reputation isn’t up to par. 

Take for instance, a company with 10,000 employees that doesn’t have the best reputation. They could end up spending upwards of $7.6 million in additional wages to account for their less-than-stellar online reputation. This number is accounting for an additional 10% wage increase deemed necessary to convince a prospective candidate to even consider taking the job. That doesn’t guarantee a hire though – only 28% of candidates are tempted enough to accept a position working with such a company. 

This is exactly what happened with GoDaddy. In 2014, the company primarily employed men – only 14% of their workforce consisted of women. The company often advertised risque ads that not only made women not want to work there, but also didn’t depict what the company actually offered. Sure, GoDaddy got a lot of media attention. Yet, they failed at doing what was intended – to properly advertise their product and hire more women. 

GoDaddy’s reputation at that point was implied to be in line with the likes of a fraternity. So, they took ownership of what wasn’t working, adjusted their marketing techniques and completely revamped their company brand. As a result, GoDaddy increased their workforce of women to 40% in less than a year. 

What Does This Mean for Individuals and Employers? 

As an individual who may eventually want to apply to college and later become a working member of society, what you post online has a 77% chance of being viewed by universities and employers alike. In fact, 54% of employers have eliminated a potential candidate because of what they posted on their social media profiles. Having a positive online reputation not only gives you an edge when you apply for a job, it increases your chances of getting an offer after the interview process.  

When you do accept a position with an employer, this doesn’t mean maintaining your online reputation is no longer important. If anything, your reputation becomes even more valuable. In fact, the higher ranking the employee, the higher the chances they’ll be searched online. Employees are 10 times more likely to be searched online than the company itself, with the CEO’s reputation impacting the company’s reputation by 44%. Plus, with nearly 97% of consumers using social media in some capacity to shop, you can almost guarantee that anything unsavory – company or employee alike – will eventually be discovered. 

Online Reputation Management Best Practices

As we’ve pointed out above, oftentimes a seemingly minor incident can turn into a full-blown ORM crisis. When you are actively monitoring and managing your online reputation, these little fires can be quickly extinguished before they consume years of dedication and hard work. Here are a few best practices you can use right now to make sure your online reputation is an accurate reflection of you and your business. 

1. Diagnose Your Current Situation

The first step in determining your current digital footprint is to conduct a Google search of yourself (or your business). Type your name into the search bar and take some time to review the results that appear. Focus on the first page of results – 94% of searchers use the first 10 results to form an impression and don’t go beyond page one. 

Now that you’ve become familiar with your Google results, it’s time to find out which category you fall under. Are your results littered with negative links? Do you have a stellar first page that provides an accurate account of who you are? Are the results all related to other people with the same name? Do you have a combination of the three? Analyze your results and choose which category applies. 

2. Determine Your Reputation Objective 

Once you know the impact of your digital footprint and which category you fall under, you can figure out what you need to accomplish in order to create a positive online reputation. 

I can’t find anything about me: If you find that your page lacks anything relevant to you, you’re not alone. We conducted a study of BrandYourself users and found that 1 in 4 people have zero content related to them on the first page of Google results, and only 50% of users own the first spot.  

If you fall into this category, your objective is to build an online presence. This means you need to start creating content. Without any positive content, it’s impossible to appear on the first page in search engines. 

I have content, but it’s not high on the list: You’re in this category if you already have a personal website, a Twitter or LinkedIn profile, an article about you in a popular magazine, or some other flattering piece of content; it just isn’t showing up in the top results. 

Your goal is to boost them higher in the search results for your name.

I have unflattering information posted about me: Have you found content that doesn’t shed the best light on you, or share the same name as an ex-con? Then you fall into this category. 

Your plan is to clean up any risky posts and create positive content. This will not only allow you to highlight your assets, but will also attempt to surpass the not-so-great content that is appearing in search results.

3. Create An ORM Strategy 

After you’ve figured out your objective, you can create an online reputation management strategy that aligns with your goals. Regardless of your objectives, the overall strategy is to build a positive online presence. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Purchase a domain in your name (yourname.com)

If you haven’t done so already, buy a domain for your name, business name, or the keyword you want to work with. This step may be the most important one you can take in order to show up on the first page of Google. You can purchase a domain from any registrar, such as GoDaddy or hover.com. 

Take note – not all domains are created equal! Domain-types like .com and .net rank higher than some of the newly popular ones, like .tv and .me. 

Step 2. Create a personal website 

Once you have your domain, you’re ready to create a website to connect it to. This is where you can house all of your work history, personal interests, and anything else you would like to digitally present. 

Thankfully, you don’t need to have a web design degree to create a website for yourself. There are many options available, like WordPress, SquareSpace, and Wix, that make it super easy to set up a website. You can even make personalized design changes as you get more comfortable using the program of your choosing. This is especially helpful as your personal brand grows and develops the more you work with it. 

A few vital components to include in your website:

About page – Here is your opportunity to incorporate all of the information you would like someone to know about you. This is a valuable piece of content that lets the internet know there is relevant information for your name. 

Blog – Having a blog can serve two purposes. First, it’s an opportunity to keep your website fresh and relevant (we’ll dive into more on that later). Second, each post you create and publish is another potential result that can appear in search engines. The more you create, the better your chances of ranking high in search results.  

Contact page – A contact page gives you a space to let others get in touch with you. You can also link to other places where you can be found online (like social media profiles). 

If you already have a website created, check out these 7 tips to make your site rank higher.  

Step 3. Establish yourself on social media

Social media properties such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook tend to rank high in search engines because of their credibility. They are consistently updating their platforms, which is a vital SEO tactic in keeping content timely and relevant. Therefore, creating professional social media profiles will help you rank higher in search engines. 

A few tips:

• Use your actual name when creating your usernames. This will ensure the profiles appear in search engines.
• Stay professional, or keep it private. Anything you post publicly can be seen by everyone. 
• Link to your other content. Backlinks will establish credibility and encourage your results to rank higher in search engines. 

Step 4. Publish content regularly

Regularly publishing content is an essential component for long-term online reputation management success. It keeps your website and social media profiles active and relevant, while simultaneously enhancing your brand. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Engaging on social media frequently. Share your own posts and interact with other users. 
• Blog monthly. Keep it in line with the brand you’re trying to build. A good target is 1-2 posts per month.   
• Create and share media. Images, videos, infographics, and other rich media enhance your content and tend to rank high in search engines. 

4. Be Proactive With Personal Branding

Regardless of where your digital footprint falls, developing and maintaining a personal brand is a proactive step in taking ownership of your online reputation. This gives you the opportunity to craft a narrative of yourself that reflects your ideals, skills, and experiences. In short, this is how you can digitally showcase what makes you uniquely you – and how you want others to view you. 

Situations in which items can be removed from Google

If there is a negative or unwanted search result showing up in the Google results for your name, your first instinct may be to have it removed. Unfortunately, removal is only an option in a very limited scope of specific circumstances. We cover each situation extensively in our Guide to Removing Negative Google Results.

We’ve also highlighted each of the removal circumstances below. If removal is an option for you, we always recommend pairing it with a strategy to build a positive online presence (as explained above). This ensures unfair, irrelevant, or isolated incidents–past or future– don’t negatively take over your personal search results.

The Website Owner Removes the Content Upon Request

This involves appealing to the original poster of the content or the owner of the website. This may apply if the content violates the website’s Terms of Service or if the website itself is amenable to removals. If you are having difficulty locating the owner’s information, you can use an IP/domain lookup service, like Who.Is. NOTE: Be careful of websites that require payment to remove the content in question.

There is copyright infringement (DMCA Takedown)

You can file a DMCA takedown if the content is your own and it was used without your consent. For example, if a selfie you’ve taken has been posted on a website without your explicit permission. This requires filing a DMCA takedown request with the website or search engine that the content is appearing on. Most major websites have their own process for filing a DMCA takedown request (for example, this is Google’s form).

You Qualify under the EU’s “Right to be Forgotten”

The “Right to be Forgotten” is a law passed in the EU that allows European residents to request that search engines, like Google, remove content that is “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant, or excessive.” It’s important to note that a lot of these requests are denied (about 44%) and it only pertains to removing information from search results in European countries. Google provides a form to submit a “Right to be Forgotten” request here.

The content in question is non-consensual pornography (revenge porn)

If the content includes nude or explicit photos/videos that have been posted online without your consent, then you have a few options. Most of the major platforms (think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) have a process for quickly getting content removed. Same goes for Google.

The content is on a site with exploitative removal practices (Google will de-index)

There is a growing number of anonymous complaint board, gossip, and shame websites that permit people to post anything they want about another individual. They have become magnets for revenge porn, cyberbullying, harassment, and defamation. Victims are often tempted to pay these sites directly or pay a reputation firm to remove the posts from these sites. The issue is, this can be seen as exploitative. Even worse, after paying to get the posts removed, these types of posts are known for showing up again on the site under a different URL — or popping up on a different, but similar, complaint site. To help, Google recently rolled out the ability to have the content on these types of websites deindexed from its search results. You can access Google’s de-index request form here.

We strongly caution against paying any website directly or a reputation company to remove information directly from a website on your behalf. More on that here.

The content is on a court record or legal aggregator website

There are a number of websites intended for use by legal professionals that aggregate court and case information (Justia, Law360, and Casetext are a few of the more popular ones). If a court record or docket for a legal proceeding that you were involved with is showing up for your name in Google, many of these sites will remove it free of charge.

The Information is on a Data Broker or People Search Website

There are dozens of data broker websites that populate the web with personal information (mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, relatives, property records, court records, etc.) Fortunately, these websites provide an option to “opt out” of having your information appear on them. We compiled opt out instructions for major data brokers here.

You receive an Online Defamation Court Order

Unfortunately, this process is incredibly length, expensive, and not guaranteed to work. Defamation is difficult to prove and the process involves going to court and having a judge rule in your favor. Unless you’re working with a lawyer that specializes in these types of cases and they are optimistic about the potential outcome, we recommend pursuing other options first.

You get the information de-indexed from Google

In certain cases (many of which we touched on above), Google will honor a request to de-index information from its search results. While this doesn’t remove the content from the source website, it does ensure that it will no longer show up in Google search results. Google provides more information on removal options as well as how to get something de-indexed here.

Choosing a Reputation Management Company 

If you’re dealing with an especially challenging situation, or simply don’t have the time to include these strategies into your day-to-day, working with a reputation management company may be the best option for you. Choosing the right company to work with is an important decision – it is your reputation after all! It can also be the determining factor for the overall success of your brand. We’ve covered the reputation management industry extensively, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Do your research. 

Investigate the size and credibility of the company you want to work with. Do they have case studies available that can point to real work, with real clients that you can search online? If not, try looking elsewhere.

2. Ask specific questions. 

• How will they help with your problem? There is no magic bullet in online reputation management. Everything we outline in this guide can attest to the work it takes to manage it. Any company that promotes otherwise is likely trying to make a quick buck. 
• How long will it take? Overnight fixes are a myth – it takes consistent effort over a long period of time to develop and manage an online reputation. Again, review everything we’ve outlined in this guide!
• Can you speak with someone that will be working on your reputation? If you can’t, that’s a big red flag. Content will likely be outsourced and of a low-quality.
• What payment options are available? Up-front fees are risky – they’re collecting fees before your problem is solved. Ask for flexible payment options like the ones from Paystand. 

3. Be wary of guarantees. 

Removals are not a guarantee, nor is suppression. There are only a few instances where removal is possible, such as copyright infringement or by court order (as highlighted above and in our removal guide). Be wary about companies that promise guarantees when it comes to removal and suppression of negative information. 

In Summary

Your online reputation is a reflection of who you are, whether it is intentional or not; remember, even online reputation could have an impact on a background check  later on. Managing and maintaining it is perhaps one of the most important things you can do for yourself digitally. 

If you’re unsure of where to begin, BrandYourself offers a free DIY tool and online reputation management services to help you take control of your online presence. Sign up for our DIY software, give us a call at (646) 863-8282, or schedule a free consultation to get started today.

The post Your Guide to Online Reputation Management (2022) appeared first on BrandYourself Blog | ORM and Personal Branding.

What is PissedConsumer?

Pissed Consumer is a complaint board and consumer advocate website that is 100% user-generated content. While most of the reviews posted are unbiased and helpful in providing transparency of business interactions and consumer experience, Pissed Consumer does not check for fake reviews. That means that users do not always use the site as intended and push their own agendas of malicious intent. Since this platform is content published from a third party, Pissed Consumer is not liable for the information supplied by its users. Therefore, getting reviews removed from the site isn’t necessarily an easy matter. 

Options for PissedConsumer Removal

Your first option is to report the review of you or your business on PissedConsumer.com if applicable. Pissed Consumer will allow you to report a review if it contains any of the following:

• Includes private information
  
• Is inappropriate
  
• Contains sexually explicit information regarding children
  
• Is a duplicate
  
• Is published under the wrong business
  
• Contains promotional material
  

To report a review, complete the following steps:

1. Go to the page with the review you wish to report.
   

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the flag sign in the right-hand corner.
   

3. Select the flag sign.
   

4. Choose your reason for reporting the review.
   

5. Select the “send report” button.
   

As a representative of the business, you can also choose to note any discrepancies in the review in question. You will have to provide your name, job title, email address, and description of the issue. After submission, your report will be sent to PissedConsumer’s moderation team to review.

If reporting the review is not an option, the second and most effective way to remove a review from Pissed Consumer is to file a “John Doe” legal action suit. This method will require you to prove that the review is defamatory and inaccurate. If successful, you can submit the court document to PissedConsumer.com, and they will remove the link. This process generally looks like this:

1. File a “John Doe” lawsuit.
   

2. The court issues a subpoena.
   

3. If won, a court order is granted.
   

4. Submit the court order to Pissed Consumer.
   

5. Pissed Consumer will remove the post.
   

Not everyone has the time or funds to take the legal route, though. Most often, suppression will be your best option to mediate the impact of the negative review. To do this requires utilizing local search engine optimization (SEO) practices, publishing consistent content to your website, and keeping your social media properties active and up to date. Creating this foundation is a vital component of maintaining your and your business’s reputation online.  

Maintaining Your Online Reputation

Due to the complexity of creating and maintaining a brand online, many will hire a reputation management company. Hiring a reputation management company can help you suppress the unwanted link in Google search results and assist you with your overall online reputation. To review your potential options for removing or suppressing a review from PissedConsumer.com, schedule a time to meet with one of our reputation advisors or give us a call today: 646-863-8282. 

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