Online reputation management expert Andy Beal shared his "11 Laws of Reputation Management" at Search Exchange 2012. This version of his presentation is more verbose, but is designed to include all of the reputation management tips he shared verbally.

1. The 11 Laws of
Reputation Management
by Andy Beal

2. About Andy Beal
• CEO of Trackur.com
• Coauthor of Radically Transparent
• Publisher of MarketingPilgrim.com
• Founder of a super secret startup, codenamed
“Rodney”

3. Trackur Adds Automated Sentiment Analysis!

4. Law #1
YOUR REPUTATION IS CONSTANTLY
EXPOSED

5. Know Your Reputations
• Your personal actions are part of your
company’s reputation
• Your company’s actions are part of your
personal reputation
• Cross-pollination happens between offline
and online reputations

6. Law #2
YOU CAN’T GROW APPLES ON AN
ORANGE TREE

7. You Character is Your Reputation
• How you treat customers will affect your
reputation
• Be transparent in every part of your
interaction with stakeholders
“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The
shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

8. Law #3
THE BIGGEST TROUBLEMAKER IS
THE ONE YOU FACE IN THE MIRROR

9. Know Your Achilles Heel
• What is your biggest weakness?
• Collect feedback and improve
• Be prepared for a crisis
– Chain of command
– Practice responses
– Crisis blog?
• Train staff, but don’t stifle them

10. Law #4
BE QUICK TO LISTEN, SLOW TO
SPEAK, & SLOW TO BECOME ANGRY

11. Listen, Listen, Listen!
• Listen carefully to conversations
– Wide net
– Centers of influence
• Measure twice, act once
– If nothing else, listen
– Improve your service
– Share feedback
– Learn from others’ mistakes

12. Law #5
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME

13. Take Control of Your Community
• Build your online community
– Blogs
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Forums & message boards
– Email newsletter
• Nurture your community

14. Law #6
ADD MIRACLE-GRO TO YOUR
REPUTATION

15. Fertilize Your Community
• Don’t blast, engage!
– Respond to tweets
– Interact with Facebook fans
– Encourage interaction in comments
– Share announcements & new products
– Run a contest
• Create a community manager
• Share links to your communities

16. Law #7
IF YOU DON’T PLANT CORN, YOU’LL
GET WEEDS

17. If You Don’t Build It, They Will
• No one likes the sound of crickets
• If you don’t create the official channel,
someone will create the unofficial one
• Don’t let someone else love them
• Unanswered complaints fester

18. Law #8
WHEN THE FECAL MATTER HITS THE
OSCILLATING BLADE

19. When Under Attack
• 83% of companies will come under attack
• Collect the facts
• Get insights from others
• Three rules for responding
– Sincerity
– Transparency
– Consistency
• Take it offline

20. Law #9
IT’S EASIER TO EAT CROW WHILE
IT’S STILL WARM

21. Talk Really is Cheap!
• A quick apology does wonders
• It’s hard to do, but let it go
• Lifetime value of a customer < lifetime cost of
unhappy customer
• Happy customers tell 5 people
• Unhappy customers tell 10 people
• Restituted customers tell 20 people

22. Credit: Kathleen Cronin
Law #10
YOU CAN’T KEEP BETTING THE
FARM

23. Repairing the Damage
• Three strikes and yerrrr out!
• Identify detractors and work with them
• Don’t silo; share and learn
• It’s more expensive to repair than prevent, but
it’s expected anyway

24. Law #11
THERE’S NO CRYSTAL BALL FOR
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

25. Yeah, seems funny
now, but wait ‘til it
shows up on Google!
Thanks!
Questions?
andybeal@gmail.com