Traditional PR and marketing are dead.  Rather than the one-way ‘marketer to prospect’ path which existed in past years, consumers now have the ability to directly communicate with each other on the Web – making Internet brand reputation management mandatory.

If you have not ever before performed an Internet brand reputation audit, do not be concerned – the process is not nearly as intimidating as it will sound.  There will include some tasks you will wish to finish prior to starting, yet once you have laid the groundwork for such activity, you will discover that the whole process could be finished in only a couple of minutes.

Without further delay, here is how you can perform a fast brand reputation audit in order to assure that the Internet conversation concerning your brand is in check with the objectives you have established.

Phase 1 – Prep Work

Prior to you conducting your initial brand reputation audit, you will wish to begin by setting up objectives for the brand management campaign.  In order to perform this, ask yourself these questions:

• How do you wish for the brand to be seen?
• What characteristics do you wish for the audience to relate to your brand?
• What kinds of consumers do you wish to reach?
• What certain actions online do you wish for the consumers to take?
• Where would you appreciate finding mentions of the brand on the Internet?

Phase 2 – Performing the Audit

Now that you understand what you are attempting to achieve with the brand management campaign, it is time to begin!  Check out these minute-by-minute breakdowns for the steps you will wish to take:

Minute 1: Examine review websites relevant to your company.  If your business sells physical items, examine Google Shopping, Amazon, and any additional trendy retailers in which your products are sold.

Minute 2: Observe your presence on social media utilizing sentiment analysis instruments.

Minute 3: Assess your perceived authority utilizing PeerIndex, Klout, and additional similar websites.  No matter which industry you are in, being taken seriously as a figure of authority or thought leader could be a great method of growing your business.  Utilizing sites such as PeerIndex and Klout – that try to quantify public sentiment for field figures – is going to show you where you stand in relation to peers, and assist in uncovering potential spaces of branding opportunity.

Minute 4: Google your business name, brand name and names of every one of your executives to identify poor press.  If you do not already possess Google Alerts established for these certain keywords, take some time to Google those phrases to decide if any negative mentions which are ranking well within the SERPs can be unintentionally influencing public perception of the brand.

Minute 5: Examine your highest-level web metrics.  Especially take a peek at your overall site visitors, overall social shares, overall Youtube views and all additional metrics which are vital to your business.  If branding efforts are successful, those numbers ought to be increasing steadily.  Any blips within your information might indicate poor brand mentions affecting the method in which your business is perceived within the market.

Phase 3 to be continued in Part 2.