Reputation management is not always about what you do with your site. It is not always what you don’t do either. Sometimes it is a good idea to sit back and watch what your competitors are doing. Often you can learn much either from their successes or, more importantly, their failures.
I shouldn’t just limit that statement to your competitors either. Just watching others from within your genre can be interesting.
What is more important is to listen to what is being said about your competitors. Sometimes you can find a real opportunity when you start to hear complaints about what your competitors are not doing – or perhaps, what they are doing that is upsetting customers.
Likewise, if you are a product distributor, what is being said about that product? Discovering this information early can have you well placed to answer concerns from prospective customers.
Reputation management is as much about listening as it is about doing. Spending time reviewing what is being said can save you the discomfort of unpleasant surprises; provide you with an opportunity to prepare; and perhaps even provide new opportunities.
Learn to listen, learn to watch, learn to read the reputation management social environment.
