If your PR and marketing folks aren’t tracking your company, brand, and competition online, they need to get up to speed to better do their jobs. If you play all of the roles, tracking your company and brand isn’t as time consuming as it sounds.

Remember alert services, blogs, and social network sites. Many of these can deliver updates to your inbox or phone.

Alert Services: Sends e-mail, text, etc. whenever your keyword shows up somewhere. Media services such as BBC News and TMCNet have their own alerts — so check out sites that cover your industry and sign up for their alerts. Here are general free keyword alert services.

1. AOL Alerts
2. Clip and Copy — three free searches in Basic account.
3. Google
4. GoogleAlert (not from Google) — gives three free searches).
5. Reuters
6. Twitbeep — Google alerts for twitter.
7. Twilerts — Google alerts for twitter.
8. Twitter Search — Even if you check your own @replies page, someone may have mentioned you and it’s good to check here.
9. Windows Live Alerts
   
10. Yahoo

Blogs: You can most likely find blogs for every industry. Numerous blog directories exist that to make a list here would be futile. MasterNewMedia has a hey-ugggeee list.

Social network sites: Also too many to list, but it should include Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, and conversations like Twitter and forums. Also look for social networks covering your industry. The following sites/tools let you search Twitter with keywords:

• Summize
• TwitterMap search
• Google’s twitter search
• Terraminds
• Tweetscan

Track forums and other conversations with these sites:

• Boardtracker
• Omigili
• Klostu
• Twing
• Boardreader
• Twing

Resources

• Copybrighter
• Online Reputation Management Blog
• Online Reputation Management Guide
• Radically Transparent

Updated: January 16, 2009

The previous post looks at companies that help those that already have stuff on the Internet they want to go away, be deleted, be erased from the memories of man and machine.

Being proactive is always better than being reactive, so keep your name free of mud with these tips in mind whenever posting anything online — that includes comments and forum posts. These tips apply to writing emails and letters, and leaving messages.

1. Expect everyone to read it

That includes a potential employer and even your mom or some other family member that you don’t like to share with. But then again, if you don’t want them reading it, do you really want others to read it? Postings also reveal insight into a person’s personality (see #4).

I was going to post an experience on my Bionic Ear blog to give people insight in how a deaf person feels in a situation. But I opted not to share the experience. Though the blog aims to show the public what it’s like to be in a deaf person’s shoes, some experiences might be too personal to share and don’t belong online.

2. Wait 24 hours

If you’re mad, frustrated or sad, let time pass before responding to avoid regretting anything. Obviously, don’t post while drunk or on specific medicines, but who thinks clearly during these situations?

3. Run it by someone else

When you’re not sure about something, ask a trusted friend, colleague or family member to read it first.

While it’s best to resolve problems and uncomfortable situations in person or on the phone, it’s not always possible. In these situations, I ask a family member to read my note before sending.

4. Think of the future

Before writing a complaint, consider you could someday interview with the company or person you complain about. If not an employer, then remember that complaints can reveal how a person thinks and reacts to situations that bother him. Discussing an issue logically gets a different response than one that sounds like whining.

When I was unhappy with a company’s handling of an issue, I waited until things calmed down (#2). It was worth sharing since others might benefit from the experience. So I used a generic name instead of the company’s name.

5. Respond wisely

In some cases, someone could write something negative about you or your company. Rather than ask the person to remove the content, prepare an appropriate response.

Simply accepting responsibility says more. Try, “I’m sorry you had a bad experience. We’re investigating the situation to see how we can do better. Can we offer a free replacement?” While something negative is out there — mistakes happen to everyone — it’s how you respond to those mistakes that make a difference.

I messed up a client task. Immediately, I e-mailed the client admitting my mistake, apologized, and provided a discount on my next invoice.

I can’t imagine what kind of information I might have posted on the Internet had it become mainstream when I was a teen. Kids do stupid things. They don’t necessarily regret them since it’s a part of childhoold and growing up. But when if a prospective college or employer finds such things online?

Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that 47 percent of Americans use a search engine to look up themselves while 53 percent look up information about people in their lives, both for personal and business reasons.

Knowing that a prospective client or employer could do a search on me, I monitor what I post in my blog. While it’s important to be honest and genuine when blogging, there’s a line a blogger doesn’t want to cross that could affect his reputation.

A few companies see this as an opportunity to help people whose names or companies have been tarnished online, but are they effective? This Wall Street Journal story explores companies that help with their clients’ online reputations.

Reputation Advisor, a blog focusing on managing online reputation, points out two lessons learned from the WSJ article as well as problems with the article.

However, the Rip-off Report shares one person’s negative experience with an online reputation management company. These companies can only control so much. One example from the WSJ article references a blogger who would not remove a person’s name.

This Seattle Times article discusses the topic and offers the perfect quote regarding online reputation management, “‘Sometimes you’re out of luck, you’re going to have to live with it,’ he (Michael Fertik) says of Internet nastiness. ‘There is no silver bullet, no button you can push.’”