Kids Sea Camp Palau & Reputation Management

I’m not taking sides in this issue since only one side has been represented so far, but Kids Sea Camp Palau gives me a great example of the lack of understanding of online reputation management for many businesses.

As of the writing of this article, 18 hours ago a patron of Kids Sea Camp Palau shared a story on Sport Diver Magazine about what they feel to be a negative experience. There is still no response. To make matters worse, a search for Kids Sea Camp Palau has the negative post from Sport Diver ranked #6 (again, as of the writing of this article).

The Customer Service Business

Like it or not, we are all in the customer service industry. If you do not give the service your customers expect, they are likely to vote with their dollars and buy elsewhere. When economies weaken, this becomes even more prevalent as people are going to be more cautious with their expenses.

When someone has a good experience, they tell one person. When they have a bad experience, they tell ten.

Unfortunately, we can’t always make everyone happy all the time, but we must make the effort to know when people are talking about us. In a world of Facebook, Twitter and blogs, our reputation can be damaged within hours if it isn’t managed correctly.

Not Just Damage Control

Online reputation management can also be used to attract new customers. If people are discussing SCUBA diving in your area on Twitter, you should know about it and engage them.

How To Monitor Your Online Reputation

There are a few tools I recommend, two of which are free and one is worth the price.

1. Google Alerts are the baseline for monitoring yourself online. Enter your search term (if using a name, such as your own, be sure to put it in quotation marks), choose comprehensive, decide how often you want to be updated (I like as-it-happens) and enter your email address. You’ll now get email alerts any time your search terms are found online.

   

2. Twitter Search is a great way to watch real time discussions about you, your area and your industry. Enter your search parameters, then subscribe to the RSS feed to stay up to date.
3. Trackur is a paid tool that monitors several search terms across a variety of online communication tools. This is the best one-stop-shop to stay connected to what people are saying about you and your business. The only downside is that pricing starts at $14 per month, but it is well worth it.

How are you monitoring your online reputation and potential customers? Or are you?