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Brand Reputation Management with LinkedIn

Brand Reputation Management is the application of marketing techniques to increase the product or brand’s perceived positive reputation to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. As mentioned above, 70% of bloggers are organically talking about brands on their blog. This means that consumers are controlling the reputation of a brand simply because they have access to each other’s opinions. Thus, using LinkedIn to help a business manage its reputation, both online and offline, can prove invaluable.

Polishing the LinkedIn profile: Making sure a profile page is well-written, concise, and interesting are the first steps toward managing a brand’s image. As previously stated, the profile page is about a person, but that person, especially a business owner, is the face of the business online. Therefore everything needs to be clean and buttoned-up. Remember, it is other professionals who will view that profile, so it needs to impress.

Your name: Using the name that most people know you by seems like a no-brainer, but many people go by a nickname of some sort in their daily life, and on formal documents, they tend to use their formal name. On LinkedIn, the idea is to be found and to connect with as many people as possible; therefore, the name a person is most commonly known by should be used. For instance, use Jack Jones rather than Jonathan Randolph Jones, Jr.

Get endorsements / testimonials: The reputation value of being endorsed by a former colleague or manager is immeasurable. Receiving these testimonials not only increases the reputation of users, but of the businesses they represent.

Set up applications: Not only can business owners connect their blogs and Twitter accounts to their LinkedIn profiles, but by utilizing the applications provided, they can find, create, and market events and public speaking engagements; share presentations; analyze company buzz; and conduct market research polls.

Join groups: Joining groups, as discussed previously, builds credibility and awareness amongst a separate network of people. This credibility bolsters both the individual and the company he or she represents.

Customize your profile URL: Changing the URL of the LinkedIn webpage helps reinforce a brand, and it also allows business owners to promote their profiles on other marketing collateral. Instead of a long URL that is hard to reproduce, a custom or vanity URL can be created. Then the address can be printed on business cards, letterhead, and brochures. The difference is LinkedIn.com/in/BusinessOwner versus LinkedIn.com/in/somethingreallylongwith#sandletters.

Conclusion

The strength of LinkedIn and other social networking websites lies not in the websites themselves, but in knowing how to use them to maximize exposure and networking opportunities. LinkedIn provides a platform for business owners and professionals to connect in a way never before possible. Knowing what the site has to offer and how to use it, can strengthen a company’s hold in its market, improve its reputation, and ultimately improve its bottom line.