According to the business website Business 2 Community, online reputation management can be broken down into three main steps. These steps are building, maintaining, and recovering an online reputation. It is important that both brands and individuals be willing to actively pursue the steps necessary to have a positive image portrayed online. Failure to do so can result in unfavorable things being posted about a business without them having any chance to respond or offer a line of defense – even if the review turns out to be spam.
Misleading reviews and bad reviews posted by the competition are very common. Failure to monitor one’s online reputation and interact with those taking to the web to express their opinions on a business have little line of defense in their digital presence. By claiming all social media channels and business listings affiliated with their brand, firms can be sure that only authorized content is being published on those channels, and that they are made aware of any negative feedback expressed by the general public.