Andy Beal Guides Firms To Rep Tracking

The marketing guru recently posted a lengthy guide to tracking one's online reputation as discussed in the news and the blogosphere. First a disclaimer: Beal's posts frequently appear on Murdok in our Blog Talk section. Quite frankly it makes no difference to me if his work shows up here or not, or as a feature in Pravda. It doesn't influence how or what I write about his work. Beal's expertise stands out nicely in his recent Rollyo to build a custom search engine to pick up those keywords on sites like PlanetFeedback. While it is easy and enjoyable to benefit from positive buzz created about a business online, companies have to handle negative buzz as well. That means doing so directly and honestly. Inaccurate accusations should be countered with facts, and accurate ones with participation. Businesses can do themselves a favor in Beal's estimation by being proactive in participating in the discussions that take place. "A key initiative is to embrace bloggers and build allies before something negative is posted. Trying to establish a voice after the conversation has started, is always difficult," he posted in response to a question on his blog about SyndicationPro. | document.write("Email Murdok here.") Drag this to your Bookmarks. Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") | Yahoo! My Web David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.