Reputation management can be a part of a public relations effort for an organization, or part of an individual's personal identity development. This lens will focus on organizational reputation management, but many of these ideas can apply to individuals as well.

An organization's reputation consists of the opinions and evaluations of the public and various stakeholders. Managing this reputation is an important part of public relations.

Reputation management is both easier and much more difficult in today's business climate. With the proliferation of social networking websites, user-generated content and the internet in general, organizations have less control over all the information available about them, but they also have many more channels to release information. This page will discuss issues related to conducting reputation management in an age of fast-paced, user-generated, internet-focused business.

For more information about more general public relations in this internet age, check out my lens about public relations online.

The first step of reputation management is reputation monitoring. Before you can manage anything, you must first assess the current state of your organization's reputation.

You should figure out what people are saying about your company. Complete a thorough assessment by scouring a variety of websites and search engines. Search for your name, the names of your products, services, competitors, executives. Your goal is to get a sense of the current state of your reputation. What are people saying about you?

A note of caution: You may find some things you don't like. If people are talking about you and your company, it's likely that at least a few of them are saying negative things. That's okay for now; remember that you're simply gathering information at this stage. Do not react to negative information yet. Just note it and move on. Keep track of what you find.

The management aspects of reputation management involves acting on the information gathered in the monitoring stage. It is the control of an organization's identity. This is when you actively produce content and react to what's already out there.

Your goal is to be in control of the information, so consider a company blog and other ways to participate and get your voice out there. Be honest and truthful. Be as transparent as you can be. Provide facts and data. Try not to sound spammy. Be ready to engage in discussion and conversation with publics.

This can be very time consuming. You may want to hire an external public relations or reputation management professional. Try anthonyBarnum for reputation management in Austin and Houston, Texas.

Reputation management is a constant process. You need to continue to monitor your organizational reputation constantly, keep track of what's being said about you. Continue to manage the information available about your organization. Good luck!