If you ever wish to use the internet for business or pleasure, you should know how important it is to manage your presence well on the internet. The majority of people begin searching for any information about a company or individual they might want to do business with on Google.

But don’t worry. It’s actually not that hard!

First of all, you’ll want to fix online reputation by having an online reputation management plan. This should include the following elements:

1) Monitor what people say about you online (and it can be someone investing in your business)

2) Be aware of how others perceive you and your company

3) Respond quickly to what you find

4) Be consistent in your response across all channels for better public relations.

5) Keep an open mind while responding. If someone has posted a bad review on Yelp, they likely have some genuine concerns that you should listen to, even if you disagree with their assessment of the situation. If it’s on your Facebook business page, keep it on the page, but add a disclaimer such as “We appreciate all feedback and this is not an advertisement.” That way you can both address their concerns while still letting people know you care about their opinions.

6) Don’t make things worse by trying to argue or explain yourself on social media; apologize and give a solution.

7) Avoid using social media as your only outlet to communicate with your customers and clients; you want to allow those who can’t or don’t use it to do their part in building up your business. Most people still think of email as the primary tool for staying in touch with friends and family, but that means many of your potential customers and clients will not see your messages unless you find another way to communicate with them.

Once you’ve created a plan, there are certain things you’ll want to do immediately:

1) Create profiles on every social media network where it’s appropriate for your business (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest etc.) and set them up to be searchable by other users.

2) Protect your personal and business email addresses (set passwords on Gmail, Hotmail etc.)

3) Create an about me page on every social media account that explains what you’re doing and why you’re using it. It should list your contact info at the very least.

4) Unfilter yourself on all social media networks to make sure your posts aren’t blocked.

5) Connect with influencers to gain access to their follower base, but don’t try too hard. Once you’ve built up a following of people who are interested in what you have to say, they’ll likely endorse your brand without any prodding from you.

6) Make sure that any content you post on social media sites is legal. This includes making sure that your privacy policy is up to date and protecting your intellectual property by using the appropriate copyright notice, marking your photos with “all rights reserved” etc.

When it comes to effective social media management, finding some negative news about you, your company or its products on the first page of results can spell certain death for your business. Whether it’s some unflattering social media posts that will be dug up by future employers or bad reviews about your restaurant posted online by