When is it worth hiring an online reputation management professional?

I had the pleasure of helping the LA Times look at a specific reputation management case study and providing my thoughts on when to hire a reputation management expert. Here’s an extract:

Andy Beal, author of “Repped: 30 Days to a Better Online Reputation,” said Powell’s situation was indicative of most reputation-related issues on the Internet: a relatively insignificant comment on a relatively insignificant website.

“That’s probably something you don’t need to worry about,” he said. “If it’s an obscure site that you’ve never heard of before, it’s likely your customers won’t go there.”

A key test of a negative review’s potential influence, Beal said, is if it comes up within the first 20 results on a Google search of your name or the name of your business. If so, he said, that’s a problem you’ll want to address.

The bigger the problem — that is, the more it’s hurting your business — the more reason to bring in a reputation-management professional who will oversee your response, Beal said.

You can read the entire article here.