WebProNews

It shouldn't come as news to anyone that people are watching their money closely these days.  Where they simply may have placed orders before, consumers might Google companies and shy away due to any problems they find.  As a result, reputation management is more important than ever.

Some issues are easy enough to notice.  Again, consider the questionable search result situation, or something even more obvious like spray paint on the side of a building.  Social media is a little trickier to monitor, but there are also solutions.  In an interview with Mike McDonald, Lee Odden named TweetBeep, Radian6, and BuzzLogic.

Then, you've got to actually resolve the issue.  Odden suggests first researching whether you're dealing with someone who's at all influential or credible.  If not, consider it time to move on - there are too many crazies in the world.  If so, you may want to suggest resolving the matter offline since this will leave less evidence for Google, Twitter, and other sources to display.

There's also the fact that it's not enough to get one public message deleted; the person behind it will be able to just keep posting in various places until the end of time.  So by really talking to critics, you can try to solve the core issue.  And by really talking to them, you may well convince them that you care, and that they should respect or even support you.

Hopefully these ideas will help you get through any rough patches the economy creates.  They should prove useful in quieter times, too.