Every business, regardless of its size, needs to worry about its online reputation. In many ways, your internet presence is the new first introduction for your company, and you do not want it to be a negative one.
More consumers than ever before are searching to see what others have to say about your company before deciding to do business with you, so you must actively manage your online reputation. If you choose to ignore it, then your competitors will be glad to manage it for you with disastrous consequences.
There are several factors that you need to consider when managing your online reputation.
Create an Online Presence
The worse thing that you can do is make it hard for your customers to find you online. Therefore, you need to claim your listings on any review site that remotely ties to your business. You also need to create accounts on at least Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for your significant executives. If your brands and product names are different from your company name, then create accounts for them too. Be sure that you are linking out to your official social media accounts everywhere possible, so that customers can find you, but also so that Google knows which are your official pages. Then, post content to these sites regularly. They are a great way to influence the way that people think about you and your company. You should also be using a social listening tool to see where else people are talking about your company, and join the conversation when possible.
Monitor the News
You will want to use an automatic posting tool to do your postings for you at the time of day that your customers are most likely to see them, but make sure that you are continually monitoring the news. Be prepared to pull any posts that may not be relevant because of something that is happening in the world. Think carefully about the impact on your company before you join any hashtag campaigns. If something slips by you and gets posted, apologize immediately and show your target audience that you have taken corrective measures. People are quick to forgive as long as you admit your mistakes.
Own Google’s First Page for Your Brand
You need to own Google’s first search engine result page for your brand. The best way to do that is to create high-quality blogs continuously. Then, share those blogs on your social media account. If you do not own the first listings on Google, then look to see if Google has hit pages on your website with a penalty. Get the problem fixed and ask that the page be re-indexed. A second factor is that something is blocking Google from crawling your entire website. If so, you will find a message in your Google Analytics account.
Build Your Network
You need to spend time building your network. If you are a local business, then get involved in worthwhile causes in your community. Join the chamber of commerce so that people know about your business. Regardless of your size, seek natural links to content on your website. The best way to do this is to create unique content that others will want to share with their target audience. If you can get links from those with a little more authority in Google’s eyes than your own, then your reputation will improve. Claim your Google My Business Account, and encourage customers to leave reviews there when they are likely to be the happiest with your company.
Provide Great Customer Service
Your company’s reputation is still built the same way that company reputations were built 100 years ago. People will leave favorable reviews if you provide them with excellent customer service, a fairly priced product, and reasonable policies. Then, they will help you build your reputation by sharing what a great company you are with their friends and neighbors. This is invaluable word-of-mouth advertising. If someone knocks your company online, then be professional in your response. People are quick to forgive and move on. Take those reviews to heart, however, to see if there is an area of your company that needs improving.
Reputation management is required on good days and bad ones. Remember these reputation management tips:
- Claim review and social media sites and regularly post on them and your blog.
- Monitor world situations for information impacting your company.
- Listen to customer feedback so that your company becomes even stronger.
- Produce great content that is helpful to your customers.
- Interact with your customers to learn how they think you need to improve in the future.
A Sound Reputation Management Program Is Both Affordable and Profitable
One of the most valuable services DirectiveGroup provides is the real-time monitoring of your online reputation and our immediate response for poor reviews submitted. Customers and employees really appreciate immediate action and quick resolution to problems, and it is often helpful to have disputes and misunderstandings handled by a third party. DirectiveGroup’s ability to help you achieve these ends will yield a virtuous cycle of continually improving online reputation, which will pay off handsomely for you quickly, adding increased value over the long term.
Online reputation management is a high payoff tactic that will not only have immediate positive revenue impact, but it will also increasingly provide a buffer or insurance against the negative impact of the occasional negative review that occurs online. And it is an incredibly affordable program, which will please your pocketbook.
So, what are you waiting for? contact us right now and work with a partner you can trust to take you to the next level of positive reputation growth, ensuring a profitable future for your business.
