Online Reputation Management Strategies You Want to Start Using NOW
You may think that online reputation management isn’t something you should concern yourself with. I would implore you to reconsider that thought!
According to eMarketer 83% of consumers declare that online reviews sway their opinions about a particular company, and 8 of 10 of these people added that a negative entry online is responsible for them changing their mind about that company. Even one negative review, justified or not, can negate all your best efforts if you haven’t planned an online reputation strategy to manage it. So to help with that I’d like to offer five strategies your small business, and your brand, can use to monitor and maintain your online reputation.
5 Online Reputation Management Strategies
- Monitoring your brand names – Listening what’s being said about you and your organization is of vital importance. There are plenty of great free tools to help in this regard. Check out Google Alerts, Hootsuite, and Social Mention among others.
- Claim all of your relevant social properties – Unused social media sites can be utilized by your competition to pull you down, and spread negativity. Be sure you claim all social sites that matter for your brand.
- Dominate page one of Google for your brand name – One great way to make sure what people see and read about you when they Google you is to own all the virtual real estate! If all they find when they Google you is great stuff about you and your brand, you’ll not be damaged from the random attack.
- Ask for customer reviews – Customer reviews aren’t just going to magically appear: you have to actively court them. Make a point of asking your customers to write reviews, and do everything you can so that it's easy for them: links to review sites, examples from other customers, etc. And if you offer incentives, make it clear that you’re not trying to bribe them or affect their review!
- Engage with your people – Interacting with those writing comments, Facebook posts and tweets is a great strategy to head off any damage from the get-go. Don’t participate in mud-slinging however, no matter how justified you're feeling! Thank them for their contribution to the discussion, and politely disagree, standing up for yourself. (If they’re not right, of course!)
