Best Ways to Manage Your Business’s Online Reputation
UPDATED April 4, 2022
Written By Merlene Leano
Small business online reputation management is a critical ingredient needed by new entrepreneurs to flourish in this modern social media-driven economy.
Customers these days are hyperconnected. It's quite simple for people to provide feedback on the experience you're providing, and it is your obligation to monitor what others are saying about your brand. You should make the first move in keeping up with online reviews, news items, mentions, and social media posts about your firm.
Simply, online business reputation is how end-users perceive you as a trusted brand online. It goes without saying that your credibility builds up users’ first impression of your brand. The critical nature of online reputation for small businesses cannot be overstated.
The capability to manage the flow of user feedback goes hand-in-hand with addressing and responding to what people have to say about your services. Succumbing to the sheer volume of comments and customer responses jeopardizes the potential to grow and expand your business. More importantly, you miss out on precious opportunities to learn where your services fall short and how you can improve it.
As a business owner, your natural inclination is to create a favorable user perception of your brand. You want to stay tuned with your customers and target audience's feelings and opinions as a way of building trust, increasing retention, and generating higher revenue.
On the surface, practicing business reputation management online may appear complicated, but in truth, all you need is to learn the proper ways to deal with it. Here is a quick look at several online reputation management tips for businesses to build and preserve a favorable reputation online.
1. Maximize Tools to Monitor Your Brand Reputation
Learning how to manage your business's online reputation entails becoming acquainted with the most recent online tools to assist you in monitoring your online reputation.
There's no getting around the fact that you don't have complete control over other people's opinions, a reality that takes place when they are displeased with the service they received. It's nearly impossible to prevent them from making disparaging remarks about your brand. However, businesses can significantly reduce the likelihood of unsavory content reaching the surface by using various brand reputation monitoring tools.
The purpose of these tools is to assist your business in detecting all types of mentions it more quickly and respond to customers in real-time. These tools can collect data and insights from all social and online mentions and provide a detailed analysis of the results. Additionally, while traditional monitoring methods are still viable, they require significantly more time than these innovative tools.
Here are a few tools that you can use immediately to monitor your online reputation.
- Google Alerts
- Social Mention
- SEMrush
- SentiOne
- Reputology
- ReviewPush
- Chatmeter
- RankRanger
- Reputation Health
- Meltwater
- HootSuite
- BuzzSum
2. Expand Your Online Presence
Focusing on the top three social media platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, is incredibly effective for establishing an online presence. Businesses can leverage a variety of social networking platforms to increase their digital presence. Essentially, you must conduct research across multiple platforms to ascertain which platform is preferred by your prospects. The approach enables you to create the groundwork for your internet presence and establish a strong defense against entities attempting to undercut your credibility.
Your platform of choice must be suitable for the service model that you intend to offer.
If you own a business-to-business company, LinkedIn is a great place to network with people who may be looking for services aligned with your niche. Meanwhile, B2C enterprises are best suited to market on popular social media platforms such as TikTok, Pinterest, or Snap to promote their products.
Expand your user base by spreading your message across multiple platforms. Taking advantage of available online resources is an effective strategy for providing you with an early warning system and increased control over unwanted remarks that may cast a bad light on your reputation.
3. Secure Your Social Media Platforms
It cannot be emphasized enough, but social media is an indispensable avenue for maximizing your digital branding strategies. By creating your own social media profiles, you can ensure that your name will not be used for trolling or fraudulent purposes.
When creating or joining a social media network, ensure that you provide all essential information about your brand. Providing sufficient information about your brand will contribute to your internet exposure. Create a profile image and a cover page that will convey your brand into the minds of your prospects. Use high-quality photos that adhere to the standards of the site. Incorporate your business’s contact information along with links to your website and other social media accounts to make it easier for your clients to reach you and check out your website and pages.
In case you choose to be present on multiple platforms, there must be a balance in terms of your visibility across these websites. Find platforms where your target audience is likely to flock and build your presence there. Don’t forget to check on your followers regularly and maintain orderly and carefully planned posts to help engage more new followers on a daily basis.
Employing a team of social media content moderators can assist you in protecting your site and users from malicious user-generated content. In this manner, you can develop an environment that is free of scams and spam for both your followers and target audience.
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4. Be Responsive to Online Feedback
The last thing you want to do is turn a deaf ear to your clients' concerns about your brand. Even more so for customer reviews posted and shared online.
Most businesses prefer to dismiss anonymous reviews rather than read them. This is one of the most serious issues that business owners face when they are terrified of constructive criticism. What they don't realize is that this type of content will assist them in identifying operational flaws.
These customers are vocal about their experience, not because they want to ruin your reputation. Rather, they want to hear from you—they crave your attention when they share their thoughts on your products and services.
While automated responses in the form of chatbots are a valid option, nothing compares to the empathy that only a human representative can offer. In general, being responsive is more crucial than ever. After all, this is how you lay the groundwork for strengthening your online reputation.
5. Practice Transparency
Maintaining an open atmosphere goes a long way in establishing the foundation for a loyal user base. When you respond to a review or remark, your response is accessible to the public. Failure to be honest in your field of expertise might result in a chain reaction of negative consequences for your credibility.
This is especially true when working within the confines of social media. Be receptive to constructive criticism, acknowledge and be accountable for your mistakes. Furthermore, provide timely support to those who require it. The refusal to engage in such behavior can open the door for trolls and potentially enable your competitors to turn the tables on you.
It’s Not Too Late!
The majority of small businesses assume that online reputation management is only for huge enterprises. What they fail to recognize is that, due to a lack of expertise, understanding, and budget, SMEs are significantly more vulnerable to online attacks and trolling schemes.
To emphasize, it is never too late to begin managing your internet reputation!
You cannot stop negative feedback; you can only check it and prevent it from spreading across different online communities. Meanwhile, if your business receives constructive feedback, implementing the methods for managing your reputation online outlined in this article will undoubtedly guide you in ensuring you address it with finesse and professionalism.
Additionally, implementing content moderation into your strategy helps you to operate smarter. Chekkee's social media and community moderation services ensure that you develop a strong online presence that effectively attracts the right audience and protects them from inappropriate online user content.
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