Take Control of Your Online Reputation with These 4 Reputation Management Tips
Pretending that other people’s opinions online aren’t there doesn’t make them go away. Believe it or not, your business has an online reputation whether you built it yourself or others outside of your control built it. The first step is to acknowledge it exists. From there, managing your online reputation is as simple as performing a few tasks. To take back control of your online reputation, we’ve listed four tips in how you can better manage your business online.
1. Claim Your Listings
Not being present where you need to be is a huge risk in today’s consumer-first world. When people have something to say, they will find a way to say it via social media, reviews, or through word-of-mouth. It is important to make or claim your own listing on review platforms so that you can be aware of what is being said, and you can be more in control of your business.
Platforms such as Facebook and Google will create a listing for your business whether you want them to or not. Through these automatically created listings, people can leave reviews and comments about your business and its services/products. You may not even know you have a listing on a platform and that people are talking about you until it is too late. Don’t get caught off guard, go make or claim your listing now so you know what people are saying about your business.
2. Gain More Reviews and Respond
After acknowledging and claiming your listings on the different platforms, it’s time to use them to your full advantage. How you use online listings can make a huge impact on how you maintain a positive online reputation. Getting more reviews can help you gain more business as 9/10 people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
Having a lot of positive reviews mean more people will trust your business. Gaining more positive reviews will also help negate any negative reviews you have. In addition, reviews give you valuable information about your business. Positive reviews let you know exactly what your customers love about your business. And negative reviews give you insight into what you can improve.
No matter what your customers are saying about you online, it is wise to engage with them and respond back. Responding to both positive and negative reviews allows your customers to see the personal side of your business and allows you to build loyalty, fix problems, and encourage more interactions with your business as a whole. Gaining reviews is crucial in maintaining your online reputation.
3. Update Business Information Everywhere
Another important factor in managing your online reputation is keeping your information on all your listings, social media, and websites up to date. Customers who can’t find when you are open, what services/products you currently provide, and how to contact you are going to give up and buy from your competitors instead.
You also want to remain relevant to your customers and provide them with the information and engagement they are looking for in order to keep up loyalty and influence your search result rankings.
4. Admit to Mistakes and Fix Them
As simple as it sounds, many business owners forget that customers are people who like to be treated fairly. When something goes wrong, it is best for you to apologize for the mistake or misunderstanding and do your best to correct the problem. This will help you overcome a negative reputation or keep you from getting a negative reputation. Customers are more willing to give your business a second chance if they see you actively trying to fix the mistakes.
Doing these four steps will help you improve and manage your online reputation in no time. Remember that customers will talk about your business no matter what you do. Put your best foot forward and help control your reputation by claiming your listings, increasing your reviews, updating your information, and correcting mistakes.