What is Online Reputation Management for Businesses?
Online reputation management is a way of participating in online reviews and general feedback about your company. Unfortunately, online reviews are a double-sided coin in that anyone can say anything about your company, but you can reply to it. Reputation management for businesses involves developing an effective marketing strategy to manage expectations. It also means learning essential damage control techniques. Getting online reviews is hardly ever a problem for some businesses, but managing online reviews effectively can significantly impact the company’s future.Why Is It Important to Manage Online Reviews?
Managing your online presence is more than just responding to online reviews. It’s also about solving your customers’ problems (though that’s still important). Not taking part in the conversation doesn’t stop it from continuing. It only prevents you from being able to manage the effect of the conversation.Search Engine Ranking
When you look for a company in a search engine, the top-rated results appear first. Your company can be one of those top results if you have an effective marketing strategy for online reputation management. Neglecting reputation management for businesses can be a costly mistake. Not only are you not taking the opportunity to engage with your customers, but you are missing out on the opportunity to attract more.Your Brand’s Reputation
When you respond to comments, reviews, and other kinds of feedback regarding your business, you tell viewers who your company is as a brand. A good strategy allows you to craft that reputation the way you want. A lack of an online reputation management strategy, or an ineffective one, can play against you and your efforts. Therefore, finding the right way to connect with your potential customers is essential.
How to Manage Your Online Reputation
You may be wondering how to get online business reviews that can help you build a good reputation, but that’s the wrong question to ask. Instead, you should be asking, ‘how do I manage my online reputation?’
You can’t control what others say about you online. However, you can influence their experience and online interactions with your company. The key to success for online reputation management is to be attentive, respond quickly, and respond effectively.
Be Attentive
If you’re not used to checking online platforms for reviews and comments, it’s essential to schedule a time to do so. But even more important is that you stick to the schedule.
Online reviews can stack up, and negative thoughts can gain a lot of attention quickly. Staying alert and regularly checking the various platforms gives you time to develop a game plan if something comes up.
It’s ideal for checking these platforms daily, but a few days a week is the minimum. Waiting too long to check gives you less time to consider your response to reply. Otherwise, you risk appearing as though your company doesn’t care.
Respond Quickly
Have you ever allowed a problem to sit around because you either didn’t have time to deal with it, didn’t want to deal with it, or forgot about it altogether?
We’re willing to bet that when you finally got around to dealing with the situation, it was much worse than it would’ve been if you’d dealt with it sooner.
If you receive any angry online reviews, it’s OK to give the reviewers a day to calm down. However, be sure not to provide them with too much time because that can have the opposite effect.
Respond Effectively
What you say in your response to online reviews is arguably the most important factor on our list. It doesn’t matter how quickly you respond or how attentive you are if you give an unsatisfactory response to your customer.
Creating a response plan that you can tailor to each review is a popular strategy. You want to validate what the customer says and then offer a solution.
When you can’t offer a solution to a negative experience, don’t stop at an apology. While an apology is necessary, the customer likely wants some form of action.
Tell the customer your company will learn from the experience and do better next time. It is even more effective to let them know their information can help your team create new protocols, so the issue isn’t repeated.
