Nearly, all your customers will Google about your company, will go through its history and background before pursuing any business with you. Clients are “reputation seekers” and they look forward for a reliable & trustable company in order to “feel safe” with an organization whom they intend to business with.
Your online reputation will determine the perception of your company and will certainly be a significant factor for your client in arriving at the decision, whether to work with you or not. Your reputation on online platforms is a critical factor determining the success of your company. Thus small or large, online reputation management is an imperative factor for operating a business.
In simple terms, online reputation management means that your name, brand or business showcases irresistible and unique qualities of your organization.
Strategies to build and preserve your online reputation management
1. Do not Ignore Google
The significance of online research cannot be ignored. Even a business which has no direct connection with online world can find their online reputation smeared over internet. This implies, though your business does not relies on Internet or Google, but your clients may depend on it. So go online, and see what people are saying about you.
Google your companies name and check the results. This is the first step towards online reputation management, as this will help you formulate your strategy and you’ll get to know what all needs to be done.
2. Know what can be controlled
When any of your potential customer asks to know more about your company, never refer them to online review sites. It can be a very big mistake as can never control what people say about you.
Instead, emphasize on improving your rankings on major search engines. Google ranks the active sites, so post informative and useful articles. Share your expertise through your website and make yourself a credible resource for your customers. Though it is a time consuming process, the results will certainly be worth your effort.
3. Guard your own online reputation
Case studies, positive testimonials, press releases and blogging all help in bolstering your company’s online reputation. With positive content around, even if there are some negative comments, then those won’t be the only reviews or comments about your company & products that a prospect will find about you.
4. Respond appropriately and promptly
It is very important to respond to all the comments and reviews that you find about your products or services. If there is any negative comment about your company, Respond appropriately and promptly (privately if possible) to discuss the issue, do not be defensive and their complaints about your brand. This may fetch you positive returns. But do not only focus on negative comments, give response to positive comments as well. Appreciate the customers and thank them for positive reviews.
5. Set up a monitoring system
By knowing what people are saying about you, can help you in responding appropriately. Thus, set up a monitoring system, like, Google Alerts, Social Mention, MonitorThis and TweetBeep etc.
