Maintaining Your Reputation Online
Our society has taught us that reputation is very important. It can define who we are and what others think about us. Once a reputation has been formed, it’s hard to change the perception. This is very true on the web - once you have established content, it’s out there for everyone to see and people start to talk about you. There are certain steps you can take to improve your online reputation and brand in the eyes of users and perhaps even search engines.
Monitor
In order to improve your brand’s online reputation, you need to monitor what others are saying about you. There are many monitoring tools out there, perhaps one of the easiest (and not to mention free) is Google Alerts. This tool allows users to monitor online conversations about themselves, the companies they work for, their competitors, and their industry as a whole. Monitoring brand-related conversations allows you to be aware of brand sentiment and helps to identify the places where people are talking about your business.
Ask for Reviews
With all the electronic devices available to people, it’s easy for them to stay connected to the web no matter where they are. This also makes it easy to look up reviews about products and local businesses. Reviews can make or break a business and a lack of reviews is not going to help matters any. Consumer reviews provide credibility to a business and users tend to trust reviews more than the business itself. While you can’t force users to leave reviews, it is okay to ask for them. You can ask customers to leave reviews by including a request on the receipt for them to visit a website address you have listed. For e-commerce merchants, you can send follow-up emails to your customers thanking them for their business and reminding them to leave a review on your website or Facebook page. It’s easy to do this and lets customers know that you care and genuinely want to hear from them.
Be Nice
As simple as it sounds - be nice. Being nice will go a long way both online and offline. Even if you have great business management and satisfied customers, there will always be that one customer who did not have a good experience. It’s a good idea to keep this phrase in mind - the customer is always right. When you have negative reviews regarding products or your brand come through, it’s important to acknowledge the customer, apologize, and make it right. Not only is it imperative to address negative comments that come through, but the positive as well. This can help boost your brand reputation and shows customers that you really care about your reputation and the satisfaction of your customers.
Blog
Not only is blogging healthy for content marketing and SEO practices, but it can also improve brand perception. Find out what people are talking about within your particular business and blog on it. Once content is posted, it can be shared by others and commented on, and this will generally lead to improved brand visibility and reputation.
Be Helpful
Another positive way to build brand visibility is to provide genuine value to online conversations related to your industry. There is no shortage of areas to participate on the web - Q&A, forums, and social media networks being a few of the most popular places for conversation. For example, a beauty retailer could search through Q&A sites for discussions on “organic beauty products” to provide information on the best products. Perhaps the retailer has even written a blog on the subject and can include the link for customers. The more you add to discussions, the more trustworthy and authoritative you and your brand will become. But remember - being helpful and participating in discussions is an ongoing process and must be maintained to see results.
Maintaining your reputation and positive brand perception does take a little work, but with diligent efforts, your hard work will pay off and you will build a trustworthy perception of your business that customers will trust and return to.