Reputation Management Tricks for Boosting Your Business Online

We know that reputation really matters and customers are always trying to identify businesses that offer what they are looking for. Once they identify a business that caters to their unique demands, they would be more concerned about the reputation management tricks of the company that offers the products they are looking for.

As per the report published in 2017 by Edelman Trust Barometer, 64 percent of the users were found to trust whatever they come across on the search engine results while researching companies online.

The more intriguing fact is that 59 percent of the users generally tend to have faith in search engines far more as compared to human editors. 

The most alarming fact is that almost 50 percent of the adults came across negative information regarding them online. When entrepreneurs experience a face loss online, it could culminate in devastating consequences. We know that often top executives and even CEOs have ended up losing their positions.

Sometimes, entrepreneurs and businesses are compelled to do substantial damage control because of maybe misunderstandings, poor behavior, and the absence of an effective PR stratagem during a crisis.

For a long time, marketing was driven by taglines—short, evocative slogans that captured the essence of a brand’s message. Nike encouraged us to “Just Do It,” while Apple inspired us to “Think Different.” Miller Lite simply had to say, “Tastes great, less filling” and the product flew off the shelves.

Taglines worked because they cut through the clutter and stood out in a sea of brands vying for our attention. Marketers needed to project images that were compact, but meaningful or risk getting lost in the mix. Yet it is no longer enough to merely grab attention. Marketers now need to hold attention.

You must realize that reputation management is integral to the success of your digital marketing initiative for all businesses both big and small.

What Does Reputation Management Mean?

Reputation management implies taking certain steps or measures for safeguarding your reputation online. Entrepreneurs do require examining diverse websites for customer reviews of their brand or business and then respond to those reviews accordingly.

Online marketing specialists have been providing valuable advice and numerous effective tips on managing online reviews and ratings. However, reputation could have a much wider impact and greater implications as compared to reviews in Google and Yelp.

All businesses have encountered occasional issues with their customers. You must ideally try resolving these issues before they get out of hand and your customers start believing that the best way to teach you a lesson is through an outburst on public forums or by warning people regarding your business.

You must remember that today, thanks to the Internet, a dissatisfied customer could reach numerous other customers or potential customers in no time. Moreover, word-of-mouth could be traveling as fast as lightning. Even if your business enjoys the best rakings, it would be in major trouble if its reputation has been tarnished.

However, if you prepare yourself as a dedicated entrepreneur and devote some time to planning effective ways of handling online criticism and taking damage control measures promptly, you could save your business’s reputation online and minimize the impact of negative reviews or complaints.

Do not ever forget that positive reputation management is the key to your business’s success. 

Start Auditing Your Business and Name

Before you start chalking out any plans and starting the real legwork, you must necessarily take stock of the situation. Examine what you have on the store online. Google your name in full and browse through the top five pages.

Go through the pages meticulously and examine all relevant information regarding you. Consider bookmarking the neutral, negative, and old content and also, anything positive out there.

If you wish to maintain a positive reputation online, it is of pivotal importance to analyze and evaluate the current situation online so that you could understand precisely what kind of opinion people have about you and what you are actually up against. You need to understand the gravity and seriousness of the situation. 

If you are a business owner, you must do a similar thorough research online using your business name. Be sure to examine all reviews about your business online. Identify the negative reviews and try to diplomatically deal with the situation to ease the impact of the criticism online.

Remember people are generally unforgiving while seeking information on the Internet. If you could identify a negative review so can others. So do something constructive about it before it is too late. 

Be Prompt about Claiming Your Space

Claiming promptly your precise space online is just the same as safeguarding your home using sandbags to combat a potential flood situation. Each domain name and profile you own in your name could be buffering against negative results ultimately chucking you out of the first page. You need to realize that all searches come to a standstill on the first page itself. 

You may consider starting an account with Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, and other popular social media platforms on your radar.

As a conscious entrepreneur, you must consider doing the same for your organization or business. You must browse through professional networking sites such as the Better Business Bureau and Yelp.

You may consider buying domain names related to your business and your name or anything associated directly with you. You could use these domains for CV websites, blogs, portfolios, etc.

Even though you have no immediate plans for using them, keeping them in your possession could prove to be beneficial in the long run.

Do Not Neglect or Ignore Social Media Accounts

It is of pivotal importance to establish certain social media accounts. It is just not enough to have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ page or account for your business.

You need to go about developing your audience, building a robust community on them. You must leverage the power and versatility of all your business’s social media accounts.

Keep interacting with your customers and potential customers and boosting your engagement and influence scores. 

As per https://www.entrepreneur.com, you must be active on various social media platforms but you must be well aware of the limitations or boundaries. It is mandatory to maintain complete control and firm grip over your online presence.

Even though you have no plans of being active on each and every social networking site, it is a good idea to take the right steps toward creating multiple social media accounts related to your business name or your name for that matter. 

Try Avoiding Emotional Responses

It is a good idea to connect, communicate, and interact with your audience but avoid emotional outbursts. You know that the Internet would be providing anonymity and that gives numerous negative people the guts or confidence to be incredibly negative.

Responding to negative or false comments online in a heated manner could tarnish your company’s online reputation. Do not forget that a single anger-fueled or emotionally-charged response to a negative tweet or comment could be deleted but could be preserved forever in a screenshot.

Remember that the Internet would never forget or forgive. So always keep your emotions under total control. 

The bottom line

Do not take reputation management lightly. It needs a lot of dedication and determination and it is a full-time job.

It is a good idea to seek professional assistance from experts who could provide the necessary expertise, proficiency, and attention if you do not have the time required for devoting to online reputation management