As a business owner, happy customers are an essential requirement for your brand. Usually, you settle down the customer complaints through the 2.0 platforms and the hosted services. These platforms have made communication easier and helped in quick and effective resolution.
But have you ever thought that what if customers start leaving negative comments about your business online? What will be your strategy? This is when online reputation management comes into play. It helps to reduce the impact of negative reviews on your organization.
Adapting the right strategies will save your business from financial loss.
A decade ago, strategies like reputation management and shaping what customers think about a brand were a matter of concern for big companies and public figures only. But little did you know that these strategies will be an important addition to your business. Before, we tell you about the different strategies it is important for you to know the need to manage the reputation of your brand.
Importance of reputation management
Managing a brand’s reputation should be your priority. The customer behavior is getting changed. They are vigilant and talking about your brand online. Over that, how it is being perceived digitally is what can make or break your organization.
For example, it takes no time for the negative hashtags to trend quickly on social platforms. As a business owner, it is important to understand its effect and consequences in the real world. You will have no idea and you will lose shares in value almost overnight.
Also, the studies confirm that an organization that has a bad reputation has difficulty expanding. On top of that, around 60% of the unemployed job seekers do not want to work with an organization having a bad reputation.
Yet, other studies show that around 85% of the consumers view online reviews as compared to personal suggestions. Plus, the stars can build the business revenues by approximately 8%. A good reputation builds the trust of the customers, leaving a positive impression on your brand’s bottom line. Having an extensive and well-planned strategy can do that for your business. Here are some of the smart ways that you can implement in your business for the best perception of your brand.
Start Supervising:
It is nearly impossible to maintain an online reputation without monitoring its current scenario. You do not know if a journalist, blogger, or the top sources are mentioning you on any of the social platforms. Therefore, you need to determine the digital presence. For this, you can
- Determine your weakness and strengths
- Know what your customers think about you
- The online conversations happening about your brand, product, and services
- Monitor the positive and negative online mentions
Try adopting some tools that can provide you a good overview and generate the report for you. Also, remember to set up a Google Alert to get notified about the new content. Doing this will make you more responsive towards the negative feedback, ultimately saving you from the damage.
Invest in search engine optimization:
It is obvious that when people will look online for your organization, they will search by your brand’s name. This is why it is necessary to rank your website at the top of the search engine result pages. SEO will rank your website high and build a better relationship with the audience. Not only this, it will improve your authority, ultimately giving you more sales and customers. For this, you can create content that is user-centric and makes your customers feel valued. This can be done in various forms such as blogs, guest posting, photos, meta descriptions, social media posts, and videos. The meta tags are a great way, as they include your name and people are more likely to click through your website.
The Press Releases:
The press releases are a great tool to manage your reputation by promoting your product or services more clearly. In the world of online marketing, press releases are not behind the scenes. They can be a great way to rank your brand’s name high in the SERPs.
How? Well! The resonating content, modern-day metrics, and collaboration with the influencers have given a new shape and style to the press release in the digital world.
In addition to it, you can reach a wider audience by getting in touch with the journalists. More is the media exposure, more are the number of sales. And, attaining more traffic is so much easier with press releases.
You can also distribute the press release to the media outlets. Because the high-authority sites will mention you, your brand will automatically get a boost in the SERP. To have detailed information about press releases, you can click here and know how they are the best ways to find stories and print them. But before you begin writing the press release on your own, learn that journalistic tone is the most important ingredient for a press release. Therefore, we suggest you get in touch with the PR professionals. They will answer all the five W’s i,e the Who, why, what, where, and when.
Social Media Platforms:
Undoubtedly, the internet and social media platforms have reduced the distance between your and your customers. Every third person has their accounts on these platforms. And, when it comes to online reputation you can make the most use of these accounts. They can play an important role in giving your website a boost, as the google algorithms look for the brand signals which include the popularity of your profiles. Most importantly, they have a personal touch enabling you to connect with your customers at an individual level.
Clearly, a good online reputation can take your business to heights. But, in the digital age, you have to be more careful, as it has gained so much popularity and significance. A simple hashtag has the potential to make your business a success or a failure. The United Airlines debacle is the biggest example of this. It can have real consequences in the real world.
However, this is possible only if you take the necessary steps and focus on the online reputation. And, if you don’t you are missing the opportunity to grow your business. No matter what is the state of your business, the tips mentioned above will help you and take your business to the next level you had always dreamed of.