This post originally appeared on tBL member Joshua Lyon’s blog Joshua Lyons Marketing Blog and is republished with permission. Find out how to syndicate your content with theBrokerList.
Engaging with your customers is a very important part of growing a business and building a solid reputation. Whether you engage with customers on social media, or use a list of email addresses to send them newsletters, engagement helps keep people loyal. This is all part of an online reputation management plan. ORM can make them more likely to tell others about their good experiences with your brand.
This can all contribute to a positive reputation. A good reputation often means more business for your company. Many people check out online reviews before making a purchase, and if the public generally likes your products/services, people will see these reviews and it’ll make them more likely to buy.
However, you can’t simply assume that your reputation will continue to improve as time goes on. You need to have an online reputation management plan to ensure you can always keep tabs on this sort of thing. This article is going to go over a simple and useful online reputation management plan that anyone can use.
Monitor What People Say About You
The first step to any good online reputation management plan is to monitor what is being said about your company. Whether it be on Yelp, blogs, reviews on Google or even social media, you need to be aware of what people are saying. You can achieve this completely manually, but it can be very time consuming. Thankfully, there are several different tools that can help you monitor your online reputation easily. It may be a good use of your time to explore some of these tools to streamline the monitoring process.
In addition to monitoring what is said, be sure to respond and show your appreciation to those who leave good reviews or kind words. This engagement can help them be more loyal, and show potential new customers that you care and appreciate existing customers. Additionally, if there are negative reviews, you’ll want to be sure and respond to those appropriately.
Have a Response Plan
During your reputation monitoring, you are likely to run into a comment, review or social media post that is critical of your company. They may be unhappy with the product, your customer service or any number of other things. If you identify these reviews, comments or posts, you need to have a plan of response.
When responding to these types of comments, you need to be as understanding and empathetic as possible. Offer them a solution and allow them a place for their voice to be heard and understood. Staying professional and positive through the whole ordeal is generally in your best interest, as well.
Who knows, you might even be able to turn the situation around and turn a negative into a positive. Even if you can’t, other customers will see that you made an attempt to improve the situation and right the wrong, and will generally appreciate it. Also, no matter how rude a comment or how wrong you think it is, it’s never a good idea to get in an argument online with a customer.
Want to read more about how to handle negative online reviews? Check out this blog post: https://jjlyonsmarketing.com/resources/how-to-handle-negative-online-reviews/
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Be Honest and Transparent
As a business, honesty and transparency are key. This is especially true when it comes to your online reputation. If you hide complaints, delete unfavorable reviews and other means of improving the appearance of your reputation, people can often see right through it. People appreciate honesty, and no one expects you to have perfect reviews and no negative comments.
Also, never fake any reviews, as it is lying to your audience. It will almost always come back to negatively affect you down the road. The more open you are about everything, the more favorably people will see you as you are not hiding anything and take everything head-on. Encourage people to leave reviews and comments, whether they be good or bad.
There is no doubting the importance of a solid online reputation. This plan will ensure you are able to successfully manage yours.
Author Bio
Ashley is a super-connector who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.
