Want a better online reputation, then creating a better online business reputation matters, and this has to be done now!
Too many businesses don’t focus on ensuring customers see their best face. However, here are some online reputation tips to help.
1. Create A Presence on Relevant Web Properties
Your company should have an account on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. You may need to be active on several other social media sites in a competitive market. You may also choose a few other social media sites. There are dozens of sites available. Your choices should be specific to your industry.
For high-tech, B2B, and professional businesses with employees and executives, LinkedIn is a valuable site. However, if a company has visually-oriented products, Instagram, Pinterest, and Flickr, are necessary. And many businesses can benefit from sharing videos through online sites like Vimeo and YouTube.
2. Don’t Neglect Social Media Accounts
Build your social media account. Just having a Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ account is not enough. You need to grow an audience. With ongoing development, you should build a social media account that increases your influence and engagement scores while allowing you to interact with your customers.
If you don’t do this, your account will not be strong enough to counteract negative postings. Reputation Communication suggests that while you don’t know how Bing and Google assess the strength of social media accounts, you should use independent scoring utilities like Kred and Klout.
3. Consider the Products and Brands
You may need to build a social media profile and online materials for more than your company name. For example, if you have product and brand names in addition to your company name, you will likely develop content to rank for those names. You must create social media profiles, web pages, websites, and collateral materials to reserve and claim each brand.
4. Protect People Associated with the Business
Develop a robust online presence for the name of executives, owners, and founders, especially if they are distinctive. Keeping a low online profile to protect privacy leaves you open to drive-by defamers.
There are some businesses where the company’s identity is entwined with the executives. It’s vital to use a solid reputation management strategy in these situations. For example, consumers search for lawyers, dentists, and doctors by name. Create collateral to rank for their terms if they don’t have any.
5. Implement Authorship Where Applicable
Many have declared that Authorship was my top marketing tactic. When done correctly, it can be a significant advantage. This is done for businesses where the proprietor and founder are closely associated with a business’ identity. Google wants authors to be individuals. Therefore, the author tag should be related to an individual Google+ profile, not a business page.
Using an author tag assumes you’ll do some ongoing article publishing or blog posts. If not, then this tactic is not worthwhile.
6. Blog
Yes, I’m serious. Blogging is local SEO’s secret weapon because it can adequately help a site rank well in Google for relevant keywords. It can also provide fodder for your social media accounts.
When it comes to reputation. A blog is not just a way to rank for your name. It can provide you with a “home court”, a place to directly respond to assertions about your company. This can help you paint your company image in a positive light.
7. Listen
When you respond to an online complaint or a bad review, consider that your process may have weaknesses that need to be addressed. You need to start looking at your strategies if you have frequent negative feedback or complaints about specific things. Making small changes can often lead to a reduction in complaints.
Remember, “the customer is always right”. It may be tempting to make a firm stand on some issues. However, you should not be inflexible when you respond to customers. Instead, devise creative ways to give the customer what they want. This will help reduce friction and help you retain a customer.
There are business practices that seem dumb or service fees that make the customer feel like you’re gouging them. Just because you’re able to pressure people into paying more does not mean you should. Consider you should be driving some potential and existing customers to the competition. The extra money you make by charging these fees may be cancelled out by the amount of Business you lose because of these complaints.