Has your business reputation taken a hit lately? Are some negative reviews slipping into the mix? Are you struggling to regain or surpass pre-COVID sales numbers? Are you seeking to grow your customer base?
If so, you need a strategy to improve your business reputation.
Importance of Online Reputation
Your online business reputation is critical to the success of your business, regardless of whether most of your sales are online or in-person. Most shoppers research a company online before deciding whether to make a purchase. More than 90 percent of people read online reviews, and 84 percent trust them as much as they would a personal recommendation.
Managing Your Reputation
While you can’t necessarily prevent a scandal or a bad review, you can manage your online reputation. Reputation management is taking control of your business’s online narrative. A good reputation management strategy includes several components.
Audit and Monitor
You conduct an Internet audit to see what others are saying about you. The conversations could be in social media, online reviews, or general articles or blogs. If your initial research finds negative information about your company, you know what to respond to. If your research shows a positive reputation, you’ll still want to develop a plan. Almost every business experiences a scandal or crisis. Having a strategy in place ahead of time will help you weather the crisis better.
You must also monitor these conversations constantly to decide how to respond if a negative review or article appears.
Respond to Comments
Develop a tone guide for responding to negative comments. A guide will enable you to respond professionally when others write harsh reviews or comments about your business. Develop a tone that suits your brand and business values, and stick to it. Your plan also will specify who is responsible for answering negative reviews using the tone guide.
Research Competitors
You also want to research your competitor’s online reputation. They may experience similar challenges to you. You can also see how your competitors craft content on their websites and social media and whether third parties write about them. You can also gauge their ranking on search engine results pages.
Create Content
Your strategy will also include creating positive or neutral content that will appear at the top of the page of search engine results. This content can appear in blogs, articles, and social media posts.
You begin by developing a list of keywords that customers will use in searching for your business. Then you incorporate them into your content. You also strive to create informational content that avoids being overly sales-oriented. Your strategy will also include updating the content regularly.
As part of your content creation strategy, you’ll also want to find ways to increase the number of positive reviews you receive. You may survey customers after each sale and give them a link to write a quick review if they provide positive feedback.
Measure and Track
The strategy will include goals, such as having two positive or neutral articles appear in the top five listings on the search results page. It will also include a way to measure performance against the goals.
Following Up
You’ll continually audit your company’s reputation, respond to reviews appropriately, and write updated SEO content. You can dramatically improve your online reputation by developing and implementing a strategy.
About Patrick Wentland
Patrick Wentland serves as Vice President of Strategic Accounts at NetReputation.com. Wentland has nearly 10 years of experience designing and executing reputation solutions that empower online success.
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