Building a successful business involves more than having a good product or service. There are many other aspects that are key. One of these aspects is your business’s online footprint. Today’s world is quite search-happy. Almost everyone you meet will only do business with you after looking you up. It is up to you to make sure that what they find will influence them to proceed with you. This is where reputation management comes into the picture.
Research from Moz found that businesses run the risk of losing 22% of potential customers when they see a negative article after reviewing the first page of Google’s search results.
So, how do you ensure what they see is positive?
To begin, you need to identify the pages that appear when someone searches for your company name. When they search, do they see review sites, news stories, wiki pages, competitors, press releases, blog posts, business mentions on websites and articles or your social profile pages?
The pages that appear first are the ones you must focus on.
Also, remember that while Google is the world’s most used search engine, it isn’t the only one. In fact, over a third of online searches are made on other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, AOL, DuckDuckGo and others. So be sure to review the results on those search engines too.
One key to managing your online reputation within the first page of search engine results is to get pages you control in them. For example, your company can create a review page such as growthink reviews. On a page like this, your company posts positive reviews you have received elsewhere.
In addition to doing this, focus on improving your online reputation management by better managing your social media pages as follows:
1. Regularly Conduct Social Media Audits
A social media audit requires that your review what appears in each of your social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Be sure to display brand consistency over all of these platforms. For example, your Facebook page shouldn’t tell a different story than your Twitter page. Anything that is detrimental to your brand should be removed.
2. Acknowledge And Respond To All Mentions
Your audience will know that you are listening if you engage with them as much as possible. Make it a point to respond to everything, whether it is positive or negative. Make people feel like they are a part of your community even if you can’t see a benefit to doing so.
3. Immediate Reactions Are Essential
The quicker you find a post and engage with customer comments, the quicker you will be able to deal with any negativity that may stem from it.
Because so many prospective customers search for reviews before purchasing from you, reputation management is key to making it in today’s competitive business world. Even though you may know or feel you provide a quality product or service, if prospective customers read even one negative review, they may not frequent your business. So, pay special attention to managing your business’ online reputation; doing so can pay huge dividends.
