The Complete Guide to Improving Online Reputations for Businesses

Did you know that people will pay more for goods and services that have better reviews?

Any good businessperson knows that the key to thriving in any competitive industry lies in its reputation.

Today’s savvy consumers know more about businesses and companies than ever before. This is due to the power of social media and the internet at large. Their view and perception of a company’s reputation can be made or broken in an instant.

Things can start crumbling with one retweet, one Facebook comment, or one Google review. You have to keep improving online reputations to stay on top and be competitive.

In order to keep your business successful, you must protect its online reputation. Keep reading as we discuss the complete guide to improving the online reputation for your business.

Expand Your Online Presence

One sure way of online reputation management is by broadening your online presence. With the current world of social media, being in the top or biggest only will not cut it. You’ll have to expand your online presence to other sites as well.

However, as a way to expand your businesses’ digital footprint, there are hundreds of more social media platforms. They’re worth exploring, and you can leverage them. The trick is to ascertain which social media platforms your target consumer base prefers.

This way, you get to develop a presence before someone else may do damage to your reputation.

There are dozens of platforms that have been specifically made for businesses. When your firm enters these professional networking platforms, it enables you to establish professional connections. These connections will be with other entrepreneurs and clients who feel that they can benefit from your products and services.

However, to enable you to expand your business’s digital footprint, you’ll need to consider the nature of your business. Is your business more of a B2B or B2C?

B2B will likely find more sense in joining platforms like LinkedIn. Here, they’ll establish great connections that will impact their business. On the other hand, B2C should focus on more visual-centric media.

Develop a Systematic Way of Monitoring Reviews

You might ask yourself why it’s important to monitor reviews, considering that you have a great product or service. Well, having the best products and services is not everything anymore, and it won’t cut it here. The fact is, if you look at even some of the top businesses in your industry, they have their fair share of negative feedback.

Even if you’re doing a good job as a business owner, there will always be some people who aren’t happy with what you offer. With online feedback forums like Yelp and Google, it’s easy for these clients or customers to air their grievances. Mind you; this is without ever getting in touch with you personally.

The question begs, how do you go about monitoring all the reviews? After all, they can easily be in their thousands.

You don’t need to sit and read every review; that would be exhausting. Having a set way of monitoring these sites can help keep negative comments from piling up, thus making your reputation worse.

You can opt to have automated alerts every time your business gets mentioned or is reviewed. You could decide to have the alerts sent to you in compilations, say once a day, weekly, or what works for you.

With these alerts, you get a chance to keep up with the reviews before it’s too late. This is important as 86% of customers will hesitate to buy if a business has a negative review.

Own Your Mistakes and Acknowledge Them Publicly

The greatest way to increase your online reputation is by being honest. The truth is, mistakes will always happen; however, how you react to them when they happen will impact your online reputation. While most companies tend to cover up their mistakes, nowadays, it’s almost impossible to cover up mistakes, thanks to technology and social media.

You’ve probably come across the popular saying, “honesty is the best policy,” try it. Instead of trying to mask your mistakes or blaming others, you should try owning them and do it publicly if possible. To many, honesty is the cornerstone through which anyone or any business through which you can rebuild your reputation.

Let your clients and potential clients know that you acknowledge your mistakes through your business social media accounts. This will go a long way in solidifying your reputation, and even potential clients will see that and trust you. Don’t forget to express the solutions you’re working on to avoid repetition. The only thing that’s worse than a mistake is repeating the mistake!

Be Consistent With Your Branding and Products

Your brand’s success will depend greatly on your online reputation and credibility. Maintaining consistency with branding and content is one proven effective way to ensure you monitor and keep your brands name strong.

Make sure that your messaging is consistent with your brand and that it matches your values. It’s essential to keep valuable information in front of your potential advocates while creating loyalty and community. This will help establish a trustworthy online reputation and keep your business growing.

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Listen to Your Customers

For any business, negative feedback from customers will usually carry a lot of weight than positive ones. This is rightly so since you try as much as possible to offer your clients nothing but the best products. Worse still, it can affect other potential clients coming your way.

It can be tempting to counter that review swiftly and harshly, don’t. You should pause and consider the validity of the customer’s comments. Instead of dismissing the comments as a “bitter” former client, think of it as an opportunity to improve your brand’s reputation.

If you develop a habit of respecting and addressing customer reviews and opinions, you’ll create an excellent reputation as a caring and listening business.

Invest in Improving Online Reputations for Your Business

With this guide, you’re well on your way to improving online reputations for your business. Follow it well and see your business stand miles above your competition.

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