How To Manage Your Companies Reputation Online

As an entrepreneur, you know that your online reputation can make or break your business. Whether you’re well established or just starting a business, social media and review websites make it easy for consumers to compare and evaluate a company's services before ever communicating with you. Of course, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. In a perfect world, your quality services and products would reflect in your online reputation but this is not always the case. It only takes one unreasonable customer to ruin your reputation and ratings online. This is why it is important that you take a proactive approach to managing your reputation.

Provide Consistent Quality

The first and most important thing you can do to build a great reputation online is to ensure that you provide a quality and reliable service with fantastic quality support. Making your customers happy will take consistency throughout all your interactions, meaning you need to dress well, respond to phone calls and emails quickly, and put your customers' needs first. This sounds obvious but it will serve as the foundation of your reputation online and the importance cannot be overstated.

Jeffo Bezos summed it up perfectly when he said “Your company's reputation is the most valuable thing you have. You earn that reputation by doing hard things well.”

Reach Out Publicly

When you get a negative review online you need to make sure you respond quickly and publicly. If you can address their issues professionally and make it clear that you are eager to please your customers, others will see this and realize that you are there to solve problems. Private conversations will not be visible to consumers reviewing your business online, this is why you need to always post a response publicly. Depending on the situation you can look into removing bad reviews as well.

Improve Your Service/Product

We could all do better, no matter how well your company is run there is always room for improvement. The best way to make improvements is to reach out to the people that matter most - your customers. If your customer is happy, it is great to hear what they liked about their experience. And if your customer is unhappy, there will certainly be a learning lesson in there somewhere. I would recommend reaching out to each of your customers via phone/email or take it to the next level by creating your own interactive survey.

Build Your Authority

Being known as a figure of authority in your niche can be hugely helpful in building a reputation for your business. Potential consumers are searching google for queries on topics relevant to your business as we speak. You can use your social media accounts to build a following and give them free and valuable content to build trust and establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Many of the most famous brands in the world use content marketing to as a way of positioning themselves as a trusted source.

Leverage Feedback

Too many businesses shy away from asking existing and happy clients for feedback and testimonials. More often that not, a satisfied client will be happy to leave you a positive review. You can leverage those testimonials to show off on your website. If you are a local business, displaying testimonials from influential people in your community is very powerful. Consumers often look to others to reassure they are making the right decision.

Conclusion

If you are able to provide quality consistently, manage online reviews proactively, establish yourself as a figure of authority and improve your service at the end of the day, you will earn the reputation you deserve. I know that this is easier said than done but the reward is very much worth it.