How to successfully manage your Online Reputation

Your online reputation is the image your brand conveys and how people perceive your business. Managing your online reputation involves monitoring your brand image online and suppressing false or negative information about your business in order to ensure a positive impression on potential and existing customers.

A strong online reputation is very important. This is what influences the creation of new business and maintaining your current business. Consumers go online to do additional research about products and services that have a moderate or high cost. 4/5 consumers change their minds about a recommended purchase based solely on negative information they found online. People in general trust recommendations from others and are more likely to consider positive recommendations from real-world friends and family. These following steps will help you influence customer feedback and pro-actively manage your online reputation.

Step 1: Listen to your customers
Your customers are the best resource for discovering how to make improvements to your business. Establishing a system where you can engage with what customers are saying about your brand allows customers to feel that you genuinely take their feedback into consideration.

Step 2: Gather customer feedback
Don’t leave the review process to chance. Request customer feedback from both online and offline customer touch-points. Be creative, be polite, and be direct.

Step 3: Share your customer feedback
Positive customer reviews make for excellent marketing content. Make sure to publically thank customers for their time and effort in providing your brand with feedback. Your social media profiles are an ideal platform to share your customer’s praise.

Step 4: Learn and improve
Be prepared to learn from negative feedback and make improvements based on that. Remember to respond quickly and positively to bad reviews. This allows your online reputation to be enhanced by the poor review, rather than it to be damaged by the negative feedback.

Online reviews are growing in popularity and have become a key factor in customer’s buying decisions. You can either leave your online reputation to chance or take the necessary steps to manage your online reputation and gain the marketing advantage.