While many individuals and businesses alike would love nothing more than to silent their critics the World Wide Web has given both the people who love and hate your products or services a voice. Poor reputation management online can be extremely damaging to your business, and as well as telling potential consumers to steer clear, negative reviews can have a major impact on your business’ bottom line.
Whether you run a small, local business or a large multi-national firm, you should never underestimate the power and cost of poor reputation. As well as delivering the best service you can to returning and new customers, there are a series of steps you can take to ensure you manage your reputation effectively throughout the online world…
Reach out via social media
Social media has given business owners across the globe the opportunity to interact with consumers directly, and using Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms is a vital step to responding to the negative and positive feedback surrounding your company. Talk back to the people who are interacting with your brand and engage with your target market to ensure you strongly promote key messages, resolve negative feedback appropriately and in turn, use both negative and positive comments to build a stronger brand.
Remember – accidents happen
Whatever market your business belongs to, accidents do happen and your business’ ability to handle a crisis is an integral part of online reputation management. From product recalls and delivery delays to website issues and security breaches, having a crisis communication policy in place ensures your customers can be addressed appropriately should the worst happen.
Be prepared and proactive in your approach to ensure your target market stays informed and issues can be resolved effectively.
Monitor your web presence
As well as using social media to respond to positive and negative reviews, it is important to keep abreast of your reputation a little further afield to ensure your company is fairly represented across the board. One way to achieve this is by monitoring your search results, simply search for your company name or better yet setup Google Alerts to find and respond to new content about you as it hits the net.
Finding a negative review or comment about your brand is always an unpleasant surprise but by contacting the person behind the complaint and working with them to resolve their concerns, you can be known as a company who cares about its customers.
About the Author The author of this post is Tony Earnshaw, an entrepreneur who established UK Commercial Cleaning in 2007. Since then the company has evolved from a small cleaning firm into a national organisation and is now the UK’s foremost commercial cleaning contractor.