With more and more people going online for communication, entertainment, and business, every internet user starts to develop an online reputation. It doesn’t matter if you only have one social media profile, or are running your entire business online, you have an online presence. That is why it’s important now, more than ever for businesses to understand their current online reputation and what they can do to improve it!
Effects of Bad Reputation on Business
Consumers will do most of their shopping for products or services online, which includes doing research on businesses they will purchase from. Customers look at reviews for both products and overall customer service from businesses, which can often help them form an opinion of that business. This isn’t really important if the business only has good reviews, right? Wrong. No matter what a business’s presence appears to be on the surface, without getting involved in the conversation and controlling the narrative, their reputation is hanging in a delicate balance.
If you don’t get in front of the conversation about your business, you’re putting it in the hands of others who might not be looking out for your best interest. Contrary to what you might hear, a few negative reviews probably won’t hurt your business, but the way you respond to them (or don’t) definitely could. Not responding to reviews at all might show customers that you’re not invested in customer service and that you don’t care about what they have to say about your business. Even just making sure that you’re monitoring your reviews can help identify patterns of what you’re doing right, and where you can improve. But, you won’t ever know unless you manage your online reputation!
Keep in mind, one primary use of the internet is for entertainment, and users may often click on content that is sensational or shocking just to find out more and get a little amusement. This type of content is eye-catching and, and as more and more people click on it, the link will become easier to find. This is because search engines pick up on the page’s popularity and will start to push it to the top of the search rankings. So, instead of your website showing up when people search for your business, a particularly negative review or article criticizing your business could come up first.
How Monitoring Your Reputation Can Help
The first step in maintaining a good online reputation is getting yourself into the conversation so you can start controlling the narrative surrounding your business. Look at and respond to reviews, both good and bad, and start putting out your own content to give potential customers the information they’re searching for. Just like shocking links, informational links are highly likely to be clicked on, especially if they answer the questions that users are online searching form. Make sure you’re keeping your content fresh and relevant to your business. This will help improve your SEO and will get your content in front of a wider audience.
The SEO in your content is also important to keeping your website and social media relevant and ideal for search engines. Using keywords and phrases will make search engines grab your content to present to users, and it can help to greatly improve your search engine rankings overall. This will help boost your business to the top of the search list and keep other content down.
The second most important step to managing your reputation is starting a conversation with your customers online. Again, respond to their reviews, but also make social media posts to start a conversation. You can even ask your customers what they think of your business and how you can improve to give them the best experience you can. Get creative and get your voice out there!
It’s vital to manage your online reputation, but we understand that it can also be extremely time-consuming. At Beyond Private Label, we will help you determine where your clients’ reputations stand and where they can be improved. We can use this to help you develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy to help keep their business growing! Contact us to learn more.