It is all too easy for someone’s reputation to become destroyed, and this can happen to businesses as well. Thanks to the internet, a single complaint or embarrassing story can go all around the world in a matter of seconds. This why it is so important that you always check what is going on online. If not, you could suddenly notice a drop in sales without seeing it coming. Below are a few tips that you should have in place as part of your online reputation management strategy.
Negative Search Results
There is so much information available online that people are unlikely to look at everything a search brings up. Rather, they look at the first page of Google, perhaps even the second one, but no further. This is also true for individuals. Did you know, for instance, that 70% of recruitment consultants reject candidates because of what they find out about them online? Yet just 7% of people understand how their personal online reputation matters! If there is negative information out there about you or your business on the first 10 Google results, then your reputation is tarnished. What you have to do, therefore, is make sure that at least the first 10 results are positive ones. This is where reputation management and search engine optimization (SEO) become one.
What Is Your Online Presence?
What is your online presence right now? If you Google your name, or other keywords relating to your or your brand, do you find just one or two negative posts, or is it the entire first page of Google? You also need to look on sites such as review and consumer advocacy sites, as well as social media networks. This is about knowing who you are.
Set up Alerts
Google Alerts are really useful. You can set up an alert for your name, or anything else relating to your name and receive a daily report about anything that has been said about you. This is really useful, because you will be first to know if there is a new report.
Address the Issues
It is impossible to go through life without a single negative review. Not everybody is going to like you, whether you are a business or a person. What matters, however, is that you address issues as soon as they occur. If someone complains about you, for instance, you can respectfully address this, apologizing and, professionally, asking how you can make it better. This will be respected by others as well, showing that you listen to your customers.
Create a Buzz
Last but not least, you have to make sure that there are lots of good things out there about you. You need to ask your customers to leave reviews about their experiences, for instance. One way to do that is to offer them your product or service at a discount in return for their opinion. You can also release frequent press releases, showing the world that exciting things are happening with your company.