| Last updated: February 6, 2018
What Exactly Is Online Reputation Management
The phrase Online Reputation Management can be confusing. To make it simple, online reputation management is simply the process of making sure your reputation offline is properly translated online. A large part of online reputation management is ratings and reviews, but essentially anything that has your name on it on the internet has an effect. In order to have a great online reputation, you will want to increase the amount (and visibility) of positive information about your brand and begin to combat/counter any negative aspects that exist out there.
What Online Platforms Should Be Considered For Reputation Management
Customers have access to so much information right at their fingertips and not all customers will interact with the same websites and platforms. You will need to make sure you’re covering all your bases when it comes to managing your brand online.
Now, some websites/platforms are more popular than others. For example, Facebook is extremely popular amongst users. According to Statista, Facebook has 2.2 billion monthly active users. That is not a typo, that’s 2,200,000,000 people using Facebook every single month.
Let’s breakdown a few of these platforms briefly.
As stated, Facebook is highly used and it is rare to find someone who isn’t on Facebook. This platform also has a few ways to help manage your brand.
First, you need to get your business page set up with Facebook. With your business page you will be ahead to post relevant content about your brand and field of expertise. You can interact with community and start conversations with potential customers.
Secondly, Facebook has the messenger app included on the platform. This is a way for users to privately interact with you and ask more in depth questions about your brand. You will want to make sure you’re monitoring this because actually shows your typical response time. A bad response time is going to send the customer to your competition.
Third, there are ratings and reviews incorporated with Facebook. Their system is similar to other reviews sites and allows the users to rate on a 1 – 5 star rating scale and also leave any details they would like about your service.
Google, and Google My Business
The Google My Business (GMB) profile is highly trafficked by users and is a way for customers to understand your business before they even make it to your website. With a GMB profile you will first want to claim the profile and make sure all your information is correct, including business name, address, phone number.
Along with many other features, there is an area for the within the profile for ratings and reviews. This is setup the exact same way as Facebook with a 1 – 5 star rating scale and an area to express any more details.
Industry Specific Rating and Review Sites
Depending on your industry or specific niche you will want to research any review sites that may be found just in your field. In some cases these sites may be even more popular than Facebook or Google because they are much more of a targeted audience for you.
A great way is to survey current customers, talk to members of the industry or research online yourself. You don’t want to miss out on potential customers because you were unaware of something.
Make Sure You’re Asking All Your Customers
In a study by BrightLocal, they found that, 68% of consumers left a local business review when asked. That a powerful statement about online reviews.
Just think, if your business had 50 customers last month and you made sure to ask every single one of them about their experience you could have 35 reviews right now! That would send a message to a prospective customer about how your business works and why they should work with you rather than the competition.
Now, you can ask a few different ways. If they are in your store ask them right after they purchase. Make them aware of the platforms they can use or have jump on their phone right then and review away! You can contact them later with an email or text message. This is great as long as you have someone checking back on previous orders and contacting them regularly providing links to the review sites right in the message.
You Won’t Forget To Ask If You Automate Your Online Reputation
I understand there is only so much time in a day and it will be easy to forget and not ask for that online review from a customer. Online reputation management software is available that will automate the process for you, such as RepCheckup All you need to do is provide the software with the contact info of the customer and let it go to work.
With the software you can also target a review site that you know your ideal customer is viewing. This will engage the right customers and increase your revenues quicker!
Keep A Constant Eye On Your Profiles
When you choose an online reputation management software it should help to monitor all your profiles that you have claimed. Monitoring your profiles will have two positives brought to your business.
One, it will notify you of any review left about your business. This will keep you updated on positive reviews and negatives which allows you to handle each the proper way.
Secondly, when notified you will be able to see the customer reviewing you. With users out their posting fake reviews you will want to keep a close eye on this. A negative review from an authentic customer can only be responded to and not removed. If you find a review to be fake you can have that removed from your profile.
Put One Person In Charge Of Your Online Reputation
An overlooked aspect of managing your brand online is delegating one person to manage it. Many times you see a business have it be a group or team duty and it falls through the cracks.
It will take consistent effort to make sure you’re monitoring and building a great reputation for your business. Having a person in charge of this will allow them to own that task and make sure reviews are responded too and profiles are managed properly.
Managing Your Brand Starts Today!
I know this may seem like a lot of information, but just take it step by step. If you break it down into smaller, manageable steps you will be successful. Remember it takes 13 hours to build a Toyota and six months to build a Rolls-Royce.
About Author:
Garrett is the Founder of RepCheckup, online reputation management software. He’s also the author of Book Now! Internet Marketing for Healthcare Practices and has been helping businesses successfully sell and market online since 1999.