Today’s technology allows anyone to post anything they want with a click of a button. This creates an easy way for customers to share their feelings about businesses online. Online reviews are powerful. According to BrightLocal, 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. While positive reviews are sought after, negative reviews can be detrimental to a business’s reputation.
What is Reputation Management?
Reputation management is the practice of attempting to shape public perception of a person or organization by influencing online information about that entity. Reputation management involves constant monitoring of social platforms & rating/review sites for mentions of your business. Reviews that are not posted on your page or do not tag your business’s name are more difficult to monitor but just as important to your business’s reputation.
A business with a bad reputation can be compared to a person with a bad credit score— many don’t know until it’s too late. This is because it is virtually impossible to know everything anyone has ever posted about your business. However, your business’s most valuable asset is its reputation, so reputation management should be one of your top marketing efforts.
Our Advice
There are two actions we advise you to do when a negative review is posted online about your business:
- Apologize: Whether or not you did anything wrong, your customer clearly left with a negative impression. You can express remorse that they did not have a positive experience without admitting fault. This can help diffuse the situation and will convey that you care about your customers and their experiences.
- Invite a one-on-one conversation: Reach out to the individual about the post. If you are able to make the customer happy, they will often edit their post to update with the improved experience. You could ask him/her to update the review to show your business in a more positive light, but it is ultimately their decision if they are willing to do so.
To further your business’s reputation, you can develop a campaign where you ask customers to leave reviews about your business. This will hopefully gather some positive feedback and testimonials that can be repurposed in your marketing campaigns.
No reputation management strategy will work if you do not know what is out there. That is why a reputation management service can be beneficial. We offer a service with real-time notifications of anything posted online about your business. If you are interested in a reputation management service, Thrive Marketing would love to help your business.
