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Online Reputation Management

Post 9 of 17
April 22, 2013BlueStorm Digital
online-reputation-management

Today, most people turn to the Internet to locate LOCAL products and services. Long gone are the days when people pick up the Golden Pages first to find what they what they need.

Think about it… when is the last time you picked up yours?

The Internet is the first place people look when they need to find… well, just about anything. It has truly become an integral part of our daily lives.

Are you paying attention to what people are saying about your business online?

Along with social media networks, people will talk about your business anywhere online… both the good and bad.

An old adage is that satisfied customers will tell 3 people about your business but an unhappy customer will tell 10. However in the online world this is multiplied significantly, with the average facebook user having 130 friends. People now do not hesitate to go online to voice their concerns about a business instead of contacting the business directly.

One of the worst parts of this is that sometimes business owners have NO idea that the content is out on the web. This can truly hurt a business’s reputation, which is unfortunate, especially if the customers complaint are not even warranted.Imagine one of your potential customers Googling your business name and up pops a negative post from one of your customers about how much they hate your service.
online_reputation_management_word-of-mouth

If this is the first thing your prospects see, do you think they will be quick to do business with you? No, they won’t. In fact, most people will automatically decide against doing business with you solely based on this other person’s complaint.

It’s just a fact… people rely heavily on the opinions of others when deciding whether or not to do business with you.

This is why customer reviews and testimonials are so powerful in converting prospects into buyers. When people see that others love your products, services, or business, they will have no problem doing business with you.

On the flip side, as soon as they see unhappy customers, they will avoid you like the plague.

Is this something your business can afford during these tough economic times? You probably answered, “absolutely not” and you are correct.

Don’t just bury your head in the sand about this! This is happening, whether you are online or not…because your customers are online and they like to share their experiences of YOUR business with their friends.

Managing Your Reputation

So how do you, as a business owner, defend yourself from the negativity surrounding your business online?

  • One way is to do a Google search for your business name to see what type of information is coming up.
  • Another way is to join and engage in social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. People will definitely say what they feel there.
  • But it’s up to you to catch it and do something about it – even if it’s just to post a reply to the complaint to defend yourself. If not, you are leaving your business vulnerable to negative publicity, which is not good.
  • One way to combat a negative online reputation is to get your happy customers to post more positive reviews and testimonials about your business online. This will help overshadow the negative comments and help you clean up your online reputation.
  • There are several local business directories where people can post reviews about businesses – this is a great place to start. Some of the most popular are: Google Places/Maps, Your Local,  Yelp.ie,
  • You should visit your business listing on these sites frequently to stay on top of what is being said about your business.
  • Not only that, but you should also direct your happy customers to these sites to post reviews about your product or service.
  • In addition to gathering customer feedback, these review sites are also good places to offer coupons and special promotions to help attract new customers.
  • Think about it… if you were searching for a local flower shop and one listing had a 50% off coupon and the other ones don’t, which one would you choose?

Reputation is the most valuable asset that your business has. It only takes one disgruntled employee, customer or a malicious competitor to take years of hard work of brand and profile building away.

If you would like professional help implementing any of the methods you read about in this post, please contact us at sales@bluestormdigital.ie to setup a free consultation.

 

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