Reputation Management Service

What reputation management is and why you need it… in plain English.

Like it or not, people talk. Sometimes they say things which are true, sometimes they make up lies, but either way, negative information about your company is downright lethal.

Whether it’s a customer who had a bad experience, an ex-employee who wants to get their own back or a direct competitor who wants to take you down, negative information can quickly spread around the local community via the internet. Before you know it, you’re losing sales.

That’s why reputation management is fast becoming one of the most popular services for all kinds of businesses, big and small, national and local. It’s a way to protect your online reputation from negative reviews and false claims, ethically and legally.

Reputation management involves a wide range of activities to keep your name in good standing. Activities include responding to customer complaints, asking sites to take down incorrect information and using online feedback to improve your products and services.

“The results of a negative online reputation may be as subtle as a user clicking on a competitor’s search result instead of yours or as damaging as an industry-wide boycott of your products and/or services. Besides the obvious financial implications of having a company’s credibility called into question, there are potential legal ramifications that could dominate your time and cripple your financial sustainability, as well. This will often cement trusted news and legal results in the top search rankings so that even if a case is dismissed or resolved, you’ll be living with the consequences for years to come.” – OUTSPOKEN MEDIA.COM

Whether the claims are true or not, the damage is done. People see the negative feedback and decide to spend their money with another competitor who has a “clean sheet.”

You can’t delete negative information about business unless it’s proven to be false and therefore libellous. However, you can address it or even “bury” it. For example, in cases where it is not possible to ask for the negative contents to be taken down, the proper thing to do is to push down the visibility of such negative feedback through proactively publishing useful, positive information about your company.

Of course, negative feedback can be monitored and even used to showcase your excellent customer service. For example, if a hotel receives a bad review of their room service, the hotel owner would benefit from immediately addressing their concerns and explaining – in public – why it happened and what they propose to do about it.

Other customers will see this with a positive light, especially if the complaint turns out to be unjustified. However, if the complaint is left unaddressed, this will raise alarm for potential new customers who see it.

With the right tools and help, you can proactively monitor your online reputation and resolve any issues on the spot. You can also maintain good online profiles to help your positive reviews shine over the negative ones.

Of course, this can become time consuming on a regular basis, so it’s worth considering the help of an expert to manage your online reputation for you.

HOW A BAD REPUTATION CAN KILL YOUR GOOGLE RANKINGS

According to a recent study by Bizible.com, having five or more Google reviews was associated with a 1.85 improvement in rank in local search results. The study also proved that not having any Google reviews on your Places page or having an average review score of 1, can actually hurt rankings.

Here’s why. Google are trying their best to display high quality results in their search results. Companies that have low ratings are obviously deemed poor quality results, therefore Google will actually penalize these listings.

That’s why it is important to have as many positive reviews as possible, not just in Google but anywhere where customers can leave reviews for your business, such as Yell.com, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and more.

ARE YOU BEING SECRETLY SABOTAGED?

Most small local business owners aren’t even aware of what’s happening behind their backs. It only takes one competitor who is deliberately trying to sabotage your business, or a disgruntled customer who wants to see you out of business, to create lasting damage to your reputation.

But the problem often runs deeper than the occasional negative review or slanderous comment. There are dozens of ways that your reputation can be damaged, which may not be recognizable to the untrained eye.

Some examples are:

Squatted usernames
Squatted domains
Doppelgangers
Job changes
Name changes
Negative comments
False information
Fake profiles
Trademark infringement
Bad news coverage
Legal documents
Complaint sites
Competitor attacks
Hate sites
Personal scandals
Corporate scandals
Industry perceptions

What should you do about those problems? Seek professional online reputation management services and put out the fire before it spreads.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR REP

Despite the importance of reputation management, many business owners find there is little time to deal with this issue. After all, there is a lot to keep track of.

If you want to manage it personally, then the use of social media management tools will be critical, along with being accessible to customers and clients, responding to customer service queries, addressing negative comments, and putting a positive spin on criticism.

In order to do this effectively, there are three golden rules.

1) Monitor your brand

Remember that a poor review is always just one tweet away and 40% of these come from mobile devices, which means you need to be on your toes when monitoring your online reputation. You can use a simple Google alerts service to notify you whenever somebody dimensions your name online. This will give you a head start dealing with any potential negative feedback.

2) Respond quickly

Did you know that 90% of disgruntled customers will stay with a company if they feel that their complaint is being taken seriously and resolved promptly? This is good news because, even if you get a negative comment about your business, you can still turn things into a positive, if you act swiftly. It’s worth it to, as 50% of disgruntled customers will advocate your brand in the future by telling their online followers how impressed they were with the way their complaint was handled.

3) Stay cool

It can be hard to separate emotions when somebody is talking badly about your business, but if you’re not careful, you might end up overreacting and further damaging your reputation in public. You must stay positive when dealing with customers directly, because your ultimate goal is to get the customer back onside and show the rest of the community just how professional you are when dealing with problems. This is another reason why many businesses hire reputation management professionals, as the emotional aspect is removed, thus reducing the chance of an overreaction.

4) Be proactive

Don’t just wait to respond to negative comments and reviews. The best form of defence is offence. Get involved in social media and encourage positive feedback from your customers. Ask for reviews from your website. Having nobody talk about your business is arguably worse than having negative feedback.

WHAT CAN AN EXPERT DO FOR YOU?

Online Reputation Management is so much more than what the title suggests. Reputation managers will monitor any communications that might be happening about your brand. If they notice something that requires fixing, they will apply their broad and vast knowledge of internet marketing techniques to ensure that the problem is fixed.

You could think of reputation managers as part customer service and part online marketer. The goal of reputation management is not to squelch the honest feedback of customers, but to ensure that damages are minimized and that the company is being accurately represented online.

Reputation Management

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