It is hard to keep your customers happy, connect with your customers one-on-one, and tirelessly develop new products and features to meet all of your customers’ needs at the same time. A business is bound to see its reputation take a hit every now and then even with the best customer service. That is why you should learn how to manage online reputation because you can minimize negative customer feedback and keep your online presence as positive as possible by actively managing your reputation.
What is the first step in online management? How big is the online reputation management market? Here is Online Reputation Management: What It Is & Why You Need It.
What does an online reputation manager do?
In order to address any of the negative or false comments that you may have against your business, you actively monitor mentions of your brand on websites and social media. That is Online Reputation Management (ORM) is. They mainly work by responding to negative customer comments online and they react to stories in the media that may paint your business in a bad light.
Online Reputation Management Strategies that You Can Use
- Address negativity upfront
You are doing your company a disservice by ignoring unhappy customers even though it can be tempting to discount negative comments and reviews from customers because 82 percent of your consumers who read online reviews, about 97 percent of them read the business’s responses. Addressing negative reviews is a way to show everyone that even if they have an issue with your company, you would be there to take care of it.
This is why you should always respond when customers leave negative comments and reviews. You should address their issues with patience and determination. The lack of response could come across as a confirmation of bad press. You could simply address the negative feedback because it would help diffuse the negative comments and protect your reputation.
- Automate Online Reputation Management
You could save time by using software that automates ORM tasks instead of manually combing through your different websites and social media accounts.
You could simply enter your brand name in Google Alerts and receive notifications of media and news stories that are talking about your company. In doing this, you could know right away when your company is being talked about, and you could quickly respond to it.
You are going to have more time to do the high-level work of ORM with all of these automated tools, and repair and strengthen your relationships with your unhappy customers.
- Answer promptly and with empathy
You should respond right away when customers ask questions, whether by messaging you directly or by posting on social media because sometimes the best ORM happens way before a negative comment or review is posted. Prompt responses would prevent frustrated users from posting negative feedback and show all of your customers that you place a high value on helping them.
Just as important is answering them with empathy. Show the customers that you are there to help and let the customers know that you are invested in solving their problems. If you do not respond to a customer’s question quickly, then it can cause a private message to turn into a negative public statement.
Respond quickly and with empathy to quotations, that is the simplest way to satisfy customers and build a positive online reputation.
- Own up to your mistakes
It always helps to apologize if your company is facing scrutiny for a real and perceived scandal. You should show remorse in diffusing tense customer situations and strengthen relationships with your customers to show shoppers that your company is honest and transparent.
When you are crafting your apology statement, craft it with genuine international to own up to and resolve the issues. You should address the main concerns that were raised by the customer and the media directly, and describe what you are going to do to resolve the situation.
Everyone makes mistakes, even companies, so stating what you will do to fix the issue and prevent it from happening again could show the customers that you are an honest company that owns up to their mistakes.
All of the shoppers would judge your brand by what they see and hear about on the internet so using online reputation management to strengthen the positive image of your brand that you have worked so hard to build could be a smart idea. You are going to have more control over how consumers would view your company when you implement ORM strategies to your business.