Many business owners know the importance of having a positive reputation in online and offline engagements. They ensure to deliver their best efforts to deal with customers and bring high-quality products or services. But, regardless of these efforts, some businesses end up in a crucial situation that may compromise their customers’ trust and loyalty. Such circumstances are inevitable, but there are things you can do to comprehend and address them wisely and properly. Since most people rely on the internet, you need online reputation management that works for your business. With our online environment, you have to put your best foot forward as a business owner.
Brand reputation management can be daunting, but thanks to advanced technology and online social communities, there are ways to nail it. For many business owners, maintaining a positive brand reputation is a priority because it helps achieve primary goals such as getting more sales and customer loyalty. Truly, you can’t control difficult situations to occur in business, especially with online transactions. Some people would prefer ranting on social media rather than reaching out to customer service. Hence, before it happens to your business, you should have enough knowledge about reputation management.
What is Reputation Management?
Reputation management is consistent monitoring of your customer’s impression of your brand. Of course, you have set your standards and invested in making your business appear as a reliable brand, but maintaining a positive image requires significant hard work. Your business is open to public scrutiny with or without your knowledge as your business goes live online. Online reputation management can be an exhausting and endless process. That is why you need to find the right strategy that will work for your brand.
Online reputation management can help avoid or address negative situations that cause losing your customer’s trust. Moreover, it can attract new customers to try out your brand. Once you develop the most effective reputation management online, it can lead to many opportunities.
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How Can You Manage the Reputation of Your Brand?
Here are some of the most effective brand reputation management plans that you can do to achieve your business goals. Business reputation management is not a one-and-done process, unlike any ordinary marketing plan. You must consistently monitor and address your customers’ feedback, suggestions, and complaints as if it were a routine. As long as your business is up and running, reputation management will be its air to breathe.
1. Know Your Brand Reputation Status
2. Conduct Research on Customer Reviews
3. Come Up With Brand Reputation Management Plan
4. Think Before Taking Actions Online
5. Use Social Media Platforms Smartly
6. Build a Website With a Solid Brand
1. Know Your Brand Reputation Status
Before you can work on improving your brand reputation, you need to determine your current status first. This is a perfect starting point for taking a closer look at your business performance and public relation. You can conduct a survey or ask questions related to your business. How do customers feel about your brand? You can start with peers or the people around you. Get feedback or suggestions from your family, friends, and colleagues. Once you are equipped with helpful information about the existing brand reputation, you can take the next step in improving your business image.
Image taken from Chill Out website
2. Conduct a Research on Customer Reviews
After listening to your peers about how they see or feel about your business, it is time to read customer reviews or online forums. This can be terrifying, but you must take a deep breath and do it anyway. Find out what people say about your brand online. You can even search for it and see how people find you online. Sometimes, you don’t need to go far because you can find your customer’s suggestions in your email or the comment section of your social media page. It would help if you were hands-on with your business to understand the actual score – how it attracts or loses customers. Assigning a dedicated staff to take care of this task is a good idea. But, keep in mind the importance of knowing your business in and out.
Image taken from Email Handyman website
3. Come Up With Brand Reputation Management Plan
Start with a plan. Having a realistic goal is the most critical part of online reputation management. Without brainstorming the outcomes first, you can’t just tell your team what to do. Be systematic in crafting your online reputation management. Here are some steps in implementing effective brand reputation management to give you an idea of how it works with small businesses.
- Assign a Customer Care Support
Taking care of customers should be a number priority of every business. Having dedicated staff to tend to your customer’s inquiries can help build a positive brand reputation. Make sure you also include information about business hours and how often you can reply to messages. These simple yet significant details make your customers feel they’re being taken care of. Keep in mind that there is no significant success without the small ones. Do not underestimate small things that make your customers feel special and welcome to your business.
With Strikingly, you can add a custom form where customers can leave feedback or suggestions about your product. A live chat feature can also be integrated into your website so that your customer care team can check them on your website quickly. These features can be easily set up with our websites.
- Stick to Your Branding and Marketing Style
Be consistent on how you appear online or on any business engagements. Create a business policy or guide in creating online content such as blogs, ads, video clips, etc. Stick to your branding and marketing style that makes people recognize your business easily. Once you have established a unique and remarkable brand, online reputation management won’t be challenging to handle.
- Set the Tone on How You Respond Online
Aside from dedicating a team of customer care support, you can also set the tone on how to address positive and negative feedback online. Online engagements can make or break your business reputation. That is why you must select a proper tone matching your branding style. Whether you sound friendly or professional in responding to comments, it’s up to your brand image.
Image taken from Strikingly templates
4. Think Before Taking Actions Online
It is inevitable to find your business in crucial situations online. You know how the online environment works these days. One wrong action can lead to severe damage to your business reputation. Addressing negative comments harshly while sounding polite and friendly to good feedback can put your brand on a hot seat. Always think before you take any actions online. Be more sensitive in handling difficult situations with your customers. After all, it can be an excellent opportunity to show how serious you are about resolving inconveniences. If your business can be easily searched online, you must also ensure that you are reachable to take responsibility in case needed.
5. Use Social Media Platforms Smartly
Social media has been a powerful platform for business and personal use. Many people hang out on social media for different reasons. This is an excellent opportunity for companies to showcase their products, share informative blog content, and drive more traffic to their website. Hence, this is also where you need business reputation management. Be responsible for how you handle positive and negative situations, as mentioned above. Consistency is vital to your online reputation management plans. Many businesses gain more followers on social media because they use it wisely. Track reviews, recommendations, shared posts, and tags from your customers. You can join an online community and participate in forums related to your business. Just be polite and stick to the basic rules and standards to avoid offending other members. Using
Strikingly makes it easier to link a social media page to your website. Get more website visitors by promoting your website on Facebook or Instagram.
Image taken from Strikingly templates
6. Build a Website With a Solid Brand
Building your business website is ridiculously easy with Strikingly. It would help if you had a reliable website builder with dedicated customer care support to support you with the best web services. With over twelve million users worldwide, we’ve mastered the process of helping them build a solid brand. Our branding and marketing tools, custom forms, eCommerce features, custom domains, and affordable premium plans make it possible to implement online reputation management.
Final Thoughts
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In a perfect world, you can create a positive brand image where people love your business and make no complaints. On the other hand, difficult situations can arise anytime and anywhere. Customers have different perspectives about your brand. Some customers are satisfied, but others might have something else to say. As a business owner, it’s your job to keep your lines open to your customers. The secret to effective online reputation management relies on consistency and resourcefulness. Most significantly, you’ll need a reliable website builder platform to build a website that matches the pace of your growing business. Sign up for a free account with us now.
