Neutralize critics and subjugate competitors using reputation management
With the advent of online reviews and real-time feedback, it has been a must for entrepreneurs like you to arm yourself with online reputation services.You cannot control what people will say about you 100% of the time.Your company will be exposed to brutal and relentless scrutiny. As you are probably aware, the anonymity that the internet provides makes people feel braver and more outspoken than they would be in real life. They will not hesitate to complain if they think that there is something really wrong with your products or services. While these complaints may or may not be founded on reality, one thing is for sure – it puts your business in a bad light.
Reputation management aims to prevent situations wherein your company will suffer from negative feedback, which affects your search engine ranking and overall consumer confidence as well.
Online reputation services such as those offered by Maxpapa enable you to ensure that you everything that people say about you or your business on the internet is managed and optimized to your advantage. The internet is everyone’s favorite know-it-all. Your potential clients consult search engines for everything and regard almost everything that they see online as facts. If your site appears as one of the top search results, you can be assured that a lot of people will visit your website.
How does reputation management work?
In order to understand how all this works, you first need to familiarize yourself with the different platforms and forums that your clients use to provide you with feedback. Some of the most popular ways in which people share their experience include online communities such as Facebook and Google+, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Amazon Reviews.
Using reputation marketing strategies, you can either:
- Create a name for yourself: Previously unheard-of companies have established their online presence
- Boost your popularity: Companies that are somehow known online to only a limited number of clients rose to online prominence because of effective communication with clients
- Regain your eroded integrity: Businesses that suffered from tarnished reputations are able to regain the trust of their clients
The most important and most time-consuming aspect of business reputation is constantly monitoring what people are saying about you. The one thing that you would want to watch out for is negative feedback. If you would observe, heated rants always spawn toxic discussions. It is like a domino effect wherein one bad review brings out another because people want to sympathize and say,
“Hey, that happened to me, too!”
and serve as a warning for people who are interested in availing your products or services. These, in turn,draw the attention of customers who may not even have had the opportunity to try your products and services first away from your business.
Bad reviews stick out like a sore thumb, and whether you like it or not, potential clients’ attention will be drawn to them more than your positive reviews. It is the job of reputation management to turn these unfavorable reviews into marketing opportunities. With the help of reputation marketing, you would be able to neutralize your most ruthless critics. Once you get the hang of it, you can eventually boost your market value, establish and protect your company’s reputation, and long-term success would not anymore seem to be such a faraway concept.
A real-life reputation management scenario
One day, you log in to your social media account and you are greeted by an explosive rant. What would you do? There are a myriad of ways that you can go about it, but here are some effective recommendations if you are to apply effective reputation management:
- Analyze and investigate if the complaint is valid. There are times when people mistake your company for some other company and the rant is not really intended for you. There are also some rare instances wherein malicious complaints are submitted by your competitors. You should learn to weed out the true claims from the ones that only aim to bait you.
- Take a deep breath and compose yourself. It is very important to keep a cool head when dealing with angry customers. Yes – their words can cut through you like knives, but you need to take the higher moral ground and hold your tongue no matter how tempting it is to get into an argument. Exchanging unsavory words with an already agitated customer is a reputation management nightmare.
- Apologize and offer to rectify the situation. No matter how “canned” it may sound, a sincere apology is all it takes. Tell them that you will work on ways to improve your service and take note of their feedback. You just have to be true to your word and really work on upgrading the quality of your products or services.
- Act fast. Do not take too long to respond to a complaint. No matter how busy you think you are customers will still take offense if they think that you are ignoring their concerns.
It is guaranteed to be an exhilarating experience when you find out that the individuals who have criticized you have learned to see your company’s merits because of successful use of reputation services.
Talk to the experts in Online Reputation
Of course, you will have to dedicate a lot of time and effort into a do-it-yourself reputation online management effort. Not all entrepreneurs have the luxury of being hands-on on all aspects of their business, and it can be difficult to set aside time to lurk on the internet and pounce on every review or blog entry that mentions your company.
It will be very helpful for you to know that there are professional web marketing firms such as Maxpapa that specializes in reputation services. Their all-inclusive understanding of how social media marketing is done will keep you from experiencing marketing horror stories and reputation management faux pas. Reach out to them right now if you think that unmanaged negative customer feedback is getting in the way of your company’s success.
For more information about Reputation Management contact MaxPapa
Call 08 6102 5863 or email us at info@maxpapa.com.au
