A Guide to Reputation Management

Word-of-mouth advertising has been a very successful marketing tool for many businesses. In the past, this mode of advertising allowed customers to market your product or service for free by passing along a recommendation to use your product or service based on their experiences. Also, word-of-mouth was a valuable tool to warn potential customers about products or services that were not worth purchasing.  In short, word-of-mouth helped to establish a reputation for many businesses because it’s understood that when a person recommends a company or service, they are also putting their own reputation on the line by vouching for the company. 

Thanks to the vast expansion of e-commerce and companies that are not brick-and-mortar, a company’s online reputation has become a critical element of a company’s overall brand.  You can expect your company’s reputation to be dependent largely upon online reviews and feedback on social media platforms. And since 75% of businesses in the UK agree that online feedback heavily impacts a company’s reputation, it’s important to make sure your brand establishes and maintains a positive image online. In other words, your online reputation affects people’s opinion of what your business is about when they discover it in online search results. 

What is Reputation Management

Your brand image will influence people’s decision to buy your products and/or services. According to a theoretical review on word-of-mouth communication, strong and positive customer feedback are indicators of good service quality, customer satisfaction and perceived value in the company’s product and/or service. Therefore, it’s important you keep track of what type of reputation you have online, which is done through reputation management.  

Regardless of what name you call it—internet reputation management, online reputation management, brand perception, etc.–reputation management is a term used to describe the business practices involved in establishing, maintaining and recovering a brand’s image.  The overall objective is to monitor the public’s perception of your brand, assess that perception and modify that perception to maintain the best online brand image possible. Therefore, reputation management will also involve damage control–eliminating or offsetting negative material that would cause damage to the company’s reputation.

Why it’s Important

To put it simply, your business will not survive if you don’t engage in active reputation management. As previously mentioned, word-of-mouth advertising has always been a critical component of determining business success because consumers will trust each other’s words about a business more than the business itself.  So, you want your potential customers/clients to see a brand image that’s genuine and reliable, which is one of the reasons why reputation management is important.

1. Gives Credibility to a Business

Reputation management will ensure you maintain credibility on review sites and all your social media platforms. One survey on reputation management revealed that 49% of the participants surveyed tend to choose businesses with a minimum four-star rating, which means the company has a reputation for providing quality customer service, and they offer genuine products. Ratings lower than 4 give people the assumption that the customer had a less than pleasant experience while using your services. And since people tend to trust what real customers say about their experiences with a business, they will take the warning and avoid these companies with a less-than-four rating. Therefore, having a positive online reputation will let potential customers know you are a worthy option for their business.

2. Generates Sales and Profits

When people see overall positive reviews and social media feedback about your company, they are more inclined to make a purchase (and even refer your products/services to other people).  A recent study on reputation management revealed that over 50% of the participants relied on information they received from their search results when researching a business. And if the first page of Google search results generates 95% of the traffic from most searches, it’s imperative your business makes sure the results found on Google’s first page establishes and maintains a positive brand image.

So, How Can You Create A Positive Online Reputation?

The internet is a place for finding information. When people use the internet, they are searching for content. Your online reputation is established by the content that is found on the internet about your brand. So, the primary way to establish a positive online reputation is to make sure the different types of content available online all point to a positive brand image. Here are four common ways to create and maintain a positive online reputation.

1. Content Management: To become a reliable voice in your industry, you need to produce quality content. Putting a blog on your website or creating guest blogs is a great way to generate traffic and keep your brand in the public eye.  People tend to be more inclined to buy from people who give them information worth sharing.
2. SEO Help and Pushing Down Damaging Reviews: Because the top five listings in Google’s search results receive about two-thirds of all clicks, it’s important to make sure that none of these five are negative reviews. As stated in reputation management strategy #1 on content management, content will help establish you as an authority in your industry. Make sure you are offering current and high-quality industry content to give you a higher Google rank.
3. Review Follow-up: As discussed in Mistake #3 below, you will want an online reputation management company that keeps track of reviews, so you will know how to address any negative reviews that arise.
4. Social Media Management: Use your social media platforms to post professional content and provide feedback to consumers. Promoting engagement on your social media platforms is a good way to build a relationship with potential customers and maintain a lasting relationship with loyal customers.

Mistakes that Hurt Your Online Reputation

Although online reputation management determines the success of a business, there are no shortcuts to creating an authentic positive brand image. The following mistakes are often used by some businesses to create shortcuts to a positive online reputation. However, these shortcuts cause more damage than benefit. 

1.     Paying someone to post positive reviews: Although there are some companies out there that are willing to do paid reviews, it’s frowned upon by Google because theses reviews aren’t genuine. Therefore, expect Google to push your website down lower in search results, which will cause damage to your online reputation.

2. Astroturfing: Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen used the term “astroturfing” in 1985 to describe the practice of creating fake grassroots initiatives to sway public opinion. In today’s business world, the term astroturfing is akin to paying reputation management companies to do fake reviews—except this tactic involves the company itself creating fake customer accounts to post reviews and argue against negative reviews of other customers. Again, the reviews aren’t genuine, and they don’t give you an accurate assessment of your reputation because they are just a reflection of your perception of your business—not what actual customers perceive. If you desire to be a reputable business, be reputable and let your real customers give reviews. 

3. Responding and Not Responding: Some people are internet trolls and are going to be negative to provoke controversy. Therefore, it’s best not to engage them because it will make you look unprofessional. However, real negative reviews by actual customers need a response. You want to be known as a company that actually cares about the customer, so a response with an effort to provide a solution will help your reputation versus ignoring the customer altogether (which will damage your reputation greatly and paint you as a company that does not care about its customers). 

4. False Advertising: Nothing sinks a business ship worse than lying about what you are offering. If you can’t offer it, don’t promote it. Don’t exaggerate customer data and don’t be afraid to be transparent about your business. If you make a mistake about a price discount or about how a service will work for your customers, be honest about it. Your honesty will show your customers that you are also trustworthy.

Benefits of Using Online Reputation Management Company

Reputation management can be very time-consuming for your business. The time it takes to monitor your reputation alone is going to require someone who has the time specifically set aside to do that. If you’re running your business, you will soon find out that there’s not enough time in the day to monitor your reputation while overseeing all the other aspects of your business. 

Even social media management often requires outside help, and that’s only one component of online reputation management. Therefore, if you want to get the full benefit of effective reputation management, you’re going to have to have someone on your team who has the expertise and dedication to focus only on reputation management. If you don’t already have someone on your team that specializes in reputation management, then you are going to have to find a reputable reputation management company to do this for you. 

Reputation management software is great, but someone has to have the time available to run it. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to find a company that specializes in helping businesses establish and maintain a positive brand image. Even if you do have enough time in your schedule to monitor your online reputation, you may still need help on what to do with the data you collect. An online reputation manager can help you take the data you acquired from reputation monitoring and turn it into viable solutions for reputation maintenance and recovery—if needed.