Guideline of Online Reputation Management
People often misunderstand that online reputation management deals entirely with online reviews. The truth is, there is much more beyond responding to social media reviews. Small-scale or large-scale industries can benefit from framing an outline of central concepts.
In any profession, for that matter, you can safeguard your reputation only by providing ultimate service or responding to your client’s negative comments in a highly professional and positive manner.
Guideline of Online Reputation Management
A few years down the lane, when people barely had access to the Internet, the client-customer interaction ratio was pretty low. Word of mouth is as powerful as your internet reputation.
In the modern world, even if you don’t run a website, that doesn’t necessarily mean people don’t talk about your brand. Customers might tweet about you, and the same tweet can be reshared among many. They might also tape a video of your product and upload it on YouTube.
Nowadays, people rarely use archaic advertisements like static brochures, pamphlets, or TV ads. Your band’s Online Reputation Management is as important as your actual one; do not compromise.
So, how do we tackle them?
Lately, businesses have been trying to be very transparent about the type of service they provide. Transparency means opening up to the criticisms and feedback they encounter on social media platforms. The newest business commandment is to build client communication.
- This communication gives the employees the liberty to discuss their products and services.
- Helps to interact with the clients (one-on-one)
- Communication helps solicit their feedback.
- It lets you face criticism publicly.
The freedom of communication shouldn’t be taken for granted. Always mind your tone of communication. Do not be abrasive or hostile in responding to nasty comments and feedback, which will undoubtedly reflect poorly on your service.
Being transparent when it comes to business is essential in the long run.
Not being transparent might become risky eventually.
Always consider a few scenarios before going utterly transparent to the world.
- You will be held accountable for responding to every criticism that comes your way.
- You need to possess a team that is well-versed in social media.
- Your competitors will undoubtedly breathe a sigh of relief when they see your shortcomings, which are publicly discussed on social platforms.
How to respond
Your response always matters!! You ought to spare some meticulous care in drafting your response to criticism.
Always respond calmly and politely. Negative comments doubtlessly rage your emotions of anger and feelings of insufficiency. Expressing your emotions will ultimately backfire on your brand, leaving you a bad reputation. Your impulsive response gives your critic a superior position in the eyes of the public.
Always remember to react with courtesy even when the hammer drops. Do not respond to your critics in the heat of the moment; you’ll probably give a cringe-worthy answer.
First, try to understand their criticism and get reassurance that that is what they are trying to say. The main goal is to drive away personality clashes and respond politely.
Take some time to formulate an apt response to your critique. Then, respond gracefully, “I highly appreciate your feedback, and that’s certainly something to think about, “which portrays your genuine efforts to address the critic’s issue.
Even if the critic’s explanation sounds naive, never lose the curiosity to learn something from him.
So, If you think your client doesn’t make sense, stick to your guns and do not lose talk. Try to tactfully solve their issues and ask them for their comment only if they are satisfied. Online reputation depends entirely on how others perceive your business when they look up to you on the Search Engine Research page. If you fail to rank top, your competitors will take the desired page, pushing you down.
Some instances drove Negative attention due to impulsive responses from the brand.
Don’t create apparent negative attention, which is bad publicity and might significantly affect your reputation. Take your time to craft a professional response; sometimes, specific tweets don’t need a reply. Being proactive is essential, but never at the cost of your reputation’s downfall.
Although everyone has the right to express their voice about your service and brand, certain limits need respect. Specific tweets might be defamatory reporting and false information that aims to damage a company’s reputation.
Stats prove that 85% of people rely on online reviews ahead of personal recommendations. Any business would need a 4-star rating to attract potential customers. All these factors sum up your Online Reputation.
An excellent online reputation, in turn, helps drive good online marketing. You must try to project your brand in a positive light at all costs with sound strategies and marketing tactics.
Three essential steps to tackle negative online reviews
Aggressive SEO
When someone searches for you on Google, positive and negative comments about your brand will appear in the search results. It would be best to devise a search marketing strategy to mitigate showing false/harmful content about you that boosts favourable and legitimate content ranking. The search engine is a crucial game that should not be ignored and fixed in the first place.
Review Removal
When can you want to remove a review?
When someone posts a very abusive comment to tarnish your reputation rather than leave feedback or use improper language, you can take legal action to remove the comment.
Online Investigations
Situations may turn unfavourable. Serious attacks might damage your brand reputation, and you may have to hire professional analysts to trace online threats.
Considering all the criteria mentioned above for your perfect online reputation, EOn8 is one of the leading digital marketing agencies that provides the best online reputation management services. With a proven track record of happy clients and brands, Eon8 offers strategic plans to alleviate harmful content and helps you rank on the top with good feedback by pushing all the negativity down.
