Reputation Management – How It Can Help Your Business Thrive
How much does your reputation mean to you? It means a lot to your customers and potential future customers. It is essential to keep your reputation high and your customers happy. If you need build managing your reputation, use the following tips. They are sure to make a difference in your future success.
To keep a more careful eye on your business reputation, try setting up an alert system. This is a daily email you receive that lets you know when your company has been mentioned online. They do cost some money and take a short time to set up, but they can give you plenty of useful information.
Monitoring your personal reputation or business brand is very critical to online reputation management. Set up automatic alerts to happen when your name comes up. Use Trackur, Monitor This and Google Alerts to send you notices when new content comes up. That way, you can know the very next day, if not sooner, when someone is talking about you.
The best way to manage your reputation is simply to provide great customer service to everyone that you deal with. When everyone is happy, they only say positive things or just nothing at all. Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising because it is free and unstoppable. Make sure no one ever has a reason to bad mouth you in the first place.
Satisfy displeased customers and keep your good reputation. You will show customers you care by turning a bad experience into a positive one. If that change happens via online forums, that is even better. Potential customers can see your efforts and will want to work with you.
Be transparent. Some companies have been accused of removing complaints from their website. Don’t be like them. Instead, quickly answer the complaints and state on your website how you will remedy the complaint. Once the complaint is resolved, ask your customer to post on your site that the complaint was resolved and how long it took to resolve the complaint.
If you make a mistake, apologize quickly. Most people realize that everyone is human and mistakes do happen. If you are able to rectify the mistake do so quickly and address it on your website or social media site. If you are unable to rectify the mistake, apologize and go on with your business.
Be sure you’re keeping an eye on social media. According to Arnold Worldwide, most customers believe that businesses should respond to all of the postings on their social media accounts. Be sure that you’re replying fast, preferably in a couple of hours at least. Many businesses aren’t that vigilant, so being responsive can make you stand above the rest.
If you make a public snafu, show the world that you are mature and apologize. Everyone makes mistakes, but it takes a big person to acknowledge that. If people see that you are truly apologetic for the wrongs you have done, it will make it more likely that they will work with you in the future.
If you own your own business, be sure you’re treating employees with some respect. This can have a big impact on your business. If it gets around that you are not a great employer, many people will refuse to do any business with you.
Be professional when posting on social media sites. Avoid using Internet jargon and slang such as LOL, YW or TY. Be professional at all times. Respond to comments just like you would to your clients in a face to face meeting. Use proper English and proofread all responses before posting them.
To start your business reputation on the right foot, keep your branding simple. Use a clean typeface and color palette. Make sure your logo is simple and clearly communicates what you do and stand for. These items must be able to work on all your corporate materials. Try to avoid using complex and convoluted items in your branding.
When you are publicly responding to any feedback that is left by a customer, make sure to address them by name. People want to know that business owners see them as individuals and not as one part of a very large group. Using their names will give them what they want.
Moving
Read up on reputation management if you’ve got a serious issue. It may seem simple, but rebuilding a business reputation that’s in the tank is not easy at all. There are a lot of things to consider; a lot of ramifications to your decisions moving forward. Know all that you can before taking next steps.
As it was stated above, your reputation means a lot to your customers. For this reason, your reputation should also mean a lot to you. Take good care of your reputation to take care of your business. Use the simple and useful tips above to build you along the way.
