No matter what the size of your company, your online reputation is one of your most important assets. A good online reputation is better than any form of paid-for advertising, and a bad reputation could ruin your business. Unfortunately, since anyone can publish content online, controlling what is said about your company is an almost impossible task.
Here are some tips to improve your online reputation:
You can’t silence your critics
The Internet gives a voice to everyone, and no matter how much you wish you could silence some people, it simply isn’t possible. In this scenario, it’s very important to protect your online reputation. Do not make the mistake of trying to censor what appears online.
Review sites, consumer forums, and social media sites offer consumers the chance to air their views and talk about their experiences with various companies or brands. Sometimes they will share positive stories, but more often than not the only time that someone will talk about a company is when they want to vent.
If someone has a negative experience with your brand and decides to share it online, do not try to get their posting taken down. If you do that, there is a good chance that the user will become even angrier, and will have an even juicier story to tell, and you will find more posts cropping up saying “Not only does their customer service SUCK, they tried to censor me when I complained!“. The word ‘censorship’ will pique the interest of even more social media users, and you’ll have a real PR crisis on your hands.
Honesty gets noticed
If you can’t shut those users down, what can you do? The answer is simple – get out there and talk to those users and build your own social media presence. Use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social platforms. If you have a strong online presence you can guide the direction of the conversation, and encourage positive content to be posted, drowning out those complaints.
- Answer negative comments and offer to put things right. If the user responds, follow through on your promises and do everything you can to make them happy.
- Thank users that post positive comments about your brand.
- Read reviews, and follow up on any suggestions for improvement.
- Join in with conversations that relate to your industry. If you are on Instagram, connect with other industry peers and build forge relationship with them.
- Ask questions and talk to people who are the most engaged with your brand.
- Claim your company’s brand name on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to prevent anyone from making a fake or spoof profile
A good reputation link with more followers
If you don’t have much of an online presence, it can be tempting to buy some followers to help your company ‘get noticed’ online. For instance, if you are on Instagram, you can buy Instagram followers to increase your brand awareness and improve your online reputation because when more people follow you that means this brand is authentic. Furthermore, also put some extra efforts to earn some organic fans. This will give you genuine reviews and won’t cost you a penny.
