How’s Your Online Reputation?

A company’s reputation can affect how their customers interact with them. Including the potential to affect purchase decisions and even influence the growth or decline of a business. One way businesses are building online reputation is by using social media.

Businesses are able to not only build a reputation using social media but also manage and respond during a crisis and monitor the conversation to prevent future crises. You may be wondering how you assess your online reputation. One of the first steps you can take is searching your company and product names; what do you see in the top 10 search results?

After assessment, you can start to manage and monitor your reputation using social media. Here are three great tips:

1. Establish Your Online Reputation: The first search engine results page is the most important for your brand’s reputation. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social brand pages should assist in owning the first search engine results page. Social media can help you create a stronger online presence.
2. Control Responses during a Crisis: It is important to monitor and respond to customers who write on your wall or send you messages to resolve any issues and let users know that they’ve been heard.
3. Monitor Conversations: Make sure you keep up to date with what is being said about your brand online. For instance, before a negative review goes potentially viral, wouldn’t it be helpful to respond and solve the problem or take the issue offline to address?

One of the awesome things about social media is that it is real time. Therefore, the faster your brand responds, the better your customer service will appear. It’s up to your business on how you can turn negative comments into positive opportunities. And don’t forget, social media is public, so your quality customer service will be seen by other users.

So ask yourself, how’s your online reputation? Are you managing and monitoring your business’ reputation?