Managing your online reputation
Whilst you are busy trying to promote your online reputation, are others damaging it? No matter how fantastic your products or customer service are, the chances are that at some point you will have a dissatisfied customer. Unfortunately, if you have annoyed a customer, the accessibility of the internet means that there is now a very strong likelihood that this annoyance will manifest itself online.
Monitoring your profiles
In order to salvage any potential damage to your online reputation it is essential to find out about any complaints or malicious comments promptly so that they can be diffused. More often than not, business owners overlook the importance of responding to any negative or adverse customer reviews or claims online – not responding to them is more likely to be damaging to your business then responding positively and professionally.
Where should I check?
There are many areas online that you should consider checking, however the main ones are:
- Social media platforms and groups.
- Online chat forums and chat boards.
- Online selling platforms such as eBay (if you sell via eBay).
- Review websites such as Trip Advisor, Check-a-Trade, Google reviews.
- Blogs and white papers.
- Press releases and news websites.
One easy way to check any recent mentions of your business is to do a quick search on Google by simply searching for your business name and once the search results display, click on the Search tools button (just below the search box) and then select Past month from the drop-down menu that appears. This will then display any website that has mentioned your business within the last month. You can also set custom date ranges if you want to check back over longer periods too.
For more details on how to identify any slurs on your reputation and how to deal with them please take a look at this infographic by Avalaunch.
