Your Local Reputation Management Matters

The growing importance of the Internet is now forcing businesses to monitor their online reputation. The online image of a brand or product is at the heart of any digital marketing strategy. Online reputation makes and breaks hundreds of small businesses across the country every day. A good reputation rarely remains unseen; your positive reviews can become your best advertising campaign.

Before making a purchase, most consumers now have the habit of checking online reviews. Over 85% of customers will hesitate to visit, make a purchase, or even call a store with too many negative reviews. A good digital reputation will increase your sales by making your store and products more trustworthy. If a customer is debating between two competitors, reading positive reviews may weigh heavily in your favor.

Good reviews also help your SEO effort as Google is increasing the importance of reviews in its organic rankings.

Having a good online reputation is necessary to successfully generate leads, attract customers, increase revenue, and attract talent.

Monitoring Your Reputation Across All Platforms

The online landscape is constantly evolving, and platforms where consumers can leave reviews about your products and services are constantly changing. Pure Silver Creative Online Reputation Management Services will monitor your presence across most platforms.

Social media: Sharing opinions or comments is one of the basic principles of most social media platforms. Monitoring comments on platforms like Facebook or YouTube can save your brand from viral movements. Social media management is at the core of every reputation management strategy.

Local directories: Google My Business page or platforms like Yelp! or TripAdvisor have an important part in your online business visibility. They also have rating systems that affect consumer perception and your rankings. On most of these platforms, customer reviews appear prominently next to your business name. A negative review or low-star rating can deter a significant number of consumers.

Forums and blogs: Less popular than the previous platforms, forums and blogs can still greatly affect your business’s online reputation. Opinions formulated on a platform like Reddit, for example, can have great influence since they are often regarded as expert opinions.

Avoiding Snowball Effects

You cannot control reviews, and the majority of businesses will have to face negative ones. Whether the criticism is legitimate or not, you probably won’t be able to just sweep it under the carpet. Managing your reputation means that no review can be left unanswered, even the unpleasant ones.

Put thought into your responses, ensure that each is unique, and take responsibility for what the customer/client has experienced. The objective is to soothe tensions—not to create an online debate that everyone can see.

Everyone is entitled to share their point of view. Always remember: There is NO WINNER in an argument in your online reviews.

Follow The Five Rules of Online Reputation Management

Monitor and Respond: Listen to your reviews in order to address them quickly. Bad reviews will not disappear; address them as quickly as possible to avoid any snowball effect.
Be Constructive: Your brand will not be shown in a positive light if you do not address criticism. Even if the reviews are fake, other users reading the review will have no way of knowing. Address every comment in a constructive manner.
Don’t Engage: Public conflict can only be negative for your image. It is more useful to resolve a problem through a private channel.
Personalize your Responses: Cold and generic answers are not the best way to defuse a conflict. Personalize your responses, target the issues, and make your angry customers feel heard.
Learn: If the same criticisms keep coming back, they might be fair. Some negative reviews are honest—try to learn from them. Negative reviews can be a great tool to improve your business in the long term.

DOs

The majority of the time, we are able to respond to reviews, positive and negative, without having to gather additional input. However, when the situation warrants, we will reach out to learn the background of a particular situation. Getting back to us quickly with the needed information ensures a timely response to the review; and potentially saves a customer from leaving for good.

DON'Ts

Don't respond on your own. Often, the managers and staff at a location have an emotional stake in receiving a poor review. The natural instinct is to respond—spelling out all the facts—so the world can see they were in-the-right. That often draws further fire from the original reviewer which is only more dirty laundry for the next potential customer to see.

Impact of Negative Reviews

Negative reviews can impact your business in several ways.

Lowers Your Google Rating
Harms Your Reputation
Difficult To Fix Once They Happen