Managing your reputation is a business skill that will give you success or failure. However, not many aspiring business people really know how to effectively manage their image. The information located below will help you both now and in the future.
Be nice when interacting online. You can’t just post status updates or tweets without interacting with followers. If a question is posted, answer it quickly. If a question is asked that you don’t know the answer to, let your follower know that you are working to come up with an answer.
To make sure you have a great reputation for a business online, your web pages should have SEO done to them. In general, this would be the business’s name. Search engines like businesses that seem to be an authority. If you can build up your authority, it can really increase your rankings.
If you have employees, treat them well. If you don’t, it will come back to harm you in the end. People will avoid doing business with you if you are a bad employer.
Keep private sales private. This is important when you offer a substantial discount to compensate for a complaint. It would be a mistake to post the details of how you have resolved a complaint, only to receive lots of complaints aimed at getting freebies from your company.
Keep updated on what social media sites are up to on the Internet. Frequently, people discuss about companies here. Monitoring the platforms enables you to do immediate damage control on any negative comments posted. This is a good way to help your business’s reputation get protected from damage.
Reading bad comments about your business can anger you, especially when the comments are not exactly true. The best course of action is to remain calm and professionally dispute the comments to the best of your ability. If readers see the entire situation, they will make better judgments.
You need to be working on things to set up proper expectations that have to do with how you’re doing business. Honesty is an important component of this. A good reputation comes with transparency.
Always send a follow up email after your customer has received their purchase. Sometimes, you won’t be aware of issues right away. When you check in with them you can help them work out any problems they may be having.
Where is your company being discussed? Learn where customers usually post comments and reviews in your business industry. Post some links to comments that are positive, and make it a point to respond to criticism quickly.
Take care with regard to information that you share online. You can’t know how it may be used in the future. Be careful with any social media account you have, even if only a few people access it.
Many of your competitors may be paying for false positive reviews. Avoid joining in on this. This is bad business practice, plus this type of activity is illegal in several states.
Make sure to do monthly reviews of search engine results. Google your company’s name monthly and peruse the entire website. Check to make sure you’re not having people making negative comments on the site you run. Constantly track individual sources of negative feedback, reviews and content. Take steps to mitigate it as needed.
Do all you can to keep your emotions in control. You can do this by practicing stress management. Find an outlet, like jogging or working out as a stress-reliever. Don’t get into flame wars online, whatever you do. This can make your reputation worse.
When you see negative comments on your blog, site, or social media page, you will probably become upset. The important thing to remember is that you should not exhibit a knee-jerk reaction. Think the situation through before making any kind of response. That will only help your reputation.
Negative Comments
Reputation maintenance often includes responding to negative comments with a straightforward approach. Instead of constantly removing negative comments, address them honestly and explain what happened. Your customers will appreciate your straightforwardness.
Never react with anger to negativity. Do not take things personally or use social media to attack your clients. If an issue escalates and a customer crosses boundaries of acceptable etiquette, then your best bet is to just ignore them rather than sinking to their level.
Learn as much about your customers as you can. Customers love to be recognized. Understand why customers choose your business over other businesses. This will do wonders to your company’s reputation as an excellent service provider.
To manage the reputation of your business, be available to your customers. Make sure there is a person on the customer service line to answer questions. No one wants to deal with you if they cannot speak to an actual human being when they try to contact your business.
Thoroughly investigate the people you hire to work for your company, because they can have such a huge impact on the reputation of your business. Even though a background check can cost a little bit, it’s worth the cost if you discover something that could negatively impact your business and might make you rethink hiring this individual. Know who your company representatives really are.
It can be hard to have a successful business if you don’t know how to handle its reputation. Learning how to shape people’s perceptions about your company is essential. Therefore, it is important to refer back to the above advice often and steer clear of trouble.
